SACRED Act

To ensure that a State or local jurisdiction is ineligible to receive or use funds allocated, appropriated, or authorized to address COVID–19 if that State or jurisdiction discriminates against religious individuals or religious institutions, and for other purposes. 1. Short title This Act may be cited as the Safeguarding Americans from Coronavirus and Religious Exercise Discrimination Act SACRED Act 2. Preventing discrimination against religious individuals and institutions (a) Ineligibility for funds A State or local jurisdiction shall be ineligible to receive or use funds allocated, appropriated, or authorized to address COVID–19 (referred to as covered funds (b) Violations A State or local jurisdiction commits a violation under this subsection if that State or local jurisdiction— (1) enforces, or announces the intent to enforce, any law, regulation, policy, order, proclamation, or decree related to COVID–19 that discriminates against religious individuals or religious institutions; or (2) provides, or shows an intention to provide, covered funds to a separate State or local jurisdiction that is ineligible to receive or use those funds because the State or local jurisdiction has committed a violation described in paragraph (1). (c) Determination of ineligibility The Attorney General shall make a determination of whether a State or local jurisdiction is ineligible to receive or use covered funds in accordance with subsection (a). (d) Enforcement (1) Funds not yet disbursed If, before the covered funds are disbursed, the Attorney General determines that a State or local jurisdiction is ineligible to receive such funds, the covered funds shall not be disbursed until the Attorney General certifies that the State or local jurisdiction is no longer in violation of subsection (b) and is eligible to receive covered funds. (2) Funds already disbursed If, after covered funds have been disbursed, the Attorney General determines that a State or local jurisdiction was not, or is no longer, eligible to receive those covered funds, the applicable Federal agency that would otherwise disburse such covered funds shall identify and withhold from the State or local jurisdiction funds otherwise authorized to be allocated to that State or local jurisdiction from that Federal agency in an amount not to exceed the amount the State or local jurisdiction received in covered funds from that Federal agency, until the Attorney General certifies that the State or local jurisdiction is no longer in violation of subsection (b) and is eligible to receive such covered funds. (3) Funds transferred If a State or local jurisdiction transferred covered funds to another State or local jurisdiction that is in violation of subsection (b)(1), the applicable Federal agency shall identify and withhold from the State or local jurisdiction funds otherwise authorized to be allocated to that State or local jurisdiction from that Federal agency in an amount not to exceed the amount of covered funds the State or local jurisdiction transferred in violation of subsection (b)(2) that were disbursed from that Federal agency, until the Attorney General certifies that the State or local jurisdiction that received transferred covered funds is eligible to receive and use those funds, or the covered funds are returned from the recipient to the transferring State or local jurisdiction.

Summary: Safeguarding Americans from Coronavirus and Religious Exercise Discrimination Act or the SACRED Act This bill makes a state or local jurisdiction that discriminates against religious individuals or religious institutions ineligible to receive or use funds allocated, appropriated, or authorized to address COVID-19 (i.e., coronavirus disease 2019). Specifically, a state or local jurisdiction violates this bill's prohibition if it (1) enforces, or announces the intent to enforce, any law, regulation, policy, order, proclamation, or decree related to COVID-19 that discriminates against religious individuals or religious institutions; or (2) provides, or shows an intention to provide, funds to a separate jurisdiction that is ineligible to receive or use those funds because the jurisdiction has committed a violation. The Department of Justice shall determine whether a state or local jurisdiction is ineligible to receive or use such funds.