I 
115TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION 
H. R. 489 
To prohibit the collection of information and the establishment or utilization 
of a registry for the purposes of classifying or surveilling certain United 
States persons and other individuals on the basis of religious affiliation, 
and for other purposes. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
JANUARY 12, 2017 
Ms. DELBENE (for herself, Mr. CONYERS, Mr. LEWIS of Georgia, Mr. COHEN, 
Ms. JUDY CHU of California, Mr. ELLISON, Mr. CARSON of Indiana, and 
Ms. MATSUI) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 
Committee on the Judiciary 
A BILL 
To prohibit the collection of information and the establish-
ment or utilization of a registry for the purposes of 
classifying or surveilling certain United States persons 
and other individuals on the basis of religious affiliation, 
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 ‘‘No Religious Registry 
Act of 2017’’. 
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SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 
Congress finds the following: 
(1) The National Security Entry-Exit System 
(hereinafter referred to as ‘‘NSEERS’’), which was 
active from 2002 through 2011, registered and 
tracked individuals on the basis of their religion by 
targeting majority-Muslim countries in an attempt 
to thwart terrorism. 
(2) NSEERS tracked approximately 80,000 
men and boys, and resulted in zero terrorist convic-
tions from 2002 through 2011. 
(3) Mass surveillance of certain religious groups 
is inherently incompatible with American values as 
enshrined in the U.S. Constitution, does not improve 
U.S. national security, and has the potential to 
weaken national security by alienating crucial allies 
in the fight against terrorism. 
SEC. 3. PROHIBITION. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—No United States Government of-
ficer or employee may collect information or establish or 
otherwise utilize a database, or similar for the purpose of 
classifying or surveilling, on the basis of religious affili-
ation, a United States national, an alien who is lawfully 
present in the United States, or any alien who applies for 
a visa or seeks admission to the United States or on whose 
behalf a petition under the immigration laws is submitted, 
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or conduct any study related to the collection of such in-
formation or the establishment or utilization of such a reg-
istry, database, or similar. 
(b) RULE OF CONSTRUCTION.—Nothing in this sec-
tion may be construed as prohibiting the collection of in-
formation that is voluntarily provided and from which per-
sonally identifiable information is removed, to be used 
strictly for statistical purposes, including those permitted 
under section 9 of title 13, United States Code, that do 
not violate section 2 above. 
SEC. 4. PROHIBITION ON SOLICITATION AND PURCHASE. 
(a) PROCUREMENT.—A Federal entity may not solicit 
or award a contract to any entity for such entity to collect 
information or establish a registry that would violate sec-
tion 3. 
(b) COLLECTION
OF CERTAIN INFORMATION.—A 
Federal entity may not purchase or solicit any information 
on religious affiliation from a non-Federal entity for pur-
poses that would violate section 3. 
Æ 
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