[Congressional Bills 119th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 5128 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

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119th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                S. 5128

    To prohibit the award of Federal education funds to educational 
institutions and agencies that do not allow for religious exemptions to 
           vaccination requirements, and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                             July 23, 2026

Mr. Lee (for himself and Mr. Tuberville) introduced the following bill; 
     which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Health, 
                     Education, Labor, and Pensions

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
    To prohibit the award of Federal education funds to educational 
institutions and agencies that do not allow for religious exemptions to 
           vaccination requirements, 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 ``Guaranteeing Religious Accommodation 
in Childhood Education Act'' or the ``GRACE Act''.

SEC. 2. PROHIBITION ON AWARD OF FEDERAL EDUCATION FUNDS TO CERTAIN 
              EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTIONS AND AGENCIES.

    (a) In General.--No Federal education funds may be made available 
to an educational institution or agency that has a vaccination 
requirement, unless such institution or agency maintains a policy under 
which--
            (1) an individual may be exempted from such requirement if 
        such individual (or their parent or guardian, in the case of an 
        individual who is a child) asserts that receiving the 
        vaccination would violate a sincerely held religious belief; 
        and
            (2) no documentation or other information is required to be 
        submitted by the individual (or their parent or guardian) to 
        support the validity of such assertion.
    (b) Definitions.--In this section:
            (1) Child.--The term ``child'' means an individual who has 
        not attained the age of 18 years.
            (2) Educational institution or agency.--The term 
        ``educational institution or agency'' means an elementary 
        school, secondary school, local educational agency, or State 
        educational agency (as those terms are defined in section 8101 
        of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 (20 
        U.S.C. 7801)).
            (3) Vaccination requirement.--The term ``vaccination 
        requirement'' means any requirement by an educational 
        institution or agency that, as a condition for enrollment, 
        attendance, participation in athletics or other student 
        activities, or employment at the institution or agency, 
        requires an individual to have received one or more 
        vaccinations.
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