[Congressional Bills 109th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 235 Introduced in House (IH)]






109th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 235

  To amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to protect the religious 
 free exercise and free speech rights of churches and other houses of 
                                worship.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                            January 4, 2005

 Mr. Jones of North Carolina introduced the following bill; which was 
              referred to the Committee on Ways and Means

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
  To amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to protect the religious 
 free exercise and free speech rights of churches and other houses of 
                                worship.

    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 ``Houses of Worship Free Speech 
Restoration Act of 2005''.

SEC. 2. HOUSES OF WORSHIP PERMITTED TO ENGAGE IN RELIGIOUS FREE 
              EXERCISE AND FREE SPEECH ACTIVITIES, ETC.

    (a) In General.--Section 501 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 
is amended by redesignating subsection (q) as subsection (r) and by 
inserting after subsection (p) the following new subsection:
    ``(q) An organization described in section 170(b)(1)(a)(1) or 
section 508(c)(1)(A) shall not fail to be treated as organized and 
operated exclusively for a religious purpose, nor shall it be deemed to 
have participated in, or intervened in any political campaign on behalf 
of (or in opposition to) any candidate for public office, for purposes 
of subsection (c)(3) or section 170(c)(2), 2055, 2106, 2522, or 4955 
because of the content, preparation, or presentation of any homily, 
sermon, teaching, dialectic, or other presentation made during 
religious services or gatherings.''.
    (b) Effective Date.--The amendment made by subsection (a) shall 
apply to taxable years ending after the date of enactment of this Act.

SEC. 3. CAMPAIGN FINANCE LAWS UNAFFECTED.

    No member or leader of an organization described in section 501(q) 
of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 (as added by section 2) shall be 
prohibited from expressing personal views on political matters or 
elections for public office during regular religious services, so long 
as these views are not disseminated beyond the members and guests 
assembled together at the service. For purposes of the preceding 
sentence, dissemination beyond the members and guests assembled 
together at a service includes a mailing that results in more than an 
incremental cost to the organization and any electioneering 
communication under section 304(f) of the Federal Election Campaign Act 
of 1971 (2 U.S.C. 434(f)). Nothing in the amendment made by section 2 
shall be construed to permit any disbursements for electioneering 
communications or political expenditures prohibited by the Federal 
Election Campaign Act of 1971.
                                 <all>