II 

117TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION S. 3902 

To prohibit agencies from maintaining or sharing information relating to 

religious affiliation, and for other purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

MARCH 22, 2022 

Mr. MARSHALL (for himself, Mr. BRAUN, Mr. CRUZ, Mr. DAINES, Mrs. 

HYDE-SMITH, Mr. INHOFE, Mr. LANKFORD, Mr. SCOTT of Florida, Mr. 

WICKER, and Mr. RUBIO) introduced the following bill; which was read 

twice and referred to the Committee on the Judiciary 

A BILL 

To prohibit agencies from maintaining or sharing information 

relating to religious affiliation, 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 ‘‘Prohibiting Religious 

5 Exemption and Accommodations Databases Act’’. 

6 SEC. 2. SENSE OF THE SENATE. 

7 It is the sense of the Senate that— 

8 (1) the freedoms of the First Amendment to the 

9 Constitution of the United States, including the 


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1 right to free exercise of religion, are among the pre2 eminent blessings of liberty guaranteed by the Con3 stitution of the United States, and that religious 

4 freedom need not be sacrificed in service to our Gov5 ernment, but must be respected by law; and 

6 (2) immediate steps must be taken to prevent 

7 unwarranted dissemination of information on reli8 gious exemptions or accommodations sought or pro9 vided by or to any individual in conformance with 

10 principles of both section 552a of title 5, United 

11 States Code (commonly known as the ‘‘Privacy Act 

12 of 1974’’), in particular subsection (e)(7) of such 

13 section, as well as the guidance issued by the Equal 

14 Employment Opportunity Commission on December 

15 14, 2021. 

16 SEC. 3. MAINTENANCE OF INFORMATION RELATING TO RE17 LIGIOUS ACCOMMODATIONS. 

18 (a) AMENDMENTS TO THE PRIVACY ACT OF 1974.— 

19 Section 552a of title 5, United States Code (commonly 

20 known as the ‘‘Privacy Act of 1974’’) is amended— 

21 (1) in subsection (a)(7)— 

22 (A) by striking ‘‘means, with’’ and insert23 ing ‘‘— 

24 ‘‘(A) means, with’’; 


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1 (B) in subparagraph (A), as so designated, 

2 by adding ‘‘and’’ at the end; and 

3 (C) by adding at the end the following: 

4 ‘‘(B) does not include the sharing, disclo5 sure, or dissemination of information con6 cerning a religious accommodation beyond the 

7 minimum necessary for the purpose;’’; 

8 (2) in subsection (c)(1)— 

9 (A) in the matter preceding subparagraph 

10 (A), strike ‘‘except for disclosures made under 

11 subsections (b)(1) or (b)(2) of this section,’’; 

12 (B) in subparagraph (A), by striking 

13 ‘‘and’’ at the end; 

14 (C) in subparagraph (B), by adding ‘‘and’’ 

15 at the end; and 

16 (D) by adding at the end the following: 

17 ‘‘(C) a disclosure made under subsection 

18 (b)(1) or (b)(2) only if the disclosure concerns 

19 or describes how any individual exercises rights 

20 guaranteed by the First Amendment, including 

21 as related to a religious accommodation under 

22 any Federal law;’’; 

23 (3) in subsection (o), by adding at the end the 

24 following: 


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1 ‘‘(3) Notwithstanding any other provision of this Act, 

2 no record relating to the religious affiliation of an indi3 vidual that is contained in a system of records may be 

4 disclosed to a recipient agency or non-Federal agency for 

5 use in a computer matching program.’’; and 

6 (4) by adding at the end the following: 

7 ‘‘(x) RELIGIOUS ACCOMMODATION.—For purposes of 

8 subsection (e)(7), an individual voluntarily requesting, or 

9 providing any information relating to, any religious accom10 modation, including to a COVID–19 vaccine requirement, 

11 shall not constitute an express authorization for an agency 

12 to maintain a record of any information related to the reli13 gious beliefs, identity, or affiliation of the individual.’’. 

14 (b) FOIA EXEMPTION.—Section 552(b) of title 5, 

15 United States Code (commonly known as the ‘‘Freedom 

16 of Information Act’’) is amended— 

17 (1) in paragraph (8), by striking ‘‘or’’ at the 

18 end; 

19 (2) in paragraph (9), by striking the period at 

20 the end and inserting ‘‘; or’’; and 

21 (3) by inserting after paragraph (9) the fol22 lowing: 

23 ‘‘(10) related to the religious affiliation of an 

24 individual that is provided to or collected by an 

25 agency (as defined in section 552a(a) of this title), 


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1 including for purposes of a religious accommodation 

2 to a COVID–19 vaccine requirement.’’. 

3 (c) PRIVACY OF INFORMATION.—An agency (as de4 fined in section 552a(a) of title 5, United States Code 

5 (commonly known as the ‘‘Privacy Act of 1974’’)) that col6 lects or is provided any information relating to the reli7 gious beliefs, identity, or affiliation of an individual for 

8 purposes of a religious accommodation, including to a 

9 COVID–19 vaccine requirement— 

10 (1) shall maintain and use the information— 

11 (A) in a manner that protects the con12 fidentiality of the information and privacy of 

13 the individual to the maximum extent prac14 ticable; and 

15 (B) separate from any other record of an 

16 individual relating to a religious exemption or 

17 accommodation request; and 

18 (2) may not disclose the information with any 

19 person outside of the agency, including any other 

20 Federal or non-Federal agency or private organiza21 tion. 

22 (d) RULE OF CONSTRUCTION.—Nothing in this Act 

23 or the amendments made by this Act shall be construed 

24 to impede or authorize a delay in the timely processing 

25 of a request made by an individual to an agency (as deVerDate Sep 11 2014 05:11 Mar 23, 2022 Jkt 029200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S3902.IS S3902

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1 fined in section 552a(a) of title 5, United States Code 

2 (commonly known as the ‘‘Privacy Act of 1974’’)) for a 

3 religious accommodation. 

Æ 


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