Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Religious Liberty Pro-
tection Act of 1999’’.
SEC. 2. PROTECTION OF RELIGIOUS EXERCISE.
(a) GENERAL RULE.—Except as provided in sub-
section (b), a government shall not substantially burden a
person’s religious exercise—
(1) in a program or activity, operated by a gov-
ernment, that receives Federal financial assistance; or
(2) in any case in which the substantial burden
on the person’s religious exercise affects, or in which
a removal of that substantial burden would affect,
commerce with foreign nations, among the several
States, or with Indian tribes;
even if the burden results from a rule of general applica-
bility.
(b) EXCEPTION.—A government may substantially
burden a person’s religious exercise if the government dem-
onstrates that application of the burden to the person—
(1) is in furtherance of a compelling govern-
mental interest; and
(2) is the least restrictive means of furthering
that compelling governmental interest.
(c) REMEDIES OF THE UNITED STATES.—Nothing in
this section shall be construed to authorize the United States
to deny or withhold Federal financial assistance as a rem-
edy for a violation of this Act. However, nothing in this
subsection shall be construed to deny, impair, or otherwise
affect any right or authority of the Attorney General or the
United States or any agency, officer, or employee thereof
under other law, including section 4(d) of this Act, to insti-
tute or intervene in any action or proceeding.
SEC. 3. ENFORCEMENT OF CONSTITUTIONAL RIGHTS.
(a) PROCEDURE.—If a claimant produces prima facie
evidence to support a claim alleging a violation of the Free
Exercise Clause or a violation of a provision of this Act
enforcing that clause, the government shall bear the burden
of persuasion on any element of the claim; however, the
claimant shall bear the burden of persuasion on whether
the challenged government practice, law, or regulation bur-
dens or substantially burdens the claimant’s exercise of reli-
gion.
(b) LAND USE REGULATION.—
(1) LIMITATION ON LAND USE REGULATION.—
(A) Where, in applying or implementing
any land use regulation or exemption, or system
of land use regulations or exemptions, a govern-
ment has the authority to make individualized
assessments of the proposed uses to which real
property would be put, the government may not
impose a substantial burden on a person’s reli-
gious exercise, unless the government dem-
onstrates that application of the burden to the
person is in furtherance of a compelling govern-
mental interest and is the least restrictive means
of furthering that compelling governmental inter-
est.
(B) No government shall impose or imple-
ment a land use regulation in a manner that
does not treat religious assemblies or institutions
on equal terms with nonreligious assemblies or
institutions.
(C) No government shall impose or imple-
ment a land use regulation that discriminates
against any assembly or institution on the basis
of religion or religious denomination.
(D) No government with zoning authority
shall unreasonably exclude from the jurisdiction
over which it has authority, or unreasonably
limit within that jurisdiction, assemblies or in-
stitutions principally devoted to religious exer-
cise.
(2) FULL FAITH AND CREDIT.—Adjudication of a
claim of a violation of the Free Exercise Clause or
this subsection in a non-Federal forum shall be enti-
tled to full faith and credit in a Federal court only
if the claimant had a full and fair adjudication of
that claim in the non-Federal forum.
(3) NONPREEMPTION.—Nothing in this sub-
section shall preempt State law that is equally or
more protective of religious exercise.
SEC. 4. JUDICIAL RELIEF.
(a) CAUSE OF ACTION.—A person may assert a viola-
tion of this Act as a claim or defense in a judicial pro-
ceeding and obtain appropriate relief against a government.
Standing to assert a claim or defense under this section
shall be governed by the general rules of standing under
article III of the Constitution.
(b) ATTORNEYS’ FEES.—Section 722(b) of the Revised
Statutes (42 U.S.C. 1988(b)) is amended—
(1) by inserting ‘‘the Religious Liberty Protec-
tion Act of 1998,’’ after ‘‘Religious Freedom Restora-
tion Act of 1993,’’; and
(2) by striking the comma that follows a comma.
(c) PRISONERS.—Any litigation under this Act in
which the claimant is a prisoner shall be subject to the Pris-
on Litigation Reform Act of 1995 (including provisions of
law amended by that Act).
(d) AUTHORITY
OF UNITED STATES
TO ENFORCE
THIS ACT.—The United States may sue for injunctive or
declaratory relief to enforce compliance with this Act.
SEC. 5. RULES OF CONSTRUCTION.
(a) RELIGIOUS BELIEF UNAFFECTED.—Nothing in
this Act shall be construed to authorize any government to
burden any religious belief.
(b) RELIGIOUS EXERCISE NOT REGULATED.—Nothing
in this Act shall create any basis for restricting or bur-
dening religious exercise or for claims against a religious
organization, including any religiously affiliated school or
university, not acting under color of law.
(c) CLAIMS TO FUNDING UNAFFECTED.—Nothing in
this Act shall create or preclude a right of any religious
organization to receive funding or other assistance from a
government, or of any person to receive government funding
for a religious activity, but this Act may require govern-
ment to incur expenses in its own operations to avoid im-
posing a burden or a substantial burden on religious exer-
cise.
