[Congressional Bills 103th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 578 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

103d CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                 S. 578

               To protect the free exercise of religion.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

               March 11 (legislative day, March 3), 1993

    Mr. Kennedy (for himself, Mr. Hatch, Mr. Bennett, Mr. Bond, Mr. 
  Bradley, Mr. Bumpers, Mr. Campbell, Mr. Danforth, Mr. Daschle, Mr. 
    Exon, Mr. Feingold, Mrs. Feinstein, Mr. Graham, Mr. Harkin, Mr. 
Hatfield, Mr. Jeffords, Mrs. Kassebaum, Mr. Kerry, Mr. Lautenberg, Mr. 
Levin, Mr. Lieberman, Mr. Metzenbaum, Ms. Mikulski, Ms. Moseley-Braun, 
   Mr. Moynihan, Mrs. Murray, Mr. Packwood, Mr. Pell, Mr. Reid, Mr. 
    Riegle, Mr. Specter, Mr. Wellstone, Mr. Wofford, and Mr. Kohl) 
introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the 
                       Committee on the Judiciary

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
               To protect the free exercise of religion.

    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 ``Religious Freedom Restoration Act of 
1993''.

SEC. 2. CONGRESSIONAL FINDINGS AND DECLARATION OF PURPOSES.

    (a) Findings.--The Congress finds that--
            (1) the framers of the Constitution, recognizing free 
        exercise of religion as an unalienable right, secured its 
        protection in the First Amendment to the Constitution;
            (2) laws ``neutral'' toward religion may burden religious 
        exercise as surely as laws intended to interfere with religious 
        exercise;
            (3) governments should not burden religious exercise 
        without compelling justification;
            (4) in Employment Division v. Smith, 494 U.S. 872 (1990) 
        the Supreme Court virtually eliminated the requirement that the 
        government justify burdens on religious exercise imposed by 
        laws neutral toward religion; and
            (5) the compelling interest test as set forth in prior 
        Federal court rulings is a workable test for striking sensible 
        balances between religious liberty and competing prior 
        governmental interests.
    (b) Purposes.--The purposes of this Act are--
            (1) to restore the compelling interest test as set forth in 
        Sherbert v. Verner, 374 U.S. 398 (1963) and Wisconsin v. Yoder, 
        406 U.S. 205 (1972) and to guarantee its application in all 
        cases where free exercise of religion is burdened; and
            (2) to provide a claim or defense to persons whose 
        religious exercise is burdened by government.

SEC. 3. FREE EXERCISE OF RELIGION PROTECTED.

    (a) In General.--Government shall not burden a person's exercise of 
religion even if the burden results from a rule of general 
applicability, except as provided in subsection (b).
    (b) Exception.--Government may burden a person's exercise of 
religion only if it demonstrates that application of the burden to the 
person--
            (1) is in furtherance of a compelling governmental 
        interest; and
            (2) is the least restrictive means of furthering that 
        compelling governmental interest.
    (c) Judicial Relief.--A person whose religious exercise has been 
burdened in violation of this section may assert that violation as a 
claim or defense in a judicial proceeding and obtain appropriate relief 
against a government. Standing to assert a claim or defense under this 
section shall be governed by the general rules of standing under 
article III of the Constitution.

SEC. 4. ATTORNEYS FEES.

    (a) Judicial Proceedings.--Section 722 of the Revised Statutes (42 
U.S.C. 1988) is amended by inserting ``the Religious Freedom 
Restoration Act of 1993,'' before ``or title VI of the Civil Rights Act 
of 1964''.
    (b) Administrative Proceedings.--Section 504(b)(1)(C) of title 5, 
United States Code, is amended--
            (1) by striking ``and'' at the end of clause (ii);
            (2) by striking the semicolon at the end of clause (iii) 
        and inserting ``, and''; and
            (3) by inserting ``(iv) the Religious Freedom Restoration 
        Act of 1993;'' after clause (iii).

SEC. 5. DEFINITIONS.

    As used in this Act--
            (1) the term ``government'' includes a branch, department, 
        agency, instrumentality, and official (or other person acting 
        under color of law) of the United States, a State, or a 
        subdivision of a State;
            (2) the term ``State'' includes the District of Columbia, 
        the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, and each territory and 
        possession of the United States;
            (3) the term ``demonstrates'' means meets the burdens of 
        going forward with the evidence and of persuasion; and
            (4) the term ``exercise of religion'' means the exercise of 
        religion under the First Amendment to the Constitution.

SEC. 6. APPLICABILITY.

    (a) In General.--This Act applies to all Federal and State law, and 
the implementation of that law, whether statutory or otherwise, and 
whether adopted before or after the enactment of this Act.
    (b) Rule of Construction.--Federal statutory law adopted after the 
date of the enactment of this Act is subject to this Act unless such 
law explicitly excludes such application by reference to this Act.
    (c) Religious Belief Unaffected.--Nothing in this Act shall be 
construed to authorize any government to burden any religious belief.

SEC. 7. ESTABLISHMENT CLAUSE UNAFFECTED.

    Nothing in this Act shall be construed to affect, interpret, or in 
any way address that portion of the First Amendment prohibiting laws 
respecting the establishment of religion (referred to in this section 
as the ``Establishment Clause''). Granting government funding, 
benefits, or exemptions, to the extent permissible under the 
Establishment Clause, shall not constitute a violation of this Act. As 
used in this section, the term ``granting'', used with respect to 
government funding, benefits, or exemptions, does not include the 
denial of government funding, benefits, or exemptions.

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