I 
119TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION H. R. 3240 
To restore fairness to service members who filed religious accommodation 
requests and ensure their career progression is justly reviewed. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
MAY 7, 2025 
Mr. JACKSON of Texas introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 
Committee on Armed Services 
A BILL 
To restore fairness to service members who filed religious 
accommodation requests and ensure their career progres-
sion is justly reviewed. 
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 ‘‘Reaffirming Every 
Servicemembers’ Trust Of Religious Exemptions Act’’ or 
the ‘‘RESTORE Act’’. 
SEC. 2. ESTABLISHMENT OF THE SPECIAL REVIEW BOARD 
FOR IMPACTED SERVICE MEMBERS. 
(a) ESTABLISHMENT OF REVIEW BOARD.—The Sec-
retary of Defense shall convene a special review board 
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under the Deputy Under Secretary of Defense for Per-
sonnel and Readiness to audit religious accommodation re-
quests and disposition and review the personnel records 
of each service member who filed a religious accommoda-
tion request specifically for the COVID–19 vaccine and 
remained in service (in this section referred to as the 
‘‘Special Review Board’’). 
(b) DUTIES OF THE REVIEW BOARD.—The Special 
Review Board shall perform the following duties: 
(1) AUDIT SCOPE OF RELIGIOUS ACCOMMODA-
TION
DECISIONS
SINCE
2020.—Conduct a Depart-
ment of Defense-wide audit to assess the full num-
ber of submissions, approvals, and consistency of 
compliance with the Religious freedom Restoration 
Act of 1993 (RFRA) (42 U.S.C. 2000bb et seq.). 
(2) 
ASSESS
CAREER
IMPACT.—Determine 
whether the service member’s career progression, 
promotions, assignments, retention, or professional 
development opportunities were negatively affected 
by 
their 
religious 
accommodation 
request 
or 
COVID–19 vaccine refusal. 
(3) ADJUDICATE CAREER RESTORATIONS.—De-
termine and take corrective action if the service 
member is eligible for— 
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(A) backdated promotion to the rank they 
would have achieved absent the adverse impact; 
(B) correction of their Date of Rank 
(DOR) to align with their peer group; 
(C) restoration of lost pay and benefits, in-
cluding back pay, retirement contributions, and 
applicable bonuses; and 
(D) reinstatement to service if they left 
service due to denial of religious accommodation 
that has since been determined as unlawful. 
(4) EXPUNGEMENT
OF
ADVERSE
ACTIONS.— 
Ensure that all adverse administrative actions re-
lated to refusal of the COVID–19 vaccine (or other 
protected religious accommodation) are expunged 
from the service member’s record, including— 
(A) administrative reprimands; 
(B) negative or inconsistent evaluations; 
(C) promotion delays or denials; 
(D) issuance of Inactive Duty Training 
points to reserve component personnel so that if 
affected they shall receive a satisfactory year 
for participation; and 
(E) career assignment considerations to 
improve service-member competitiveness pre-
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viously impacted solely due to vaccine refusal 
(or religious accommodation). 
(5) REVIEW PROCESS.—Establish a mechanism 
for service members to request review of decisions if 
they previously submitted a religious accommodation 
and believe their records or career progression were 
adversely impacted regardless of accommodation re-
quest outcome. 
(c) TIMELINE FOR REVIEW AND REPORTING.— 
(1) REVIEW.—The Special Review Board shall 
complete a full review of all affected military per-
sonnel not later than one year after the date of the 
enactment of this Act. 
(2) REPORT.—Not later than 60 days after the 
review is completed, the Deputy Under Secretary of 
Defense for Personnel and Readiness shall submit to 
the Committee on Armed Services of the Senate and 
the Committee on Armed Services of the House of 
Representatives a report detailing— 
(A) the Special Review Board’s findings; 
(B) the number of cases reviewed; and 
(C) corrective actions taken. 
(d) DEADLINE FOR COMPENSATION.—The Secretary 
of Defense shall ensure that service members determined 
by the Special Review Board to be eligible for backdated 
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(3) the number of adverse actions expunged 
from military records; 
(4) statistics on the performance of identified 
service member populations with respect to boards, 
career progression, and competitive assignment; and 
(5) recommendations for further legislative ac-
tion to ensure fairness in military personnel policies. 
(c) INSPECTOR GENERAL AUDIT.—Not later than 18 
months after the date of the enactment of this Act, the 
Department of Defense Inspector General shall conduct 
an independent audit and compliance review of the imple-
mentation of this Act. The Inspector General shall review 
overall data of religious accommodations and determine if 
RFRA was applied consistently across the Department of 
Defense. 
SEC. 4. DEFINITIONS. 
In this Act: 
(1) ADVERSE ACTION.—The term ‘‘adverse ac-
tion’’ includes— 
(A) administrative reprimands; 
(B) denial or delay of promotions; 
(C) negative performance evaluations; 
(D) forced involuntary separation; 
(E) coerced voluntary separation; and 
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(F) denial of career-enhancing assign-
ments. 
(2) RELIGIOUS
ACCOMMODATION.—The term 
‘‘religious accommodation’’ refers to a formally sub-
mitted request for exemption from a military order, 
policy, or directive on religious grounds, in accord-
ance with the respective service branch’s religious 
accommodation policies. 
(3) SERVICE
MEMBER.—The term ‘‘service 
member’’ means a member of the Armed Forces 
total force serving on active duty, reserve (to include 
Individual Ready Reserve (IRR)), or National Guard 
status in any branch of the Department of Defense. 
SEC. 5. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS. 
There is authorized to be appropriated such sums as 
may be necessary to carry out this Act. The Secretary of 
Defense shall allocate necessary resources to support the 
Special Review Board. 
Æ 
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