103D CONGRESS

1ST SESSION H. R. 1308

AN ACT

To protect the free exercise of religion.
103D CONGRESS

1ST SESSION H. R. 1308

AN ACT

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—
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1 (1) the framers of the American Constitution,

2 recognizing free exercise of religion as an

3 unalienable right, secured its protection in the First

4 Amendment to the Constitution;

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

6 religious exercise as surely as laws intended to

7 interfere with religious exercise;

8 (3) governments should not burden religious ex9 ercise without compelling justification;

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

11 the Supreme Court virtually eliminated the require12 ment that the government justify burdens on reli13 gious exercise imposed by laws neutral toward

14 religion; and

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

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

17 workable test for striking sensible balances between

18 religious liberty and competing governmental inter19 ests.

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

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

22 forth in Federal court cases before Employment Di23 vision of Oregon v. Smith and to guarantee its appli24 cation in all cases where free exercise of religion is

25 burdened; and
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1 (2) to provide a claim or defense to persons

2 whose religious exercise is burdened by government.

3 SEC. 3. FREE EXERCISE OF RELIGION PROTECTED.

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

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

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

7 subsection (b).

8 (b) EXCEPTION.—Government may burden a per9 son’s exercise of religion only if it demonstrates that appli10 cation of the burden to the person—

11 (1) furthers a compelling governmental interest;

12 and

13 (2) is the least restrictive means of furthering

14 that compelling governmental interest.

15 (c) JUDICIAL RELIEF.—A person whose religious ex16 ercise has been burdened in violation of this section may

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

18 proceeding and obtain appropriate relief against a govern19 ment. Standing to assert a claim or defense under this

20 section shall be governed by the general rules of standing

21 under article III of the Constitution.

22 SEC. 4. ATTORNEYS FEES.

23 (a) JUDICIAL PROCEEDINGS.—Section 722 of the Re24 vised Statutes of the United States (42 U.S.C. 1988) is

25 amended by inserting ‘‘the Religious Freedom Restoration
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1 Act of 1993,’’ before ‘‘or title VI of the Civil Rights Act

2 of 1964’’.

3 (b) ADMINISTRATIVE PROCEEDINGS.—Section

4 504(b)(1)(C) of title 5, United States Code, is amended—

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

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

7 clause (iii) and inserting ‘‘; and’’; and

8 (3) by inserting ‘‘(iv) the Religious Freedom

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

10 SEC. 5. DEFINITIONS.

11 As used in this Act—

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

13 department, agency, instrumentality, and official (or

14 other person acting under color of law) of the

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

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

17 Columbia, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, and

18 each territory and possession of the United States;

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

20 burdens of going forward with the evidence and of

21 persuasion; and

22 (4) the term ‘‘exercise of religion’’ means exer23 cise of religion under the first article of amendment

24 to the Constitution of the United States.
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1 SEC. 6. APPLICABILITY.

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

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

4 whether statutory or otherwise, and whether adopted be5 fore or after the enactment of this Act.

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

7 adopted after the date of the enactment of this Act is sub8 ject to this Act unless such law explicitly excludes such

9 application by reference to this Act.

10 (c) RELIGIOUS BELIEF UNAFFECTED.—Nothing in

11 this Act shall be construed to authorize any government

12 to burden any religious belief.

13 SEC. 7. ESTABLISHMENT CLAUSE UNAFFECTED.

14 (a) IN GENERAL.—Nothing in this Act shall be con15 strued to affect, interpret, or in any way address that por16 tion of the First Amendment prohibiting laws respecting

17 the establishment of religion. Granting government fund18 ing, benefits, or exemptions, to the extent permissible

19 under the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment,

20 shall not constitute a violation of this Act.

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

22 ‘‘granting government funding, benefits, or exemptions’’
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1 does not include a denial of government funding, benefits,

2 or exemptions.

Passed the House of Representatives May 11, 1993.

Attest:

Clerk.