106TH CONGRESS

1ST SESSION H. R. 1691

AN ACT

To protect religious liberty.
106TH CONGRESS

1ST SESSION H. R. 1691

AN ACT

To protect religious liberty.

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,
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1 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

2 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Religious Liberty Pro3 tection Act of 1999’’.

4 SEC. 2. PROTECTION OF RELIGIOUS EXERCISE.

5 (a) GENERAL RULE.—Except as provided in sub6 section (b), a government shall not substantially burden

7 a person’s religious exercise—

8 (1) in a program or activity, operated by a gov9 ernment, that receives Federal financial assistance;

10 or

11 (2) in any case in which the substantial burden

12 on the person’s religious exercise affects, or in which

13 a removal of that substantial burden would affect,

14 commerce with foreign nations, among the several

15 States, or with Indian tribes,

16 even if the burden results from a rule of general applica17 bility.

18 (b) EXCEPTION.—A government may substantially

19 burden a person’s religious exercise if the government

20 demonstrates that application of the burden to the

21 person—

22 (1) is in furtherance of a compelling govern23 mental interest; and

24 (2) is the least restrictive means of furthering

25 that compelling governmental interest.
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1 (c) REMEDIES OF THE UNITED STATES.—Nothing in

2 this section shall be construed to authorize the United

3 States to deny or withhold Federal financial assistance as

4 a remedy for a violation of this Act. However, nothing in

5 this subsection shall be construed to deny, impair, or oth6 erwise affect any right or authority of the Attorney Gen7 eral or the United States or any agency, officer, or em8 ployee thereof under other law, including section 4(d) of

9 this Act, to institute or intervene in any action or pro10 ceeding.

11 SEC. 3. ENFORCEMENT OF CONSTITUTIONAL RIGHTS.

12 (a) PROCEDURE.—If a claimant produces prima facie

13 evidence to support a claim alleging a violation of the Free

14 Exercise Clause or a violation of a provision of this Act

15 enforcing that clause, the government shall bear the bur16 den of persuasion on any element of the claim; however,

17 the claimant shall bear the burden of persuasion on wheth18 er the challenged government practice, law, or regulation

19 burdens or substantially burdens the claimant’s exercise

20 of religion.

21 (b) LAND USE REGULATION.—

22 (1) LIMITATION ON LAND USE REGULATION.—

23 (A) Where, in applying or implementing

24 any land use regulation or exemption, or system

25 of land use regulations or exemptions, a govern-
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1 ment has the authority to make individualized

2 assessments of the proposed uses to which real

3 property would be put, the government may not

4 impose a substantial burden on a person’s reli5 gious exercise, unless the government dem6 onstrates that application of the burden to the

7 person is in furtherance of a compelling govern8 mental interest and is the least restrictive

9 means of furthering that compelling govern10 mental interest.

11 (B) No government shall impose or imple12 ment a land use regulation in a manner that

13 does not treat religious assemblies or institu14 tions on equal terms with nonreligious assem15 blies or institutions.

16 (C) No government shall impose or imple17 ment a land use regulation that discriminates

18 against any assembly or institution on the basis

19 of religion or religious denomination.

20 (D) No government with zoning authority

21 shall unreasonably exclude from the jurisdiction

22 over which it has authority, or unreasonably

23 limit within that jurisdiction, assemblies or in24 stitutions principally devoted to religious exer25 cise.
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1 (2) FULL FAITH AND CREDIT.—Adjudication of

2 a claim of a violation of the Free Exercise Clause or

3 this subsection in a non-Federal forum shall be enti4 tled to full faith and credit in a Federal court only

5 if the claimant had a full and fair adjudication of

6 that claim in the non-Federal forum.

7 (3) NONPREEMPTION.—Nothing in this sub8 section shall preempt State law that is equally or

9 more protective of religious exercise.

10 SEC. 4. JUDICIAL RELIEF.

11 (a) CAUSE OF ACTION.—A person may assert a viola12 tion of this Act as a claim or defense in a judicial pro13 ceeding and obtain appropriate relief against a govern14 ment. Standing to assert a claim or defense under this

15 section shall be governed by the general rules of standing

16 under article III of the Constitution.

17 (b) ATTORNEYS’ FEES.—Section 722(b) of the Re18 vised Statutes (42 U.S.C. 1988(b)) is amended—

19 (1) by inserting ‘‘the Religious Liberty Protec20 tion Act of 1998,’’ after ‘‘Religious Freedom Res21 toration Act of 1993,’’; and

22 (2) by striking the comma that follows a

23 comma.

24 (c) PRISONERS.—Any litigation under this Act in

25 which the claimant is a prisoner shall be subject to the
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1 Prison Litigation Reform Act of 1995 (including provi2 sions of law amended by that Act).

3 (d) AUTHORITY OF UNITED STATES TO ENFORCE

4 THIS ACT.—The United States may sue for injunctive or

5 declaratory relief to enforce compliance with this Act.

6 SEC. 5. RULES OF CONSTRUCTION.

7 (a) RELIGIOUS BELIEF UNAFFECTED.—Nothing in

8 this Act shall be construed to authorize any government

9 to burden any religious belief.

10 (b) RELIGIOUS EXERCISE NOT REGULATED.—Noth11 ing in this Act shall create any basis for restricting or

12 burdening religious exercise or for claims against a reli13 gious organization, including any religiously affiliated

14 school or university, not acting under color of law.

15 (c) CLAIMS TO FUNDING UNAFFECTED.—Nothing in

16 this Act shall create or preclude a right of any religious

17 organization to receive funding or other assistance from

18 a government, or of any person to receive government

19 funding for a religious activity, but this Act may require

20 government to incur expenses in its own operations to

21 avoid imposing a burden or a substantial burden on reli22 gious exercise.

