I 

112TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 2867 

To reauthorize the International Religious Freedom Act of 1998, and for 

other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

SEPTEMBER 8, 2011 

Mr. WOLF (for himself, Ms. ROS-LEHTINEN, and Mr. BERMAN) introduced 

the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Foreign Affairs 

A BILL 

To reauthorize the International Religious Freedom Act of 

1998, 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 Reform and Re6 authorization Act of 2011’’. 

7 SEC. 2. ESTABLISHMENT AND COMPOSITION. 

8 (a) MEMBERSHIP.—Section 201(b)(1)(B) of the 

9 International Religious Freedom Act of 1998 (22 U.S.C. 


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1 6431(b)(1)(B)) is amended in the matter preceding clause 

2 (i) by striking ‘‘Nine’’ and inserting ‘‘nine’’. 

3 (b) TERMS.—Section 201(c) of the International Re4 ligious Freedom Act of 1998 (22 U.S.C. 6431(c)) is 

5 amended— 

6 (1) in paragraph (1), by striking the last sen7 tence and inserting the following: ‘‘An individual is 

8 not eligible to serve more than two consecutive terms 

9 as a member of the Commission. Each member serv10 ing on the Commission on the date of enactment of 

11 the United States Commission on International Reli12 gious Freedom Reform and Reauthorization Act of 

13 2011 may be reappointed to not more than one addi14 tional consecutive term.’’; and 

15 (2) by adding at the end the following new 

16 paragraph: 

17 ‘‘(3) INELIGIBILITY FOR REAPPOINTMENT.—If 

18 a member of the Commission attends, by being phys19 ically present or by conference call, less than 75 per20 cent of the meetings of the Commission during one 

21 of that member’s terms on the Commission, the 

22 member shall not be eligible for reappointment to 

23 the Commission.’’. 


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1 (c) ELECTION OF CHAIR AND EXECUTIVE COM2 MITTEE.—Section 201(d) of the International Religious 

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

4 (1) in the heading, by inserting ‘‘AND EXECU5 TIVE COMMITTEE’’ after ‘‘CHAIR’’; 

6 (2) by striking ‘‘At’’ and inserting the fol7 lowing: ‘‘(1) CHAIR.—At’’; 

8 (3) in paragraph (1), as designated by para9 graph (2) of this subsection— 

10 (A) by striking ‘‘May 30’’ and inserting 

11 ‘‘May 1’’; and 

12 (B) by inserting at the end the following: 

13 ‘‘No member of the Commission is eligible to be 

14 elected as Chair of the Commission for a sec15 ond, consecutive term.’’; and 

16 (4) by adding at the end the following new 

17 paragraph: 

18 ‘‘(2) EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE.— 

19 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—At the first meeting of 

20 the Commission after May 1 of each calendar 

21 year, a majority of the members of the Commis22 sion present and voting shall elect the Executive 

23 Committee of the Commission. 

24 ‘‘(B) COMPOSITION.—The Executive Com25 mittee shall be composed of— 


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1 ‘‘(i) the Chair of the Commission; and 

2 ‘‘(ii) two other members of the Com3 mission appointed under subsection 

4 (b)(1)(B), who shall serve as Vice-Chairs 

5 of the Commission, and at least one of 

6 whom has been appointed under subsection 

7 (b)(1)(B) by an official whose political 

8 party is not the same political party as the 

9 official who appointed the member of the 

10 Commission who has been elected the 

11 Chair of the Commission.’’. 

12 (d) APPLICABILITY.—A member of the United States 

13 Commission on International Religious Freedom who is 

14 serving on the Commission on the date of enactment of 

15 this Act shall continue to serve on the Commission until 

16 the expiration of the current term of the member under 

17 the terms and conditions for membership on the Commis18 sion as in effect on the day before the date of the enact19 ment of this Act. 

