Lifting Local Communities Act
Bill: S.4735 | Sponsor: Sen. Rubio, Marco (R-FL)
Policy area: Civil Rights and Liberties, Minority Issues

Summary:
Lifting Local Communities Act
This bill specifies that religious organizations are eligible to apply for and receive federal funds to provide services for social services programs (i.e., programs for low-income individuals) on the same basis as private, nonreligious organizations. Additionally, government entities may not discriminate against private organizations on the basis of religion when selecting funding recipients.

To ensure equal treatment for religious organizations in the Federal 
 provision of social services programs, grantmaking, and contracting, 
                        and for other purposes.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Lifting Local Communities Act''.

SEC. 2. PURPOSES.

    The purposes of this Act are the following:
            (1) To enable assistance to be provided to individuals and 
        families in need in the most effective manner.
            (2) To prohibit discrimination against religious 
        organizations in receipt and administration of Federal 
        financial assistance, including the provision of that 
        assistance through federally funded social service programs.
            (3) To ensure that religious organizations can apply and 
        compete for Federal financial assistance on a level playing 
        field with nonreligious organizations.
            (4) To provide certainty for religious organizations that 
        receipt of Federal financial assistance will not obstruct or 
        hinder their ability to organize and operate in accordance with 
        their sincerely held religious beliefs.
            (5) To strengthen the social service capacity of the United 
        States by facilitating the entry of new, and the expansion of 
        existing, efforts by religious organizations in the 
        administration and provision of Federal financial assistance.
            (6) To protect the religious freedom of, and better serve, 
        individuals and families in need, including by expanding their 
        ability to choose to receive federally funded social services 
        from religious organizations.

SEC. 3. PROVISION OF SERVICES FOR GOVERNMENT PROGRAMS BY RELIGIOUS 
              ORGANIZATIONS.

    Title XXIV of the Revised Statutes is amended by inserting after 
section 1990 (42 U.S.C. 1994) the following:

``SEC. 1990A. ENSURING EQUAL TREATMENT FOR RELIGIOUS ORGANIZATIONS IN 
              FEDERAL PROVISION OF SOCIAL SERVICES, GRANTMAKING, AND 
              CONTRACTING.

