<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?><BillSummaries>
<item congress="115" measure-type="s" measure-number="994" measure-id="id115s994" originChamber="SENATE" orig-publish-date="2017-05-01" update-date="2018-12-28">
<title>Protecting Religiously Affiliated Institutions Act of 2018</title>
<summary summary-id="id115s994v49" currentChamber="BOTH" update-date="2018-12-28">
<action-date>2018-09-28</action-date>
<action-desc>Public Law</action-desc>
<summary-text><![CDATA[<p><b>Protecting Religiously Affiliated Institutions Act of 2018</b></p> <p>(Sec. 2) This bill amends the federal criminal code to modify an existing prohibition on intentionally obstructing, by force or threat of force, a person in the free exercise of religious beliefs.</p> <p>The bill specifies that, with respect to the prohibition, a threat of force includes a threat of force against religious real property.</p> <p>Additionally, it establishes a criminal penalty&#8212;a fine, a prison term of up to three years, or both&#8212;for a violation that results in damage or destruction to religious real property in an amount that exceeds $5,000.</p> <p>Finally, the bill broadens the definition of &quot;religious real property&quot; to include real property owned or leased by a nonprofit, religiously affiliated organization.</p>]]></summary-text>
</summary>
<summary summary-id="id115s994v00" currentChamber="SENATE" update-date="2018-02-13">
<action-date>2017-05-01</action-date>
<action-desc>Introduced in Senate</action-desc>
<summary-text><![CDATA[<p><b>Protecting Religiously Affiliated Institutions Act of 2017</b></p> <p>This bill amends the federal criminal code to modify prohibitions with respect to intentionally defacing, damaging, or destroying religious real property.</p> <p>Specifically, the bill broadens the scope of prohibited conduct to also criminalize threats to deface, damage, or destroy religious real property.</p> <p>Additionally, it establishes a criminal penalty&#8212;a fine, a prison term of up to five years, or both&#8212;for a violation that results in damage or destruction to religious property.</p> <p>Finally, the bill broadens the definition of &quot;religious real property&quot; to include real property owned or leased by a nonprofit, religiously affiliated organization. </p>]]></summary-text>
</summary>
</item>
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<dc:language>EN</dc:language>
<dc:rights>Pursuant to Title 17 Section 105 of the United States Code, this file is not subject to copyright protection and is in the public domain.</dc:rights>
<dc:contributor>Congressional Research Service, Library of Congress</dc:contributor>
<dc:description>This file contains bill summaries for federal legislation. A bill summary describes the most significant provisions of a piece of legislation and details the effects the legislative text may have on current law and federal programs. Bill summaries are authored by the Congressional Research Service (CRS) of the Library of Congress. As stated in Public Law 91-510 (2 USC 166 (d)(6)), one of the duties of CRS is "to prepare summaries and digests of bills and resolutions of a public general nature introduced in the Senate or House of Representatives". For more information, refer to the User Guide that accompanies this file.</dc:description>
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</BillSummaries>