20 SEC. 3. APPLICATION OF ANTIDISCRIMINATION LAWS. 

21 Section 204 of the International Religious Freedom 

22 Act of 1998 (22 U.S.C. 6432b) is amended by inserting 

23 after subsection (f) the following new subsection: 

24 ‘‘(g) APPLICATION OF ANTIDISCRIMINATION LAWS.— 

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1 dress alleged violations of rights and protections that per2 tain to employment discrimination, family and medical 

3 leave, fair labor standards, employee polygraph protection, 

4 worker adjustment and retraining, veterans’ employment 

5 and reemployment, intimidation or reprisal, protections 

6 under the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990, occu7 pational safety and health, labor-management relations, 

8 and rights and protections that apply to employees whose 

9 pay is disbursed by the Secretary of the Senate or the 

10 Chief Administrative Officer of the House of Representa11 tives, all employees of the Commission shall be treated as 

12 employees whose pay is disbursed by the Secretary of the 

13 Senate or the Chief Administrative Officer of the House 

14 of Representatives and the Commission shall be treated 

15 as an employing office of the Senate or the House of Rep16 resentatives.’’. 

17 SEC. 4. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS. 

18 Section 207(a) of the International Religious Free19 dom Act of 1998 (22 U.S.C. 6435(a)) is amended by strik20 ing ‘‘$3,000,000 for the fiscal year 2003’’ and inserting 

21 ‘‘$4,291,000 for each of the fiscal years 2012 and 2013’’. 

22 SEC. 5. STANDARDS OF CONDUCT AND DISCLOSURE. 

23 Section 208 of the International Religious Freedom 

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


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1 (1) in subsection (c)(1), by striking ‘‘$100,000’’ 

2 and inserting ‘‘$250,000’’; and 

3 (2) in subsection (e), by striking ‘‘International 

4 Relations’’ and inserting ‘‘Foreign Affairs’’. 

5 SEC. 6. TERMINATION. 

6 Section 209 of the International Religious Freedom 

7 Act of 1998 (22 U.S.C. 6436) is amended by striking 

8 ‘‘September 30, 2011’’ and inserting ‘‘September 30, 

9 2013’’. 

10 SEC. 7. REPORT ON EFFECTIVENESS OF PROGRAMS TO 

11 PROMOTE RELIGIOUS FREEDOM. 

12 (a) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 1 year after the 

13 date of the enactment of this Act, the Comptroller General 

14 of the United States shall submit to the appropriate con15 gressional committees a report on the implementation of 

16 this Act and the amendments made by this Act. 

17 (b) CONSULTATION.—The Comptroller General shall 

18 consult with the appropriate congressional committees and 

19 nongovernmental organizations for purposes of preparing 

20 the report. 

21 (c) MATTERS TO BE INCLUDED.—The report shall 

22 include the following: 

23 (1) A review of the effectiveness of all United 

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1 national religious freedom, including their goals and 

2 objectives. 

3 (2) An assessment of the roles and functions of 

4 the Office on International Religious Freedom estab5 lished in section 101(a) of the International Reli6 gious Freedom Act of 1998 (22 U.S.C. 6411(a)) and 

7 the relationship of the Office to other offices in the 

8 Department of State. 

9 (3) A review of the role of the Ambassador at 

10 Large for International Religious Freedom ap11 pointed under section 101(b) of the International 

12 Religious Freedom Act of 1998 (22 U.S.C. 6411(b)) 

13 and the placement of such position within the De14 partment of State. 

15 (4) A review and assessment of the goals and 

16 objectives of the United States Commission on Inter17 national Religious Freedom established under sec18 tion 201(a) of the International Religious Freedom 

19 Act of 1998 (22 U.S.C. 6431(a)). 

20 (5) A comparative analysis of the structure of 

21 the United States Commission on International Reli22 gious Freedom as an independent non-partisan enti23 ty in relation to other United States advisory com24 missions, whether or not such commissions are 

25 under the direct authority of Congress. 


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1 (6) A review of the relationship between the 

2 Ambassador at Large for International Religious 

3 Freedom and the United States Commission on 

4 International Religious Freedom, and possible re5 forms that would improve the ability of both to 

6 reach their goals and objectives. 

7 (d) DEFINITION.—In this section, the term ‘‘appro8 priate congressional committees’’ has the meaning given 

9 the term in section 3 of the International Religious Free10 dom Act of 1998 (22 U.S.C. 6402). 

Æ 


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