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Union Calendar No. 125

106TH CONGRESS

1ST SESSION H. R. 1691

[Report No. 106–219]

To protect religious liberty.

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

MAY 5, 1999

Mr. CANADY of Florida (for himself, Mr. EDWARDS, Mr. HYDE, Mr. WEINER,

Mr. SENSENBRENNER, Mr. HUTCHINSON, Mr. GREEN of Texas, Mr.

SMITH of Texas, Mr. ROGAN, Mr. PETERSON of Minnesota, and Mr.

CANNON) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on the Judiciary

JULY 1, 1999

Additional sponsors: Mr. BENTSEN, Mr. SPRATT, Mr. HEFLEY, Mr. BACHUS,

Mr. HALL of Texas, Mr. MCKEON, Mr. TAYLOR of North Carolina, Mr.

ENGLISH, Mr. COOK, Mr. STUMP, Mr. TAYLOR of Mississippi, Mrs.

EMERSON, Mrs. MORELLA, Mr. WOLF, Mr. KING, Mr. DICKEY, Mr. NORWOOD, Mr. HASTINGS of Washington, Mr. RILEY, Mr. SHOWS, Mr.

WELLER, Mr. BLUNT, Mr. GREEN of Wisconsin, Mr. CAMP, Mr.

WHITFIELD, Mr. BARRETT of Nebraska, Mr. COBURN, Mr. HALL of

Ohio, and Mr. WALDEN of Oregon

JULY 1, 1999

Reported with an amendment, committed to the Committee of the Whole

House on the State of the Union, and ordered to be printed

[Strike out all after the enacting clause and insert the part printed in italic]

[For text of introduced bill, see copy of bill as introduced on May 5, 1999]

A BILL

To protect religious liberty.
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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 Liberty Pro5 tection Act of 1999’’.

6 SEC. 2. PROTECTION OF RELIGIOUS EXERCISE.

7 (a) GENERAL RULE.—Except as provided in sub8 section (b), a government shall not substantially burden a

9 person’s religious exercise—

10 (1) in a program or activity, operated by a gov11 ernment, that receives Federal financial assistance; or

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

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

14 a removal of that substantial burden would affect,

15 commerce with foreign nations, among the several

16 States, or with Indian tribes;

17 even if the burden results from a rule of general applica18 bility.

19 (b) EXCEPTION.—A government may substantially

20 burden a person’s religious exercise if the government dem21 onstrates that application of the burden to the 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 States

3 to deny or withhold Federal financial assistance as a rem4 edy for a violation of this Act. However, nothing in this

5 subsection shall be construed to deny, impair, or otherwise

6 affect any right or authority of the Attorney General or the

7 United States or any agency, officer, or employee thereof

8 under other law, including section 4(d) of this Act, to insti9 tute or intervene in any action or proceeding.

10 SEC. 3. ENFORCEMENT OF CONSTITUTIONAL RIGHTS.

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

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

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

14 enforcing that clause, the government shall bear the burden

15 of persuasion on any element of the claim; however, the

16 claimant shall bear the burden of persuasion on whether

17 the challenged government practice, law, or regulation bur18 dens or substantially burdens the claimant’s exercise of reli19 gion.

20 (b) LAND USE REGULATION.—

21 (1) LIMITATION ON LAND USE REGULATION.—

22 (A) Where, in applying or implementing

23 any land use regulation or exemption, or system

24 of land use regulations or exemptions, a govern25 ment has the authority to make individualized
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1 assessments of the proposed uses to which real

2 property would be put, the government may not

3 impose a substantial burden on a person’s reli4 gious exercise, unless the government dem5 onstrates that application of the burden to the

6 person is in furtherance of a compelling govern7 mental interest and is the least restrictive means

8 of furthering that compelling governmental inter9 est.

10 (B) No government shall impose or imple11 ment a land use regulation in a manner that

12 does not treat religious assemblies or institutions

13 on equal terms with nonreligious assemblies or

14 institutions.

15 (C) No government shall impose or imple16 ment a land use regulation that discriminates

17 against any assembly or institution on the basis

18 of religion or religious denomination.

19 (D) No government with zoning authority

20 shall unreasonably exclude from the jurisdiction

21 over which it has authority, or unreasonably

22 limit within that jurisdiction, assemblies or in23 stitutions principally devoted to religious exer24 cise.
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1 (2) FULL FAITH AND CREDIT.—Adjudication of a

2 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 government.

14 Standing to assert a claim or defense under this section

15 shall be governed by the general rules of standing under

16 article III of the Constitution.

17 (b) ATTORNEYS’ FEES.—Section 722(b) of the Revised

18 Statutes (42 U.S.C. 1988(b)) is amended—

19 (1) by inserting ‘‘the Religious Liberty Protec20 tion Act of 1998,’’ after ‘‘Religious Freedom Restora21 tion Act of 1993,’’; and

22 (2) by striking the comma that follows a comma.

