Equal Campus Access Act of 2023

Bill: 118-s-985
Sponsor: full_name: Sen. Lankford, James [R-OK]
Introduced: 2023-03-27
Policy area: Education
Latest action: action_date: 2023-03-27
text: Read twice and referred to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions.

Summaries:
action_date: 2023-03-27
action_desc: Introduced in Senate
text: <p><b>Equal Campus Access Act of 2023</b></p> <p>This bill prohibits funding made available under the Higher Education Act of 1965 from being provided to any public institution of higher education (IHE) that denies to religious student organizations any right, benefit, or privilege that is otherwise afforded to other student organizations at the IHE because of the religious beliefs, practices, speech, leadership standards, or standards of conduct of the religious student organization.</p>

tv_txt: II 118th CONGRESS 1st Session S. 985 IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES March 27, 2023 Mr. Lankford (for himself, Mr. Scott of South Carolina , Mr. Scott of Florida , Mr. Risch , Mr. Cruz , Mr. Graham , Mr. Crapo , Mrs. Hyde-Smith , Ms. Ernst , Mr. Cramer , Mr. Hawley , Mr. Tillis , Mrs. Fischer , Mr. Grassley , Mr. Cotton , and Mr. Rubio ) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions A BILL To amend the Higher Education Act of 1965 to ensure campus access at public institutions of higher education for religious groups.

1. Short title This Act may be cited as the Equal Campus Access Act of 2023 . 2. Campus access for religious groups Part B of title I of the Higher Education Act of 1965 ( 20 U.S.C. 1011 et seq. ) is amended by adding at the end the following: 124. Campus access for religious groups None of the funds made available under this Act may be provided to any public institution of higher education that denies to a religious student organization any right, benefit, or privilege that is otherwise afforded to other student organizations at the institution (including full access to the facilities of the institution and official recognition of the organization by the institution) because of the religious beliefs, practices, speech, leadership standards, or standards of conduct of the religious student organization. .