I
106TH CONGRESS
1ST SESSION
H. R. 1691
To protect religious liberty.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
MAY 5, 1999
Mr. CANADY of Florida (for himself, Mr. EDWARDS, Mr. HYDE, Mr. WEINER,
Mr. SENSENBRENNER, Mr. HUTCHINSON, Mr. GREEN of Texas, Mr.
SMITH of Texas, Mr. ROGAN, Mr. PETERSON of Minnesota, and Mr.
CANNON) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Com-
mittee on the Judiciary
A BILL
To protect religious liberty.
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
demonstrates 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 remedy for a violation of this Act. However, nothing in
this subsection shall be construed to deny, impair, or oth-
erwise affect any right or authority of the Attorney Gen-
eral or the United States or any agency, officer, or em-
ployee thereof under other law, including section 4(d) of
this Act, to institute or intervene in any action or pro-
ceeding.
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 bur-
den of persuasion on any element of the claim; however,
the claimant shall bear the burden of persuasion on wheth-
er the challenged government practice, law, or regulation
burdens or substantially burdens the claimant’s exercise
of religion.
(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 govern-
mental interest.
(B) No government shall impose or imple-
ment a land use regulation in a manner that
does not treat religious assemblies or institu-
tions on equal terms with nonreligious assem-
blies 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 govern-
ment. 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 Re-
vised Statutes (42 U.S.C. 1988(b)) is amended—
(1) by inserting ‘‘the Religious Liberty Protec-
tion Act of 1998,’’ after ‘‘Religious Freedom Res-
toration 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
Prison Litigation Reform Act of 1995 (including provi-
sions 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.—Noth-
ing in this Act shall create any basis for restricting or
burdening religious exercise or for claims against a reli-
gious 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
government to incur expenses in its own operations to
avoid imposing a burden or a substantial burden on reli-
gious exercise.
(d) OTHER AUTHORITY TO IMPOSE CONDITIONS ON
FUNDING UNAFFECTED.—Nothing in this Act shall—
(1) authorize a government to regulate or af-
fect, directly or indirectly, the activities or policies of
a person other than a government as a condition of
receiving 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 exempt-
ing the burdened religious exercise, by providing exemp-
tions 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,
affects or would affect commerce, shall not establish any
inference or presumption that Congress intends that any
religious 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
Constitution.
(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 unconstitutional, 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
amendment to the Constitution prohibiting laws respect-
ing an establishment 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 vio-
lation of this Act. As used in this section, the term ‘‘grant-
ing’’, 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 Free-
dom 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 en-
tity 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 ‘‘conduct that constitutes
the exercise of religion under the first amendment to
the Constitution; however, such conduct need not be
compelled by, or central to, a system of religious be-
lief; the use, building, or converting of real property
for religious exercise shall itself be considered reli-
gious exercise of the person or entities that use or
intend to use the property for religious exercise.’’.
(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 conduct
that constitutes the exercise of religion under the
first amendment to the Constitution; however, such
conduct need not be compelled by, or central to, a
system of religious belief; the use, building, or con-
verting of real property for religious exercise shall
itself be considered religious exercise of the person
or entities that use or intend to use the property for
religious exercise;
(2) the term ‘‘Free Exercise Clause’’ means
that portion of the first amendment to the Constitu-
tion that proscribes laws prohibiting the free exercise
of religion and includes the application of that pro-
scription under the 14th amendment to the Con-
stitution;
(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 prop-
erty interest in the regulated land, or a contract or
option to acquire such an interest;
(4) the term ‘‘program or activity’’ means a
program 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.
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