    ``(a) In General.--For any social services program carried out by 
the Federal Government, or by a State, local government, or pass-
through entity with Federal funds, the entity that awards Federal 
financial assistance shall consider religious organizations, on the 
same basis as any other private organization, to provide services for 
the program.
    ``(b) Equal Treatment for Religious Organizations in Federal 
Financial Assistance.--
            ``(1) In general.--A religious organization shall be 
        eligible to apply for and to receive Federal financial 
        assistance to provide services for a social services program on 
        the same basis as a private nonreligious organization.
            ``(2) Selection.--In the selection of recipients for 
        Federal financial assistance for a social services program 
        neither the Federal Government nor a State, local government, 
        or pass-through entity receiving funds for such program may 
        discriminate for or against a private organization on the basis 
        of religion, including the organization's religious character, 
        affiliation, or exercise.
            ``(3) Prohibition against improper burden on religious 
        organizations.--
                    ``(A) In general.--Except in the case of another 
                applicable provision of law that requires or provides 
                for a religious exemption or accommodation that is 
                equally or more protective of a religious 
                organization's religious exercise, the provisions of 
                subparagraphs (B) through (E) shall apply for any 
                social services program administered by the Federal 
                Government or by a State, local government, or pass-
                through entity.
                    ``(B) Equal treatment on assurances and notices.--
                No document, agreement, covenant, memorandum of 
                understanding, policy, or regulation, relating to 
                Federal financial assistance shall require religious 
                organizations to provide assurances or notices that are 
                not required of private nonreligious organizations.
                    ``(C) Equal application of restrictions.--Any 
                restrictions on the use of funds received as Federal 
                financial assistance shall apply equally to religious 
                and private nonreligious organizations.
                    ``(D) Program requirements.--All organizations that 
                receive Federal financial assistance for a social 
                services program, including religious organizations, 
                shall carry out eligible activities in accordance with 
                all program requirements, and other applicable 
                requirements governing the conduct of activities funded 
                by the entity that awards Federal financial assistance.
                    ``(E) No disqualification based on religion.--No 
                document, agreement, covenant, memorandum of 
                understanding, policy, or regulation, relating to 
                Federal financial assistance shall--
                            ``(i) disqualify religious organizations 
                        from applying for or receiving Federal 
                        financial assistance for a social services 
                        program on the basis of the organization's 
                        religious character or affiliation, or grounds 
                        that discriminate against the organization on 
                        the basis of the organization's religious 
                        exercise; or
                            ``(ii) prohibit the provision of religious 
                        activities or services at the same time or 
                        location as any program receiving such Federal 
                        financial assistance.
    ``(c) Religious Character and Freedom.--
            ``(1) Freedom.--A religious organization that applies for 
        or receives Federal financial assistance for a social services 
        program shall retain its independence from Federal, State, and 
        local governments, including its autonomy, right of expression, 
        religious character or affiliation, authority over its internal 
        governance, and other aspects of independence.
            ``(2) Religious character.--A religious organization that 
        applies for or receives Federal financial assistance for a 
        social services program may, among other things--
                    ``(A) retain religious terms in the organization's 
                name;
                    ``(B) continue to carry out the organization's 
                mission, including the definition, development, 
                practice, and expression of its religious beliefs;
                    ``(C) use the organization's facilities to provide 
                a program without concealing, removing, or altering 
                religious art, icons, scriptures, or other symbols from 
                the facilities;
                    ``(D) select, promote, or dismiss the members of 
                the organization's governing body and the 
                organization's employees on the basis of their 
                acceptance of or adherence to the religious tenets of 
                the organization; and
                    ``(E) include religious references in the 
                organization's mission statement and other chartering 
                or governing documents.
    ``(d) Rights of Covered Beneficiaries of Services.--
            ``(1) In general.--Except as otherwise provided in any 
        applicable provision of law that requires or provides for a 
        religious exemption or accommodation that is equally or more 
        protective of a religious organization's religious exercise, an 
        organization that receives Federal financial assistance under a 
        social services program shall not discriminate against a 
        covered beneficiary in the provision of a federally funded 
        program on the basis of religion, a religious belief, or a 
        refusal to hold a religious belief.
            ``(2) Special rule.--It shall not be considered 
        discrimination under paragraph (1) for a program funded by 
        Federal financial assistance to refuse to modify any components 
        of the program to accommodate a covered beneficiary who 
        participates in the organization's program.
            ``(3) Alternative services.--If a covered beneficiary has 
        an objection to the character or affiliation of the private 
        organization from which the beneficiary receives, or would 
        receive, services as part of the federally funded social 
        services program, the appropriate Federal, State, or local 
        governmental entity shall provide to such beneficiary (if 
        otherwise eligible for such services) within a reasonable 
        period of time after the date of such objection, a referral for 
        alternative services that--
                    ``(A) are reasonably accessible to the covered 
                beneficiary; and
                    ``(B) have a substantially similar value to the 
                services that the covered beneficiary would initially 
                have received from such organization.
            ``(4) Definition.--In this subsection, the term `covered 
        beneficiary' means an individual who applies for or receives 
        services under a social services program.
    ``(e) Religious Exemptions.--A religious organization's exemptions, 
in title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (42 U.S.C. 2000e et seq.) 
(including exemption from prohibitions in employment discrimination in 
section 702(a) of that Act (42 U.S.C. 2000e-1(a))), title VIII of the 
Civil Rights Act of 1968 (42 U.S.C. 3601 et seq.), title IX of the 
Education Amendments of 1972 (20 U.S.C. 1681 et seq.), the Americans 
with Disabilities Act of 1990 (42 U.S.C. 12101 et seq.), the Religious 
Freedom Restoration Act (42 U.S.C. 2000bb et seq.), the Religious Land 
Use and Institutionalized Persons Act of 2000 (42 U.S.C. 2000cc et 
seq.), or any other provision in law providing an exemption for a 
religious organization, shall not be waived because of the religious 
organization's participation in, or receipt of funds from, a social 
services program funded with Federal financial assistance.
    ``(f) Limited Audit.--
            ``(1) In general.--A religious organization providing 
        services for a social services program using Federal financial 
        assistance may segregate Federal funds and any required 
        matching funds provided for such program into a separate 
        account or accounts. Only the separate accounts consisting of 
        Federal funds and any required matching funds shall be subject 
        to audit by the Federal Government with respect to an audit 
        undertaken for the purposes of oversight of Federal financial 
        assistance.
            ``(2) Commingling of funds.--If a religious organization 
        providing services for a social services program using Federal 
