II 

114TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 1798 

To reauthorize the United States Commission on International Religious 

Freedom, and for other purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

JULY 16, 2015 

Mr. RUBIO introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred 

to the Committee on Foreign Relations 

A BILL 

To reauthorize the United States Commission on 

International Religious Freedom, 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 ‘‘United States Commis5 sion on International Religious Freedom Reauthorization 

6 Act of 2015’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. DESIGNATION OF ENTITIES OF PARTICULAR CON2 CERN FOR RELIGIOUS FREEDOM. 

3 Section 402(b)(1) of the International Religious 

4 Freedom Act of 1998 (22 U.S.C. 6442(b)(1)) is amend5 ed— 

6 (1) by redesignating subparagraphs (B) and 

7 (C) as subparagraphs (C) and (D), respectively; 

8 (2) in subparagraph (A)— 

9 (A) by inserting ‘‘, or whether such viola10 tions are occurring in territories in which a gov11 ernment does not exist or does not exercise con12 trol,’’ after ‘‘religious freedom in that country’’; 

13 and 

14 (B) by striking ‘‘The President’’ and in15 serting the following: 

16 ‘‘(B) DESIGNATIONS.— 

17 ‘‘(i) GOVERNMENTS.—The President’’; 

18 and 

19 (3) in subparagraph (B), as redesignated, by 

20 adding at the end the following: 

21 ‘‘(ii) NON-STATE ACTORS.—The Presi22 dent shall designate each non-state actor 

23 that has engaged in particularly severe vio24 lations of religious freedom as entities of 

25 particular concern for religious freedom.’’. 


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1 SEC. 3. ESTABLISHMENT AND COMPOSITION. 

2 Section 201 of the International Religious Freedom 

3 Act of 1998 (22 U.S.C. 6431) is amended— 

4 (1) in subsection (a), by inserting ‘‘, which shall 

5 be an independent Federal Government advisory 

6 body’’ before the period at the end; 

7 (2) in subsection (b)— 

8 (A) in paragraph (2)(A), by inserting at 

9 the end the following: ‘‘The Commission as a 

10 whole shall also have expertise on the variety of 

11 faiths practiced around the world.’’; and 

12 (B) in paragraph (3), by striking ‘‘The ap13 pointments required by paragraph (1) shall be 

14 made not later than 120 days after the date of 

15 the enactment of this Act.’’ and inserting ‘‘An 

16 appointment required under paragraph (1)(B) 

17 should be made not later than 90 days after a 

18 vacancy is created on the Commission.’’; 

19 (3) by amending subsection (d) to read as fol20 lows: 

21 ‘‘(d) ELECTION OF CHAIR AND VICE CHAIR.— 

22 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Subject to paragraphs (2) 

23 and (3), at the first meeting of the Commission after 

24 May 30 of each year, a majority of the members of 

25 the Commission present and voting shall elect the 

26 Chair and Vice Chair of the Commission. 


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1 ‘‘(2) POLITICAL PARTY BALANCE.—At the first 

2 meeting of the Commission after May 30, 2016, the 

3 members of the Commission shall elect— 

4 ‘‘(A) as Chair, a Commissioner appointed 

5 by an elected official of the political party of the 

6 President; and 

7 ‘‘(B)(i) as Vice Chair, a Commissioner ap8 pointed by an elected official of the political 

9 party that is not the political party of the Presi10 dent; or 

11 ‘‘(ii) in the occasion of 2 Vice Chairs— 

12 ‘‘(I) 1 Vice Chair appointed by an 

13 elected official of the political party of the 

14 President; and 

15 ‘‘(II) 1 Vice Chair appointed by an 

16 elected official of the political party that is 

17 not the political party of the President. 

18 ‘‘(3) ROTATION.—After the election described 

19 in paragraph (1), the positions of Chair and Vice 

20 Chair shall rotate on an annual basis between Com21 missioners appointed by elected officials of each po22 litical party.’’; 

23 (4) in subsection (f), by adding at the end the 

24 following: ‘‘The Ambassador at Large shall be given 

25 advance notice of all Commission meetings and may 


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1 attend all Commission meetings as a non-voting 

2 member of the Commission’’; and 

3 (5) in subsection (g), by striking the second 

4 sentence. 

