II 

112TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 1875 

To reauthorize the International Religious Freedom Act of 1998. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

NOVEMBER 15, 2011 

Mr. LEE (for himself and Mr. RUBIO) introduced the following bill; which was 

read twice and referred to the Committee on Foreign Relations 

A BILL 

To reauthorize the International Religious Freedom Act of 

1998. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘United States Commis5 sion on International Religious Freedom Reform and Re6 authorization Act of 2011’’. 

7 SEC. 2. ESTABLISHMENT AND COMPOSITION. 

8 (a) TERMS.—Section 201(c) of the International Re9 ligious Freedom Act of 1998 (22 U.S.C. 6431(c)) is 

10 amended— 


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1 (1) in paragraph (1), by striking the last sen2 tence and inserting the following: ‘‘An individual is 

3 not eligible to serve more than two consecutive terms 

4 as a member of the Commission. Each member serv5 ing on the Commission on the date of enactment of 

6 the United States Commission on International Reli7 gious Freedom Reform and Reauthorization Act of 

8 2011 may be reappointed to not more than one addi9 tional consecutive term.’’; 

10 (2) in paragraph (2)— 

11 (A) in subparagraph (A), by striking ‘‘May 

12 15, 2003, through May 14, 2005’’ and inserting 

13 ‘‘May 15, 2012, through May 14, 2014’’; and 

14 (B) in subparagraph (E), by striking ‘‘May 

15 15, 2003, and shall end on May 14, 2004’’ and 

16 inserting ‘‘May 15, 2012, and shall end on May 

17 14, 2013’’; and 

18 (3) by adding at the end the following new 

19 paragraph: 

20 ‘‘(3) INELIGIBILITY FOR REAPPOINTMENT.—If 

21 a member of the Commission attends, by being phys22 ically present or by conference call, less than 75 per23 cent of the meetings of the Commission during one 

24 of that member’s terms on the Commission, the 


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1 member shall not be eligible for reappointment to 

2 the Commission.’’. 

3 (b) ELECTION OF CHAIR.—Section 201(d) of the 

4 International Religious Freedom Act of 1998 (22 U.S.C. 

5 6431(d)) is amended by inserting at the end the following: 

6 ‘‘No member of the Commission is eligible to be elected 

7 as Chair of the Commission for a second, consecutive 

8 term.’’. 

9 (c) APPLICABILITY.—A member of the United States 

10 Commission on International Religious Freedom who is 

11 serving on the Commission on the date of enactment of 

12 this Act shall continue to serve on the Commission until 

13 the expiration of the current term of the member under 

14 the terms and conditions for membership on the Commis15 sion as in effect on the day before the date of the enact16 ment of this Act. 

17 SEC. 3. APPLICATION OF ANTIDISCRIMINATION LAWS. 

18 Section 204 of the International Religious Freedom 

19 Act of 1998 (22 U.S.C. 6432b) is amended by inserting 

20 after subsection (f) the following new subsection: 

21 ‘‘(g) APPLICATION OF ANTIDISCRIMINATION LAWS.— 

22 For purposes of providing remedies and procedures to ad23 dress alleged violations of rights and protections that per24 tain to employment discrimination, family and medical 

25 leave, fair labor standards, employee polygraph protection, 


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1 worker adjustment and retraining, veterans’ employment 

2 and reemployment, intimidation or reprisal, protections 

3 under the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990, occu4 pational safety and health, labor-management relations, 

5 and rights and protections that apply to employees whose 

6 pay is disbursed by the Secretary of the Senate or the 

7 Chief Administrative Officer of the House of Representa8 tives, all employees of the Commission shall be treated as 

9 employees whose pay is disbursed by the Secretary of the 

10 Senate or the Chief Administrative Officer of the House 

11 of Representatives and the Commission shall be treated 

12 as an employing office of the Senate or the House of Rep13 resentatives.’’. 

14 SEC. 4. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS. 

15 Section 207(a) of the International Religious Free16 dom Act of 1998 (22 U.S.C. 6435(a)) is amended by strik17 ing ‘‘for the fiscal year 2003’’ and inserting ‘‘for each of 

18 the fiscal years 2012 and 2013’’. 

19 SEC. 5. STANDARDS OF CONDUCT AND DISCLOSURE. 

20 Section 208 of the International Religious Freedom 

21 Act of 1998 (22 U.S.C. 6435a) is amended— 

22 (1) in subsection (c)(1), by striking ‘‘$100,000’’ 

23 and inserting ‘‘$250,000’’; and 

24 (2) in subsection (e), by striking ‘‘International 

25 Relations’’ and inserting ‘‘Foreign Affairs’’. 


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1 SEC. 6. TERMINATION. 

2 Section 209 of the International Religious Freedom 

3 Act of 1998 (22 U.S.C. 6436) is amended by striking 

4 ‘‘September 30, 2011’’ and inserting ‘‘September 30, 

5 2013’’. 

6 SEC. 7. REPORT ON EFFECTIVENESS OF PROGRAMS TO 

7 PROMOTE RELIGIOUS FREEDOM. 

8 (a) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 1 year after the 

9 date of the enactment of this Act, the Comptroller General 

10 of the United States shall submit to the appropriate con11 gressional committees a report on the implementation of 

12 this Act and the amendments made by this Act. 

13 (b) CONSULTATION.—The Comptroller General shall 

14 consult with the appropriate congressional committees and 

15 nongovernmental organizations for purposes of preparing 

16 the report. 

17 (c) MATTERS TO BE INCLUDED.—The report shall 

18 include the following: 

19 (1) A review of the effectiveness of all United 

20 States Government programs to promote inter21 national religious freedom, including their goals and 

22 objectives. 

23 (2) An assessment of the roles and functions of 

24 the Office on International Religious Freedom estab25 lished in section 101(a) of the International Reli26 gious Freedom Act of 1998 (22 U.S.C. 6411(a)) and 


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1 the relationship of the Office to other offices in the 

2 Department of State. 

3 (3) A review of the role of the Ambassador at 

4 Large for International Religious Freedom ap5 pointed under section 101(b) of the International 

6 Religious Freedom Act of 1998 (22 U.S.C. 6411(b)) 

7 and the placement of such position within the De8 partment of State. 

9 (4) A review and assessment of the goals and 

10 objectives of the United States Commission on Inter11 national Religious Freedom established under sec12 tion 201(a) of the International Religious Freedom 

13 Act of 1998 (22 U.S.C. 6431(a)). 

14 (5) A comparative analysis of the structure of 

15 the United States Commission on International Reli16 gious Freedom as an independent non-partisan enti17 ty in relation to other United States advisory com18 missions, whether or not such commissions are 

19 under the direct authority of Congress. 

20 (6) A review of the relationship between the 

21 Ambassador at Large for International Religious 

22 Freedom and the United States Commission on 

23 International Religious Freedom, and possible re24 forms that would improve the ability of both to 

25 reach their goals and objectives. 


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1 (d) DEFINITION.—In this section, the term ‘‘appro2 priate congressional committees’’ has the meaning given 

3 the term in section 3 of the International Religious Free4 dom Act of 1998 (22 U.S.C. 6402). 

Æ 


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