I 

115TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 489 

To prohibit the collection of information and the establishment or utilization 

of a registry for the purposes of classifying or surveilling certain United 

States persons and other individuals on the basis of religious affiliation, 

and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

JANUARY 12, 2017 

Ms. DELBENE (for herself, Mr. CONYERS, Mr. LEWIS of Georgia, Mr. COHEN, 

Ms. JUDY CHU of California, Mr. ELLISON, Mr. CARSON of Indiana, and 

Ms. MATSUI) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 

Committee on the Judiciary 

A BILL 

To prohibit the collection of information and the establishment or utilization of a registry for the purposes of 

classifying or surveilling certain United States persons 

and other individuals on the basis of religious affiliation, 

and for other purposes. 

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 ‘‘No Religious Registry 

5 Act of 2017’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

2 Congress finds the following: 

3 (1) The National Security Entry-Exit System 

4 (hereinafter referred to as ‘‘NSEERS’’), which was 

5 active from 2002 through 2011, registered and 

6 tracked individuals on the basis of their religion by 

7 targeting majority-Muslim countries in an attempt 

8 to thwart terrorism. 

9 (2) NSEERS tracked approximately 80,000 

10 men and boys, and resulted in zero terrorist convic11 tions from 2002 through 2011. 

12 (3) Mass surveillance of certain religious groups 

13 is inherently incompatible with American values as 

14 enshrined in the U.S. Constitution, does not improve 

15 U.S. national security, and has the potential to 

16 weaken national security by alienating crucial allies 

17 in the fight against terrorism. 

18 SEC. 3. PROHIBITION. 

19 (a) IN GENERAL.—No United States Government of20 ficer or employee may collect information or establish or 

21 otherwise utilize a database, or similar for the purpose of 

22 classifying or surveilling, on the basis of religious affili23 ation, a United States national, an alien who is lawfully 

24 present in the United States, or any alien who applies for 

25 a visa or seeks admission to the United States or on whose 

26 behalf a petition under the immigration laws is submitted, 


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1 or conduct any study related to the collection of such in2 formation or the establishment or utilization of such a reg3 istry, database, or similar. 

4 (b) RULE OF CONSTRUCTION.—Nothing in this sec5 tion may be construed as prohibiting the collection of in6 formation that is voluntarily provided and from which per7 sonally identifiable information is removed, to be used 

8 strictly for statistical purposes, including those permitted 

9 under section 9 of title 13, United States Code, that do 

10 not violate section 2 above. 

11 SEC. 4. PROHIBITION ON SOLICITATION AND PURCHASE. 

12 (a) PROCUREMENT.—A Federal entity may not solicit 

13 or award a contract to any entity for such entity to collect 

14 information or establish a registry that would violate sec15 tion 3. 

16 (b) COLLECTION OF CERTAIN INFORMATION.—A 

17 Federal entity may not purchase or solicit any information 

18 on religious affiliation from a non-Federal entity for pur19 poses that would violate section 3. 

Æ 


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