5 SEC. 4. POWERS OF THE COMMISSION. 

6 Section 203(a) of the International Religious Free7 dom Act of 1998 (22 U.S.C. 6432a(a)) is amended by 

8 striking ‘‘may’’ and inserting ‘‘shall’’. 

9 SEC. 5. COMMISSION PERSONNEL MATTERS. 

10 Section 204 of the International Religious Freedom 

11 Act of 1998 (22 U.S.C. 6432b) is amended— 

12 (1) in subsection (a)— 

13 (A) in the second sentence, by inserting 

14 ‘‘voting’’ after ‘‘nine’’; and 

15 (B) by adding at the end the following: 

16 ‘‘The Commission shall conduct an annual re17 view of the Executive Director.’’; 

18 (2) in subsection (b), by inserting ‘‘voting mem19 bers of the’’ after ‘‘The’’; 

20 (3) in subsection (c), by inserting ‘‘The Com21 mission, working with the Executive Director, shall 

22 establish internal hiring procedures and practices for 

23 professional staff that reflect the collaborative na24 ture of the hiring process.’’ after ‘‘qualifications.’’; 

25 and 


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1 (4) in subsection (e), by adding at the end the 

2 following: ‘‘The Department of State is encouraged 

3 to allow Commissioners and Commission staff with 

4 the appropriate security clearance access to classi5 fied information, in order to fulfill the duties and re6 sponsibilities of their positions.’’. 

7 SEC. 6. STANDARDS OF CONDUCT AND DISCLOSURE. 

8 Section 208 of the International Religious Freedom 

9 Act of 1998 (22 U.S.C. 6435a) is amended— 

10 (1) in subsection (b)— 

11 (A) by redesignating paragraph (4) as 

12 paragraph (5); and 

13 (B) by inserting after paragraph (3) the 

14 following: 

15 ‘‘(2) CONFLICT OF INTEREST.—It is unlawful 

16 for a Commissioner to permit any person, entity, or 

17 special interest group, including foreign governments 

18 and state-owned enterprises, to inappropriately influ19 ence the Commissioner or to pose a conflict of inter20 est with his or her official duties. If such inappro21 priate influence or conflict of interest is discovered, 

22 the affected Commissioner shall recuse himself or 

23 herself from any discussion, decision, recommenda24 tion, or vote relating to such person, entity, or spe25 cial interest group.’’; and 


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1 (2) in subsection (d)(2), by adding at the end 

2 the following: 

3 ‘‘(H) Intern, fellowship, and volunteer pro4 grams that are primarily of educational benefit 

5 to the intern, fellow, or volunteer if the number, 

6 duration, and funding source of any such in7 ternship, fellowship, or volunteer program is de8 scribed in the annual financial report required 

9 under subsection (e) and the funding source has 

10 been approved by a majority vote of the Com11 mission. Sponsoring private parties may provide 

12 compensation and benefits to interns, fellows, 

13 and volunteers if no conflict of interest arises 

14 and the Commissioners are notified by any such 

15 sponsoring private parties of such compensation 

16 and benefits.’’. 

17 SEC. 7. EXTENSION AND TERMINATION OF AUTHORITY. 

18 The International Religious Freedom Act of 1998 

19 (Public Law 105–292) is amended— 

20 (1) in section 207(a) (22 U.S.C. 6435(a)), by 

21 striking ‘‘2015’’ and inserting ‘‘2021’’; and 

22 (2) in section 209 (22 U.S.C. 6436), by striking 

23 ‘‘September 30, 2015’’ and inserting ‘‘September 

24 30, 2021’’. 


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1 SEC. 8. TRAINING FOR FOREIGN SERVICE OFFICERS. 

2 Section 708(a) of the Foreign Service Act of 1980 

3 (22 U.S.C. 4028(a)) is amended— 

4 (1) in the matter preceding paragraph (1)— 

5 (A) by striking ‘‘and the director’’ and in6 serting ‘‘the director’’; and 

7 (B) by inserting ‘‘and members of the 

8 United States Commission on International Re9 ligious Freedom,’’ after ‘‘Training Center,’’; 

10 and 

11 (2) in paragraph (2)— 

12 (A) by striking ‘‘and the various’’ and in13 serting ‘‘the various’’; and 

14 (B) by inserting ‘‘, the relationship be15 tween religious freedom and security, and the 

16 role of religious freedom in United States for17 eign policy’’ after ‘‘violations of religious free18 dom’’. 

Æ 


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