[Congressional Bills 105th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 2297 Introduced in House (IH)]







105th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 2297

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


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                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             July 30, 1997

    Mr. Baker of Louisiana introduced the following bill; which was 
               referred to the Committee on the Judiciary

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 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 ``Local Control and Fair Housing 
Reform Act of 1997''.

SEC. 2. IMMEDIATE RESTORATION OF LOCAL CONTROL AND PROTECTION OF RIGHT 
              TO SEEK REDRESS.

    (a) Immediate Restoration of Local Control.--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, or governing the proximity of dwellings 
to each other if the purpose of the restriction is to restrict land use 
to single family dwellings''.
    (b) Protection of Right To Seek Redress.--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 RIGHT TO SEEK REDRESS.

    ``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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