[Congressional Bills 104th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 4019 Introduced in House (IH)]







104th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                H. R. 4019

         To amend the Fair Housing Act, and for other purposes.


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                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                           September 4, 1996

 Mr. Bilbray introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 
                       Committee on the Judiciary

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                                 A BILL


 
         To amend the Fair Housing Act, 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 ``Fair Housing Reform and Freedom of 
Speech Act of 1996''.

SEC. 2. AMENDMENTS TO FAIR HOUSING ACT.

    (a) In General.--The first sentence of section 807(b)(1) of the 
Fair Housing Act (42 U.S.C. 3607(b)(1)) is amended by inserting before 
the period the following: ``, including any restriction relating to the 
maximum number of unrelated persons permitted to occupy a dwelling, 
governing the proximity of dwellings to each other, or the occupancy of 
a dwelling by a convicted felon, sex offender, or recovering drug 
addict, if the purpose of the restriction is to restrict land use to 
single family dwellings''.
    (b) Protection of Certain Activities.--Title I of the Fair Housing 
Act (42 U.S.C. 3601 et seq.) is amended by adding at the end the 
following new section:

``SEC. 821. PROTECTION OF CERTAIN ACTIVITIES.

    ``Nothing in this Act shall be construed to apply to any otherwise 
lawful activity engaged in by one or more persons, including the filing 
or maintaining of a legal action, that is engaged in solely for the 
purpose of--
            ``(1) achieving or preventing action by a governmental 
        entity or official; or
            ``(2) receiving an interpretation of any provision of this 
        Act in a court of competent jurisdiction.''.
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