I

103D CONGRESS

1ST SESSION H. R. 1308

To protect the free exercise of religion.

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

MARCH 11, 1993

Mr. SCHUMER (for himself, Mr. COX, Mr. NADLER, Mrs. MALONEY, Mr. GILMAN, Mr. MORAN, Mr. LEWIS of Georgia, Ms. WOOLSEY, Mr. WASHINGTON, Mr. COOPER, Mr. ACKERMAN, Mr. CARDIN, Mr. YATES, Mrs.

MEEK, Mr. KOPETSKI, Mr. RAMSTAD, Mr. DEUTSCH, Mr. PRICE of

North Carolina, Mr. SWIFT, Ms. SHEPHERD, Mr. TOWNS, Mrs.

MORELLA, Mr. CRAPO, Mr. FRANK of Massachusetts, Mr. BERMAN, Mr.

EDWARDS of California, Ms. BYRNE, Ms. PELOSI, Mr. SUNDQUIST, Mr.

BRYANT, Mr. HUTCHINSON, Mrs. UNSOELD, Ms. MOLINARI, Mr. HALL

of Ohio, Ms. SLAUGHTER, Mr. HASTINGS, Mr. GUTIERREZ, Mr.

WELDON, Mr. GORDON, Mr. SPRATT, Mr. SAWYER, Mr. ANDREWS of

New Jersey, Mr. RUSH, Mr. LEHMAN, Mr. GLICKMAN, Mr. GONZALEZ,

Mr. JOHNSTON of Florida, Mrs. JOHNSON of Connecticut, Mr. MATSUI,

Mr. OWENS, Mr. MARTINEZ, Mr. MCDERMOTT, Mr. PORTER, Mr. JEFFERSON, Ms. ESHOO, Mr. HERGER, Mr. SAXTON, Mr. SMITH of Texas,

Mr. MCHALE, Mr. SANDERS, Ms. WATERS, Mr. WYNN, Mr. THORNTON,

Mr. NEAL of North Carolina, Mr. WYDEN, Ms. MARGOLIES-MEZVINSKY,

Mr. LANTOS, Mr. REYNOLDS, Mr. LEVY, Mr. STUDDS, Mr. LINDER, Mr.

BLACKWELL, Mr. MINETA, Mr. PAYNE of New Jersey, Ms. MCKINNEY,

Mr. TORRICELLI, Mr. KNOLLENBERG, Mr. SERRANO, Mr. SABO, Mr.

BARRETT of Wisconsin, Mr. MACHTLEY, Mr. SISISKY, Mr. TORRES, Mr.

DELLUMS, Mr. DEFAZIO, Mr. WAXMAN, Mr. STARK, Mr. SHAYS, Mr.

SCOTT, Mr. FROST, Mr. LEVIN, Mr. FILNER, Mr. PETE GEREN of Texas,

Mr. STRICKLAND, Mr. FINGERHUT, Mr. HOCHBRUECKNER, Mr. GEJDENSON, Mr. FRANKS of Connecticut, Mr. GOODLATTE, Mr. HOUGHTON, Mr.

LIGHTFOOT, Mr. SCHIFF, Mr. TALENT, Mr. BEILENSON, Mrs. LOWEY,

Mr. HANSEN, Ms. DELAURO, Mr. MFUME, Mr. HOYER, Ms. NORTON,

Mr. ORTON, Mr. GUNDERSON, Mr. WILLIAMS, Mr. HAMBURG, Mr.

KLEIN, Mr. DICKS, Mr. STUMP, Mr. EVANS, Mr. SKAGGS, Mr. STOKES,

Mrs. COLLINS of Illinois, Ms. VELA ́ZQUEZ, Mr. VENTO, Mr. GENE

GREEN of Texas, Mr. ANDREWS of Maine, Mr. BACCHUS of Florida, Mr.

FAZIO, Mr. COPPERSMITH, Mrs. KENNELLY, Mr. DERRICK, Mr. SWETT,

Mr. LAZIO, Mrs. FOWLER, Mr. FRANKS of New Jersey, Mr. RAVENEL,

Mr. MCKEON, and Mr. GALLO) introduced the following bill; which was

referred to the Committee on the Judiciary
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MAY 11, 1993

Additional sponsors: Mr. KENNEDY, Ms. CANTWELL, Mr. COLEMAN, Mr.

MEEHAN, Ms. LAMBERT, Mr. GINGRICH, Mr. KING, Mr. KREIDLER, Mr.

ZIMMER, Mr. HOEKSTRA, Mr. JACOBS, Mr. SANGMEISTER, Mr. SKELTON, Mr. MCMILLAN, Mr. GRANDY, Mr. DICKEY, Mr. ISTOOK, Ms.

SCHENK, Mr. LEACH, Mr. APPLEGATE, Mr. SLATTERY, Mr. DORNAN,

Mr. WHEAT, Mr. ROEMER, Mr. DREIER, Mr. BARTLETT of Maryland,

Mr. TUCKER, Ms. EDDIE BERNICE JOHNSON of Texas, Mr. OLVER, Mr.

