II 

118TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 1206 

To amend the Religious Freedom Restoration Act of 1993 to protect civil 

rights and otherwise prevent meaningful harm to third parties, and 

for other purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

APRIL 19, 2023 

Mr. BOOKER (for himself, Mr. BLUMENTHAL, Ms. CORTEZ MASTO, Ms. 

BALDWIN, Mr. MERKLEY, Mr. MARKEY, Mr. SANDERS, Mr. REED, Mr. 

HICKENLOOPER, Ms. CANTWELL, Mr. WHITEHOUSE, Ms. WARREN, Mr. 

PADILLA, Mrs. FEINSTEIN, Mr. MENENDEZ, Mr. VAN HOLLEN, Mrs. 

SHAHEEN, Ms. KLOBUCHAR, Mr. WYDEN, Mr. HEINRICH, Mr. CARDIN, 

Ms. STABENOW, Mr. CARPER, Ms. DUCKWORTH, Mr. DURBIN, Mr. 

BROWN, and Mr. LUJA ́N) introduced the following bill; which was read 

twice and referred to the Committee on the Judiciary 

A BILL 

To amend the Religious Freedom Restoration Act of 1993 

to protect civil rights and otherwise prevent meaningful 

harm to third parties, 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 ‘‘Do No Harm Act’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. EXCEPTION FROM APPLICATION OF ACT WHERE 

2 FEDERAL LAW PREVENTS HARM TO OTHERS. 

3 Section 3 of the Religious Freedom Restoration Act 

4 of 1993 (42 U.S.C. 2000bb–1) is amended by adding at 

5 the end the following: 

6 ‘‘(d) ADDITIONAL EXCEPTION FROM APPLICATION

7 OF ACT WHERE FEDERAL LAW PREVENTS HARM TO

8 OTHERS.—Subsections (a), (b), and (c) do not apply to— 

9 ‘‘(1) any provision of law or its implementation 

10 that provides for or requires— 

11 ‘‘(A) a protection against discrimination or 

12 the promotion of equal opportunity, including 

13 the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (42 U.S.C. 2000a 

14 et seq.), the Americans with Disabilities Act of 

15 1990 (42 U.S.C. 12101 et seq.), the Family 

16 and Medical Leave Act of 1993 (29 U.S.C. 

17 2601 et seq.), Executive Order 11246 (42 

18 U.S.C. 2000e note; relating to equal employ19 ment opportunity), and the Violence Against 

20 Women Act of 1994 (42 U.S.C. 13925 et seq.); 

21 ‘‘(B) an employer to provide a wage, other 

22 compensation, or a benefit, including leave, or 

23 a standard protecting collective activity in the 

24 workplace; 

25 ‘‘(C) a protection against child labor, child 

26 abuse, or child exploitation; or 


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1 ‘‘(D) access to, information about, a refer2 ral for, provision of, or coverage for, any health 

3 care item or service; 

4 ‘‘(2) any term of a government contract, grant, 

5 cooperative agreement, or other award, that provides 

6 funds directly or indirectly, and that requires a 

7 good, service, function, or activity to be performed 

8 for or provided to a beneficiary of or a participant 

9 in a program or activity funded, directly or indi10 rectly, by a government contract, grant, cooperative 

11 agreement, or other award; or 

12 ‘‘(3) the extent that application would result in 

13 denying a person the full and equal enjoyment of a 

14 good, service, benefit, facility, privilege, advantage, 

15 or accommodation provided by the government.’’. 

16 SEC. 3. CLARIFICATION OF PRECLUSION OF LITIGATION 

17 BETWEEN PRIVATE PARTIES. 

18 (a) PURPOSE.—The purpose of the amendment made 

19 by subsection (b) is to clarify the applicability of the Reli20 gious Freedom Restoration Act of 1993 (42 U.S.C. 

21 2000bb et seq.). 

22 (b) PRECLUSION.—Section 3(c) of the Religious 

23 Freedom Restoration Act of 1993 (42 U.S.C. 2000bb– 

24 1(c)) is amended, in the first sentence, by striking ‘‘judi25 cial proceeding’’ and all that follows through the first peVerDate Sep 11 2014 22:41 Apr 21, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1206.IS S1206

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1 riod and inserting ‘‘judicial proceeding to which a govern2 ment is a party and obtain appropriate relief against that 

3 government.’’. 

Æ 


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