103D CONGRESS

1ST SESSION H. R. 1308

AMENDMENT
In the Senate of the United States,

October 27 (legislative day, October 13), 1993.

Resolved, That the bill from the House of Representatives (H.R. 1308) entitled ‘‘An Act to protect the free exercise of religion’’, do pass with the following

AMENDMENT:

Strike out all after the enacting clause and insert:

1 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

2 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Religious Freedom Res3 toration Act of 1993’’.

4 SEC. 2. CONGRESSIONAL FINDINGS AND DECLARATION OF

5 PURPOSES.

6 (a) FINDINGS.—The Congress finds that—

7 (1) the framers of the Constitution, recognizing

8 free exercise of religion as an unalienable right, se9 cured its protection in the First Amendment to the

10 Constitution;
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1 (2) laws ‘‘neutral’’ toward religion may burden

2 religious exercise as surely as laws intended to inter3 fere with religious exercise;

4 (3) governments should not substantially burden

5 religious exercise without compelling justification;

6 (4) in Employment Division v. Smith, 494 U.S.

7 872 (1990) the Supreme Court virtually eliminated

8 the requirement that the government justify burdens

9 on religious exercise imposed by laws neutral toward

10 religion; and

11 (5) the compelling interest test as set forth in

12 prior Federal court rulings is a workable test for

13 striking sensible balances between religious liberty

14 and competing prior governmental interests.

15 (b) PURPOSES.—The purposes of this Act are—

16 (1) to restore the compelling interest test as set

17 forth in Sherbert v. Verner, 374 U.S. 398 (1963) and

18 Wisconsin v. Yoder, 406 U.S. 205 (1972) and to guar19 antee its application in all cases where free exercise

20 of religion is substantially burdened; and

21 (2) to provide a claim or defense to persons

22 whose religious exercise is substantially burdened by

23 government.
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1 SEC. 3. FREE EXERCISE OF RELIGION PROTECTED.

2 (a) IN GENERAL.—Government shall not substantially

3 burden a person’s exercise of religion even if the burden re4 sults from a rule of general applicability, except as provided

5 in subsection (b).

6 (b) EXCEPTION.—Government may substantially bur7 den a person’s exercise of religion only if it demonstrates

8 that application of the burden to the person—

9 (1) is in furtherance of a compelling govern10 mental interest; and

11 (2) is the least restrictive means of furthering

12 that compelling governmental interest.

13 (c) JUDICIAL RELIEF.—A person whose religious exer14 cise has been burdened in violation of this section may as15 sert that violation as a claim or defense in a judicial pro16 ceeding and obtain appropriate relief against a government.

17 Standing to assert a claim or defense under this section

18 shall be governed by the general rules of standing under

19 article III of the Constitution.

20 SEC. 4. ATTORNEYS FEES.

21 (a) JUDICIAL PROCEEDINGS.—Section 722 of the Re22 vised Statutes (42 U.S.C. 1988) is amended by inserting

23 ‘‘the Religious Freedom Restoration Act of 1993,’’ before ‘‘or

24 title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964’’.

25 (b) ADMINISTRATIVE PROCEEDINGS.—Section

26 504(b)(1)(C) of title 5, United States Code, is amended—
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1 (1) by striking ‘‘and’’ at the end of clause (ii);

2 (2) by striking the semicolon at the end of clause

3 (iii) and inserting ‘‘, and’’; and

4 (3) by inserting ‘‘(iv) the Religious Freedom Res5 toration Act of 1993;’’ after clause (iii).

6 SEC. 5. DEFINITIONS.

7 As used in this Act—

8 (1) the term ‘‘government’’ includes a branch, de9 partment, agency, instrumentality, and official (or

10 other person acting under color of law) of the United

11 States, a State, or a subdivision of a State;

12 (2) the term ‘‘State’’ includes the District of Co13 lumbia, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, and each

14 territory and possession of the United States;

15 (3) the term ‘‘demonstrates’’ means meets the

16 burdens of going forward with the evidence and of

17 persuasion; and

18 (4) the term ‘‘exercise of religion’’ means the ex19 ercise of religion under the First Amendment to the

20 Constitution.

21 SEC. 6. APPLICABILITY.

22 (a) IN GENERAL.—This Act applies to all Federal and

23 State law, and the implementation of that law, whether

24 statutory or otherwise, and whether adopted before or after

25 the enactment of this Act.
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1 (b) RULE OF CONSTRUCTION.—Federal statutory law

2 adopted after the date of the enactment of this Act is subject

3 to this Act unless such law explicitly excludes such applica4 tion by reference to this Act.

5 (c) RELIGIOUS BELIEF UNAFFECTED.—Nothing in

6 this Act shall be construed to authorize any government to

7 burden any religious belief.

8 SEC. 7. ESTABLISHMENT CLAUSE UNAFFECTED.

9 Nothing in this Act shall be construed to affect, inter10 pret, or in any way address that portion of the First

11 Amendment prohibiting laws respecting the establishment

12 of religion (referred to in this section as the ‘‘Establishment

13 Clause’’). Granting government funding, benefits, or exemp14 tions, to the extent permissible under the Establishment

15 Clause, shall not constitute a violation of this Act. As used

16 in this section, the term ‘‘granting’’, used with respect to

17 government funding, benefits, or exemptions, does not in18 clude the denial of government funding, benefits, or exemp19 tions.

Attest:

Secretary.