FLAKE, Mr. PAYNE of Virginia, Ms. DANNER, Mr. HOBSON, and Mr.

JOHNSON of Georgia

A BILL

To protect the free exercise of religion.

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 ‘‘Religious Freedom

5 Restoration Act of 1993’’.

6 SEC. 2. CONGRESSIONAL FINDINGS AND DECLARATION OF

7 PURPOSES.

8 (a) FINDINGS.—The Congress finds—

9 (1) the framers of the American Constitution,

10 recognizing free exercise of religion as an

11 unalienable right, secured its protection in the First

12 Amendment to the Constitution;

13 (2) laws ‘‘neutral’’ toward religion may burden

14 religious exercise as surely as laws intended to

15 interfere with religious exercise;
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1 (3) governments should not burden religious ex2 ercise without compelling justification;

3 (4) in Employment Division of Oregon v. Smith

4 the Supreme Court virtually eliminated the require5 ment that the government justify burdens on reli6 gious exercise imposed by laws neutral toward

7 religion; and

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

9 Sherbert v. Verner and Wisconsin v. Yoder is a

10 workable test for striking sensible balances between

11 religious liberty and competing governmental inter12 ests.

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

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

15 forth in Federal court cases before Employment Di16 vision of Oregon v. Smith and to guarantee its appli17 cation in all cases where free exercise of religion is

18 burdened; and

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

20 whose religious exercise is burdened by government.

21 SEC. 3. FREE EXERCISE OF RELIGION PROTECTED.

22 (a) IN GENERAL.—Government shall not burden a

23 person’s exercise of religion even if the burden results

24 from a rule of general applicability, except as provided in

25 subsection (b).
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1 (b) EXCEPTION.—Government may burden a per2 son’s exercise of religion only if it demonstrates that appli3 cation of the burden to the person—

4 (1) furthers a compelling governmental interest;

5 and

6 (2) is the least restrictive means of furthering

7 that compelling governmental interest.

8 (c) JUDICIAL RELIEF.—A person whose religious ex9 ercise has been burdened in violation of this section may

10 assert that violation as a claim or defense in a judicial

11 proceeding and obtain appropriate relief against a govern12 ment. Standing to assert a claim or defense under this

13 section shall be governed by the general rules of standing

14 under article III of the Constitution.

15 SEC. 4. ATTORNEYS FEES.

16 (a) JUDICIAL PROCEEDINGS.—Section 722 of the Re17 vised Statutes of the United States (42 U.S.C. 1988) is

18 amended by inserting ‘‘the Religious Freedom Restoration

19 Act of 1993,’’ before ‘‘or title VI of the Civil Rights Act

20 of 1964’’.

21 (b) ADMINISTRATIVE PROCEEDINGS.—Section

22 504(b)(1)(C) of title 5, United States Code, is amended—

23 (1) by striking ‘‘and’’ at the end of clause (ii);

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

25 clause (iii) and inserting ‘‘; and’’; and
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1 (3) by inserting ‘‘(iv) the Religious Freedom

2 Restoration Act of 1993’’ after clause (iii).

3 SEC. 5. DEFINITIONS.

4 As used in this Act—

5 (1) the term ‘‘government’’ includes a branch,

6 department, agency, instrumentality, and official (or

7 other person acting under color of law) of the

8 United States, a State, or a subdivision of a State;

9 (2) the term ‘‘State’’ includes the District of

10 Columbia, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, and

11 each territory and possession of the United States;

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

13 burdens of going forward with the evidence and of

14 persuasion; and

15 (4) the term ‘‘exercise of religion’’ means exer16 cise of religion under the first article of amendment

17 to the Constitution of the United States.

18 SEC. 6. APPLICABILITY.

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

20 and State law, and the implementation of that law,

21 whether statutory or otherwise, and whether adopted be22 fore or after the enactment of this Act.

23 (b) RULE OF CONSTRUCTION.—Federal statutory law

24 adopted after the date of the enactment of this Act is sub-
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1 ject to this Act unless such law explicitly excludes such

2 application by reference to this Act.

3 (c) RELIGIOUS BELIEF UNAFFECTED.—Nothing in

4 this Act shall be construed to authorize any government

5 to burden any religious belief.

6 SEC. 7. ESTABLISHMENT CLAUSE UNAFFECTED.

7 (a) IN GENERAL.—Nothing in this Act shall be con8 strued to affect, interpret, or in any way address that por9 tion of the First Amendment prohibiting laws respecting

10 the establishment of religion. Granting government fund11 ing, benefits, or exemptions, to the extent permissible

12 under the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment,

13 shall not constitute a violation of this Act.

14 (b) DEFINITION.—As used in this section, the term

15 ‘‘granting government funding, benefits, or exemptions’’

16 does not include a denial of government funding, benefits,

17 or exemptions.

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