        financial assistance contributes the organization's own funds 
        in addition to those funds required by a matching requirement 
        or agreement to supplement Federal funds, the organization may 
        segregate the organization's own funds that are not matching 
        funds into separate accounts, or commingle the organization's 
        own funds that are not matching funds with the matching funds. 
        If those funds are commingled, the commingled funds may all be 
        subject to audit by the Federal Government.
    ``(g) Private Right of Action.--Any religious organization that 
alleges a violation of its rights under this section and seeks to 
enforce its rights under this section--
            ``(1) may bring an action in a court of competent 
        jurisdiction and assert that violation as a claim, or assert 
        that violation as a defense in a judicial action; and
            ``(2) may obtain appropriate relief, including attorney's 
        fees, against an entity or agency that committed such 
        violation.
    ``(h) Federal Preemption of State and Local Laws.--With respect to 
any Federal financial assistance provided to a religious organization 
for the provision of a social service program, or such assistance 
commingled with State or local funds, no State or political subdivision 
of a State may adopt, maintain, enforce, or continue in effect any law, 
regulation, rule, or requirement covered by the provisions of this 
section, or a rule, regulation, or requirement promulgated under this 
section.
    ``(i) Construction.--The provisions of this section shall supersede 
all Federal law (including statutory and other law, and policies used 
in the implementation of that law) that is enacted or issued before the 
date of enactment of this section. No provision of law enacted after 
the date of the enactment of this section may be construed as limiting, 
superseding, or otherwise affecting this section, except to the extent 
that it does so by specific reference to this section.
    ``(j) Severability.--If any provision of this section or the 
application of such provision to any person or circumstance is held to 
be unconstitutional, the remainder of this section and the application 
of the provisions of such to any person or circumstance shall not be 
affected thereby.
    ``(k) Definitions.--In this section:
            ``(1) Discriminate on the basis of an organization's 
        religious exercise.--
                    ``(A) In general.--The term `discriminate', used 
                with respect to an organization's religious exercise, 
                means, on the basis of covered conduct or motivation, 
                to disfavor an organization in a selection process or 
                in oversight, including--
                            ``(i) by failing to select an organization;
                            ``(ii) by disqualifying an organization; or
                            ``(iii) by imposing any condition or 
                        selection criterion that penalizes or otherwise 
                        disfavors an organization, or has the effect of 
                        so penalizing or disfavoring an organization.
                    ``(B) Covered conduct or motivation.--In this 
                paragraph, the term `covered conduct or motivation' 
                means--
                            ``(i) conduct that would not be considered 
                        grounds to disfavor a nonreligious 
                        organization;
                            ``(ii) conduct for which an organization 
                        must or could be granted an exemption or 
                        accommodation in a manner consistent with the 
                        Free Exercise Clause of the First Amendment to 
                        the Constitution, the Religious Freedom 
                        Restoration Act (42 U.S.C. 2000bb et seq.), or 
                        any other provision referenced in subsection 
                        (e); or
                            ``(iii) the actual or suspected religious 
                        motivation for the organization's religious 
                        exercise.
            ``(2) Other definitions.--
                    ``(A) Federal financial assistance.--The term 
                `Federal financial assistance' means financial 
                assistance from the Federal Government that non-Federal 
                entities receive or administer through grants, 
                contracts, loans, loan guarantees, property, 
                cooperative agreements, food commodities, direct 
                appropriations, or other assistance, but does not 
                include a tax credit, tax deduction, or guaranty 
                contract.
                    ``(B) Pass-through entity.--The term `pass-through 
                entity' means an entity, including a nonprofit or 
                nongovernmental organization, acting under a grant, 
                contract, or other agreement with the Federal 
                Government or with a State or local government, such as 
                a State administering agency, that accepts direct 
                Federal financial assistance as a primary recipient 
                (such as a grant recipient) and distributes that 
                assistance to other organizations that, in turn, 
                provide government-funded social services through a 
                social services program.
                    ``(C) Program.--The term `program' includes the 
                services provided through that program.
                    ``(D) Religious exercise.--The term `religious 
                exercise' has the meaning given the term in section 8 
                of the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons 
                Act of 2000 (42 U.S.C. 2000cc-5).
                    ``(E) Services.--The term `services', used with 
                respect to a social services program, includes the 
                provision of goods, or of financial assistance, under 
                the social services program.
                    ``(F) Social services program.--The term `social 
                services program'--
                            ``(i) means a program that is administered 
                        by the Federal Government, or by a State or 
                        local government using Federal financial 
                        assistance, and that provides services directed 
                        at reducing poverty, improving opportunities 
                        for low-income children, revitalizing low-
                        income communities, empowering low-income 
                        families and low-income individuals to become 
                        self-sufficient, or otherwise helping people in 
                        need; and
                            ``(ii) includes a program that provides, to 
                        people in need--
                                    ``(I) child care services, 
                                protective services for children and 
                                adults, services for children and 
                                adults in foster care, adoption 
                                services, services related to 
                                management and maintenance of the home, 
                                day care services for adults, and 
                                services to meet the special needs of 
                                children, older individuals, and 
                                individuals with disabilities;
                                    ``(II) transportation services;
                                    ``(III) job training and related 
                                services, and employment services;
                                    ``(IV) information, referral, and 
                                counseling services;
                                    ``(V) the preparation and delivery 
                                of meals, nutrition services, and 
                                services related to soup kitchens or 
                                food banks;
                                    ``(VI) health support services;
                                    ``(VII) literacy and mentoring 
                                services;
                                    ``(VIII) services for the 
                                prevention and treatment of juvenile 
                                delinquency and substance abuse, 
                                services for the prevention of crime 
                                and the provision of assistance to the 
                                victims and families of criminal 
                                offenders, and services related to 
                                intervention in, and prevention of, 
                                domestic violence; or
                                    ``(IX) services related to the 
                                provision of assistance for housing 
                                under Federal law.''.
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