Calendar No. 64

103D CONGRESS

1ST SESSION H. R. 1308

AN ACT

M

To protect the free exercise of religion.

AY 13 (legislative day, APRIL 19), 1993

Received; read twice and ordered placed on the calendar
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Calendar No. 64

103D CONGRESS

1ST SESSION H. R. 1308

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

MAY 13 (legislative day, APRIL 19), 1993

Received; read twice and ordered placed on the calendar

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—

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

2 religious exercise as surely as laws intended to

3 interfere with religious exercise;

4 (3) governments should not burden religious ex5 ercise without compelling justification;

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

7 the Supreme Court virtually eliminated the require8 ment that the government justify burdens on reli9 gious exercise imposed by laws neutral toward

10 religion; and

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

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

13 workable test for striking sensible balances between

14 religious liberty and competing governmental inter15 ests.

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

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

18 forth in Federal court cases before Employment Di19 vision of Oregon v. Smith and to guarantee its appli20 cation in all cases where free exercise of religion is

21 burdened; and

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

23 whose religious exercise is burdened by government.
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1 SEC. 3. FREE EXERCISE OF RELIGION PROTECTED.

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

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

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

5 subsection (b).

6 (b) EXCEPTION.—Government may burden a per7 son’s exercise of religion only if it demonstrates that appli8 cation of the burden to the person—

9 (1) furthers a compelling governmental interest;

10 and

11 (2) is the least restrictive means of furthering

12 that compelling governmental interest.

13 (c) JUDICIAL RELIEF.—A person whose religious ex14 ercise has been burdened in violation of this section may

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

16 proceeding and obtain appropriate relief against a govern17 ment. Standing to assert a claim or defense under this

18 section shall be governed by the general rules of standing

19 under article III of the Constitution.

20 SEC. 4. ATTORNEYS FEES.

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

23 amended by inserting ‘‘the Religious Freedom Restoration

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

25 of 1964’’.
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1 (b) ADMINISTRATIVE PROCEEDINGS.—Section

2 504(b)(1)(C) of title 5, United States Code, is amended—

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

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

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

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

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

8 SEC. 5. DEFINITIONS.

9 As used in this Act—

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

11 department, agency, instrumentality, and official (or

12 other person acting under color of law) of the

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

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

15 Columbia, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, and

16 each territory and possession of the United States;

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

18 burdens of going forward with the evidence and of

19 persuasion; and

20 (4) the term ‘‘exercise of religion’’ means exer21 cise of religion under the first article of amendment

22 to the Constitution of the United States.

23 SEC. 6. APPLICABILITY.

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

25 and State law, and the implementation of that law,
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1 whether statutory or otherwise, and whether adopted be2 fore or after the enactment of this Act.

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

4 adopted after the date of the enactment of this Act is sub5 ject to this Act unless such law explicitly excludes such

6 application by reference to this Act.

7 (c) RELIGIOUS BELIEF UNAFFECTED.—Nothing in

8 this Act shall be construed to authorize any government

9 to burden any religious belief.

10 SEC. 7. ESTABLISHMENT CLAUSE UNAFFECTED.

11 (a) IN GENERAL.—Nothing in this Act shall be con12 strued to affect, interpret, or in any way address that por13 tion of the First Amendment prohibiting laws respecting

14 the establishment of religion. Granting government fund15 ing, benefits, or exemptions, to the extent permissible

16 under the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment,

17 shall not constitute a violation of this Act.

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

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

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

21 or exemptions.

Passed the House of Representatives May 11, 1993.

Attest: DONNALD K. ANDERSON,

Clerk.