23 (d) OTHER AUTHORITY TO IMPOSE CONDITIONS ON

24 FUNDING UNAFFECTED.—Nothing in this Act shall—
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1 (1) authorize a government to regulate or af2 fect, directly or indirectly, the activities or policies of

3 a person other than a government as a condition of

4 receiving funding or other assistance; or

5 (2) restrict any authority that may exist under

6 other law to so regulate or affect, except as provided

7 in this Act.

8 (e) GOVERNMENTAL DISCRETION IN ALLEVIATING

9 BURDENS ON RELIGIOUS EXERCISE.—A government may

10 avoid the preemptive force of any provision of this Act by

11 changing the policy that results in the substantial burden

12 on religious exercise, by retaining the policy and exempt13 ing the burdened religious exercise, by providing exemp14 tions from the policy for applications that substantially

15 burden religious exercise, or by any other means that

16 eliminates the substantial burden.

17 (f) EFFECT ON OTHER LAW.—In a claim under sec18 tion 2(a)(2) of this Act, proof that a substantial burden

19 on a person’s religious exercise, or removal of that burden,

20 affects or would affect commerce, shall not establish any

21 inference or presumption that Congress intends that any

22 religious exercise is, or is not, subject to any other law.

23 (g) BROAD CONSTRUCTION.—This Act should be con24 strued in favor of a broad protection of religious exercise,
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1 to the maximum extent permitted by its terms and the

2 Constitution.

3 (h) SEVERABILITY.—If any provision of this Act or

4 of an amendment made by this Act, or any application

5 of such provision to any person or circumstance, is held

6 to be unconstitutional, the remainder of this Act, the

7 amendments made by this Act, and the application of the

8 provision to any other person or circumstance shall not

9 be affected.

10 SEC. 6. ESTABLISHMENT CLAUSE UNAFFECTED.

11 Nothing in this Act shall be construed to affect, inter12 pret, or in any way address that portion of the first

13 amendment to the Constitution prohibiting laws respect14 ing an establishment of religion (referred to in this section

15 as the ‘‘Establishment Clause’’). Granting government

16 funding, benefits, or exemptions, to the extent permissible

17 under the Establishment Clause, shall not constitute a vio18 lation of this Act. As used in this section, the term ‘‘grant19 ing’’, used with respect to government funding, benefits,

20 or exemptions, does not include the denial of government

21 funding, benefits, or exemptions.
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1 SEC. 7. AMENDMENTS TO RELIGIOUS FREEDOM RESTORA2 TION ACT.

3 (a) DEFINITIONS.—Section 5 of the Religious Free4 dom Restoration Act of 1993 (42 U.S.C. 2000bb–2) is

5 amended—

6 (1) in paragraph (1), by striking ‘‘a State, or

7 subdivision of a State’’ and inserting ‘‘a covered en8 tity or a subdivision of such an entity’’;

9 (2) in paragraph (2), by striking ‘‘term’’ and all

10 that follows through ‘‘includes’’ and inserting ‘‘term

11 ‘covered entity’ means’’; and

12 (3) in paragraph (4), by striking all after

13 ‘‘means,’’ and inserting ‘‘any exercise of religion,

14 whether or not compelled by, or central to, a system

15 of religious belief, and includes (A) the use, building,

16 or conversion of real property by a person or entity

17 intending that property for religious exercise; and

18 (B) any conduct protected as exercise of religion

19 under the first amendment to the Constitution.’’.

20 (b) CONFORMING AMENDMENT.—Section 6(a) of the

21 Religious Freedom Restoration Act of 1993 (42 U.S.C.

22 2000bb–3(a)) is amended by striking ‘‘and State’’.

23 SEC. 8. DEFINITIONS.

24 As used in this Act—

25 (1) the term ‘‘religious exercise’’ means any ex26 ercise of religion, whether or not compelled by, or
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1 central to, a system of religious belief, and includes

2 (A) the use, building, or conversion of real property

3 by a person or entity intending that property for re4 ligious exercise; and (B) any conduct protected as

5 exercise of religion under the first amendment to the

6 Constitution;

7 (2) the term ‘‘Free Exercise Clause’’ means

8 that portion of the first amendment to the Constitu9 tion that proscribes laws prohibiting the free exercise

10 of religion and includes the application of that pro11 scription under the 14th amendment to the Con12 stitution;

13 (3) the term ‘‘land use regulation’’ means a law

14 or decision by a government that limits or restricts

15 a private person’s uses or development of land, or of

16 structures affixed to land, where the law or decision

17 applies to one or more particular parcels of land or

18 to land within one or more designated geographical

19 zones, and where the private person has an owner20 ship, leasehold, easement, servitude, or other prop21 erty interest in the regulated land, or a contract or

22 option to acquire such an interest;

23 (4) the term ‘‘program or activity’’ means a

24 program or activity as defined in paragraph (1) or
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1 (2) of section 606 of the Civil Rights Act of 1964

2 (42 U.S.C. 2000d–4a);

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

4 burdens of going forward with the evidence and of

5 persuasion; and

6 (6) the term ‘‘government’’—

7 (A) means—

8 (i) a State, county, municipality, or

9 other governmental entity created under

10 the authority of a State;

11 (ii) any branch, department, agency,

12 instrumentality, subdivision, or official of

13 an entity listed in clause (i); and

14 (iii) any other person acting under

15 color of State law; and

16 (B) for the purposes of sections 3(a) and

17 5, includes the United States, a branch, depart18 ment, agency, instrumentality or official of the

19 United States, and any person acting under

20 color of Federal law.

Passed the House of Representatives July 15, 1999.

Attest:

Clerk.