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

24 which the claimant is a prisoner shall be subject to the Pris-
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1 on Litigation Reform Act of 1995 (including provisions of

2 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 to

9 burden any religious belief.

10 (b) RELIGIOUS EXERCISE NOT REGULATED.—Nothing

11 in this Act shall create any basis for restricting or bur12 dening religious exercise or for claims against a religious

13 organization, including any religiously affiliated school or

14 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 a

18 government, or of any person to receive government funding

19 for a religious activity, but this Act may require govern20 ment to incur expenses in its own operations to avoid im21 posing a burden or a substantial burden on religious exer22 cise.

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 affect,

2 directly or indirectly, the activities or policies of a

3 person other than a government as a condition of re4 ceiving 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 exempting

13 the burdened religious exercise, by providing exemptions

14 from the policy for applications that substantially burden

15 religious exercise, or by any other means that eliminates

16 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 on

19 a person’s religious exercise, or removal of that burden, af20 fects or would affect commerce, shall not establish any infer21 ence or presumption that Congress intends that any reli22 gious 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 Con2 stitution.

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

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

5 provision to any person or circumstance, is held to be un6 constitutional, the remainder of this Act, the amendments

7 made by this Act, and the application of the provision to

8 any other person or circumstance shall not be affected.

9 SEC. 6. ESTABLISHMENT CLAUSE UNAFFECTED.

10 Nothing in this Act shall be construed to affect, inter11 pret, or in any way address that portion of the first amend12 ment to the Constitution prohibiting laws respecting an es13 tablishment of religion (referred to in this section as the

14 ‘‘Establishment Clause’’). Granting government funding,

15 benefits, or exemptions, to the extent permissible under the

16 Establishment Clause, shall not constitute a violation of this

17 Act. As used in this section, the term ‘‘granting’’, used with

18 respect to government funding, benefits, or exemptions, does

19 not include the denial of government funding, benefits, or

20 exemptions.

21 SEC. 7. AMENDMENTS TO RELIGIOUS FREEDOM RESTORA22 TION ACT.

23 (a) DEFINITIONS.—Section 5 of the Religious Freedom

24 Restoration Act of 1993 (42 U.S.C. 2000bb–2) is

25 amended—
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1 (1) in paragraph (1), by striking ‘‘a State, or

2 subdivision of a State’’ and inserting ‘‘a covered enti3 ty or a subdivision of such an entity’’;

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

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

6 ‘covered entity’ means’’; and

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

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

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

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

11 or conversion of real property by a person or entity

12 intending that property for religious exercise; and (B)

13 any conduct protected as exercise of religion under the

14 first amendment to the Constitution.’’.

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

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

17 2000bb–3(a)) is amended by striking ‘‘and State’’.

18 SEC. 8. DEFINITIONS.

19 As used in this Act—

20 (1) the term ‘‘religious exercise’’ means any exer21 cise of religion, whether or not compelled by, or cen22 tral to, a system of religious belief, and includes (A)

23 the use, building, or conversion of real property by a

24 person or entity intending that property for religious

25 exercise; and (B) any conduct protected as exercise of
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1 religion under the first amendment to the Constitu2 tion;

3 (2) the term ‘‘Free Exercise Clause’’ means that

4 portion of the first amendment to the Constitution

5 that proscribes laws prohibiting the free exercise of re6 ligion and includes the application of that proscrip7 tion under the 14th amendment to the Constitution;

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

9 or decision by a government that limits or restricts

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

11 structures affixed to land, where the law or decision

12 applies to one or more particular parcels of land or

13 to land within one or more designated geographical

14 zones, and where the private person has an owner15 ship, leasehold, easement, servitude, or other property

16 interest in the regulated land, or a contract or option

17 to acquire such an interest;

18 (4) the term ‘‘program or activity’’ means a pro19 gram or activity as defined in paragraph (1) or (2)

20 of section 606 of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (42

21 U.S.C. 2000d–4a);

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

23 burdens of going forward with the evidence and of

24 persuasion; and

25 (6) the term ‘‘government’’—
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1 (A) means—

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

3 other governmental entity created under the

4 authority of a State;

5 (ii) any branch, department, agency,

6 instrumentality, subdivision, or official of

7 an entity listed in clause (i); and

8 (iii) any other person acting under

9 color of State law; and

10 (B) for the purposes of sections 3(a) and 5,

11 includes the United States, a branch, depart12 ment, agency, instrumentality or official of the

13 United States, and any person acting under

14 color of Federal law.
Union Calendar No. 125

106TH CONGRESS

1ST SESSION H. R. 1691

[Report No. 106–219]

A BILL

To protect religious liberty.

JULY 1, 1999

Reported with an amendment, committed to the Comand ordered to be printed mittee of the Whole House on the State of the Union,