I
105TH CONGRESS
1ST SESSION
H. R. 2604
To amend title 11, United States Code, to protect certain charitable
contributions, and for other purposes.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
OCTOBER 2, 1997
Mr. PACKARD (for himself, Mr. GINGRICH, Mr. FAZIO of California, Mr.
ARMEY, Mr. LEWIS of Georgia, Mr. WATTS of Oklahoma, Mr. JACKSON
of Illinois, Mr. LIVINGSTON, Mr. BOEHNER, Mr. MCKEON, Mr.
CUNNINGHAM, Mr. HANSEN, Mr. FLAKE, Mr. HERGER, Mr. CRAPO, Mr.
DOOLITTLE, Mr. STUMP, Mr. CANNON, Mr. TRAFICANT, Mr. BONILLA,
Mr. STENHOLM, Mr. SOUDER, Mr. YOUNG of Alaska, Mr. SHIMKUS, Mr.
WOLF, Mr. SAWYER, Mr. SAM JOHNSON of Texas, Mr. HUNTER, Mr.
ISTOOK, Mr. COX
of California, Mr. FILNER, Mr. EWING, Mr.
CHRISTENSEN, Mr. REDMOND, Mr. GALLEGLY, Mr. LEWIS of California,
Mr. BARR of Georgia, Mr. DREIER, Mr. CRAMER, Mr. TAYLOR of Mis-
sissippi, Mr. WELDON of Florida, Mr. MILLER of California, Mr. BER-
MAN, Mr. CAPPS, Mr. WATKINS, Mr. BRADY, Mrs. LINDA SMITH of
Washington, Mr. ROHRABACHER, Mr. COOK, Mr. GUTIERREZ, Mr. PAS-
TOR, Mr. BILBRAY, Mr. LAHOOD, Mr. PITTS, Mr. ORTIZ, Mr. WALSH,
Mr. MCHUGH, Mr. HOEKSTRA, Mr. BUNNING, Mr. CONDIT, Mr. SMITH
of New Jersey, Mrs. CLAYTON, Mr. BROWN
of California, Mr.
RADANOVICH, Mr. SALMON, Mr. SMITH of Michigan, and Mr. HALL of
Ohio) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee
on the Judiciary
A BILL
To amend title 11, United States Code, to protect certain
charitable contributions, and for other purposes.
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 and
Charitable Donation Protection Act of 1997’’.
SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS.
Section 548(d) of title 11, United States Code, is
amended by adding at the end the following:
‘‘(3) In this section, the term ‘charitable contribution’
means a charitable contribution, as that term is defined
in section 170(c) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986,
if that contribution—
‘‘(A) is made by a natural person; and
‘‘(B) consists of—
‘‘(i) a financial instrument (as that term is
defined in section 731(c)(2)(C) of the Internal
Revenue Code of 1986); or
‘‘(ii) cash.
‘‘(4) In this section, the term ‘qualified religious or
charitable entity or organization’ means—
‘‘(A) an entity described in section 170(c)(1) of
the Internal Revenue Code of 1986; or
‘‘(B) an entity or organization described in sec-
tion 170(c)(2) of the Internal Revenue Code of
1986.’’.
SEC. 3. TREATMENT OF PREPETITION QUALIFIED CHARI-
TABLE CONTRIBUTIONS.
(a) IN GENERAL.—Section 548(a) of title 11, United
States Code, is amended—
(1) by inserting ‘‘(1)’’ after ‘‘(a)’’;
(2) by striking ‘‘(1) made’’ and inserting ‘‘(A)
made’’;
(3) by striking ‘‘(2)(A)’’ and inserting ‘‘(B)(i);
(4) by striking ‘‘(B)(i)’’ and inserting ‘‘(ii)(I)’’;
(5) by striking ‘‘(ii) was’’ and inserting ‘‘(II)
was’’;
(6) by striking ‘‘(iii)’’ and inserting ‘‘(III)’’;
and
(7) by adding at the end the following:
‘‘(2) A transfer of a charitable contribution to a
qualified religious or charitable entity or organization shall
not be considered to be a transfer covered under para-
graph (1)(B) in any case in which—
‘‘(A) the amount of that contribution does not
exceed 15 percent of the gross annual income of the
debtor for the year in which the transfer of the con-
tribution is made; or
‘‘(B) the contribution made by a debtor ex-
ceeded the percentage amount of gross annual in-
come specified in subparagraph (A), if the transfer
was consistent with the practices of the debtor in
making charitable contributions.’’.
(b) TRUSTEE AS LIEN CREDITOR AND AS SUCCESSOR
TO CERTAIN CREDITORS
AND PURCHASERS.—Section
544(b) of title 11, United States Code, is amended—
(1) by striking ‘‘(b) The trustee’’ and inserting
‘‘(b)(1) Except as provided in paragraph (2), the
trustee’’; and
(2) by adding at the end the following:
‘‘(2) Paragraph (1) shall not apply to a transfer of
a charitable contribution (as that term is defined in sec-
tion 548(d)(3)) that is not covered under section
548(a)(1)(B), by reason of section 548(a)(2).’’.
(c) CONFORMING AMENDMENTS.—Section 546 of
title 11, United States Code, is amended—
(1) in subsection (e)—
(A) by striking ‘‘548(a)(2)’’ and inserting
‘‘548(a)(1)(B)’’; and
(B) by striking ‘‘548(a)(1)’’ and inserting
‘‘548(a)(1)(A)’’;
(2) in subsection (f)—
(A) by striking ‘‘548(a)(2)’’ and inserting
‘‘548(a)(1)(B)’’; and
(B) by striking ‘‘548(a)(1)’’ and inserting
‘‘548(a)(1)(A)’’; and
(3) in subsection (g)—
(A) by striking ‘‘section 548(a)(1)’’ each
place 
it 
appears 
and 
inserting 
‘‘section
548(a)(1)(A)’’; and
(B) by striking ‘‘548(a)(2)’’ and inserting
‘‘548(a)(1)(B)’’.
SEC. 4. TREATMENT OF POST-PETITION CHARITABLE CON-
TRIBUTIONS.
(a) 
CONFIRMATION
OF
PLAN.—Section
1325(b)(2)(A) of title 11, United States Code, is amended
by inserting before the semicolon the following: ‘‘, includ-
ing charitable contributions (that meet the definition of
‘charitable contribution’ under section 548(d)(3)) to a
qualified religious or charitable entity or organization (as
that term is defined in section 548(d)(4)) in an amount
not to exceed 15 percent of the gross income of the debtor
for the year in which the contributions are made’’.
(b) DISMISSAL.—Section 707(b) of title 11, United
States Code, is amended by adding at the end the follow-
ing: ‘‘In making a determination whether to dismiss a case
under this section, the court may not take into consider-
ation whether a debtor has made, or continues to make,
charitable contributions (that meet the definition of ‘chari-
table contribution’ under section 548(d)(3)) to any quali-
fied religious or charitable entity or organization (as that
term is defined in section 548(d)(4)).’’.
SEC. 5. APPLICABILITY.
This Act and the amendments made by this Act shall
apply to any case brought under an applicable provision
of title 11, United States Code, that is pending or com-
menced on or after the date of enactment of this Act.
SEC. 6. RULE OF CONSTRUCTION.
Nothing in the amendments made by this Act is in-
tended to limit the applicability of the Religious Freedom
Restoration Act of 1993 (42 U.S.C. 2002bb et seq.).
Æ