(d) OTHER AUTHORITY TO IMPOSE CONDITIONS ON
FUNDING UNAFFECTED.—Nothing in this Act shall—
(1) authorize a government to regulate or affect,
directly or indirectly, the activities or policies of a
person other than a government as a condition of re-
ceiving funding or other assistance; or
(2) restrict any authority that may exist under
other law to so regulate or affect, except as provided
in this Act.
(e) GOVERNMENTAL
DISCRETION
IN
ALLEVIATING
BURDENS ON RELIGIOUS EXERCISE.—A government may
avoid the preemptive force of any provision of this Act by
changing the policy that results in the substantial burden
on religious exercise, by retaining the policy and exempting
the burdened religious exercise, by providing exemptions
from the policy for applications that substantially burden
religious exercise, or by any other means that eliminates
the substantial burden.
(f) EFFECT ON OTHER LAW.—In a claim under sec-
tion 2(a)(2) of this Act, proof that a substantial burden on
a person’s religious exercise, or removal of that burden, af-
fects or would affect commerce, shall not establish any infer-
ence or presumption that Congress intends that any reli-
gious exercise is, or is not, subject to any other law.
(g) BROAD CONSTRUCTION.—This Act should be con-
strued in favor of a broad protection of religious exercise,
to the maximum extent permitted by its terms and the Con-
stitution.
(h) SEVERABILITY.—If any provision of this Act or of
an amendment made by this Act, or any application of such
provision to any person or circumstance, is held to be un-
constitutional, the remainder of this Act, the amendments
made by this Act, and the application of the provision to
any other person or circumstance shall not be affected.
SEC. 6. ESTABLISHMENT CLAUSE UNAFFECTED.
Nothing in this Act shall be construed to affect, inter-
pret, or in any way address that portion of the first amend-
ment to the Constitution prohibiting laws respecting an es-
tablishment of religion (referred to in this section as the
‘‘Establishment Clause’’). Granting government funding,
benefits, or exemptions, to the extent permissible under the
Establishment Clause, shall not constitute a violation of this
Act. As used in this section, the term ‘‘granting’’, used with
respect to government funding, benefits, or exemptions, does
not include the denial of government funding, benefits, or
exemptions.
SEC. 7. AMENDMENTS TO RELIGIOUS FREEDOM RESTORA-
TION ACT.
(a) DEFINITIONS.—Section 5 of the Religious Freedom
Restoration Act of 1993 (42 U.S.C. 2000bb–2) is
amended—
(1) in paragraph (1), by striking ‘‘a State, or
subdivision of a State’’ and inserting ‘‘a covered enti-
ty or a subdivision of such an entity’’;
(2) in paragraph (2), by striking ‘‘term’’ and all
that follows through ‘‘includes’’ and inserting ‘‘term
‘covered entity’ means’’; and
(3) in paragraph (4), by striking all after
‘‘means,’’ and inserting ‘‘any exercise of religion,
whether or not compelled by, or central to, a system
of religious belief, and includes (A) the use, building,
or conversion of real property by a person or entity
intending that property for religious exercise; and (B)
any conduct protected as exercise of religion under the
first amendment to the Constitution.’’.
(b) CONFORMING AMENDMENT.—Section 6(a) of the
Religious Freedom Restoration Act of 1993 (42 U.S.C.
2000bb–3(a)) is amended by striking ‘‘and State’’.
SEC. 8. DEFINITIONS.
As used in this Act—
(1) the term ‘‘religious exercise’’ means any exer-
cise of religion, whether or not compelled by, or cen-
tral to, a system of religious belief, and includes (A)
the use, building, or conversion of real property by a
person or entity intending that property for religious
exercise; and (B) any conduct protected as exercise of
religion under the first amendment to the Constitu-
tion;
(2) the term ‘‘Free Exercise Clause’’ means that
portion of the first amendment to the Constitution
that proscribes laws prohibiting the free exercise of re-
ligion and includes the application of that proscrip-
tion under the 14th amendment to the Constitution;
(3) the term ‘‘land use regulation’’ means a law
or decision by a government that limits or restricts
a private person’s uses or development of land, or of
structures affixed to land, where the law or decision
applies to one or more particular parcels of land or
to land within one or more designated geographical
zones, and where the private person has an owner-
ship, leasehold, easement, servitude, or other property
interest in the regulated land, or a contract or option
to acquire such an interest;
(4) the term ‘‘program or activity’’ means a pro-
gram or activity as defined in paragraph (1) or (2)
of section 606 of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (42
U.S.C. 2000d–4a);
(5) the term ‘‘demonstrates’’ means meets the
burdens of going forward with the evidence and of
persuasion; and
(6) the term ‘‘government’’—
(A) means—
(i) a State, county, municipality, or
other governmental entity created under the
authority of a State;
(ii) any branch, department, agency,
instrumentality, subdivision, or official of
an entity listed in clause (i); and
(iii) any other person acting under
color of State law; and
(B) for the purposes of sections 3(a) and 5,
includes the United States, a branch, depart-
ment, agency, instrumentality or official of the
United States, and any person acting under
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 Com-
mittee of the Whole House on the State of the Union,
and ordered to be printed