[Congressional Record Volume 145, Number 98 (Tuesday, July 13, 1999)]
[House]
[Pages H5456-H5458]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
H.R. 1691
Offered By Mr. Conyers
(Amendment in the Nature of a Substitute)
Amendment No. 1: Strike all after the enacting clause and
insert the following:
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ``Religious Liberty Protection
Act of 1999''.
SEC. 2. PROTECTION OF RELIGIOUS EXERCISE.
(a) General Rule.--Except as provided in subsection (b), a
government shall not substantially burden a person's
religious exercise--
(1) in a program or activity, operated by a government,
that receives Federal financial assistance; or
(2) in any case in which the substantial burden on the
person's religious exercise affects, or in which a removal of
that substantial burden would affect, commerce with foreign
nations, among the several States, or with Indian tribes;
even if the burden results from a rule of general
applicability.
(b) Exception.--A government may substantially burden a
person's religious exercise if the government 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) Remedies of the United States.--Nothing in this section
shall be construed to authorize the United States to deny or
withhold Federal financial assistance as a remedy for a
violation of this Act. However, nothing in this subsection
shall be construed to deny, impair, or otherwise affect any
right or authority of the Attorney General or the United
States or any agency, officer, or employee thereof under
other law, including section 4(d) of this Act, to institute
or intervene in any action or proceeding.
SEC. 3. ENFORCEMENT OF CONSTITUTIONAL RIGHTS.
(a) Procedure.--If a claimant produces prima facie evidence
to support a claim alleging a violation of the Free Exercise
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Clause or a violation of a provision of this Act enforcing
that clause, the government shall bear the burden of
persuasion on any element of the claim; however, the claimant
shall bear the burden of persuasion on whether the challenged
government practice, law, or regulation burdens or
substantially burdens the claimant's exercise of religion.
(b) Land Use Regulation.--
(1) Limitation on land use regulation.--
(A) Where, in applying or implementing any land use
regulation or exemption, or system of land use regulations or
exemptions, a government has the authority to make
individualized assessments of the proposed uses to which real
property would be put, the government may not impose a
substantial burden on a person's religious exercise, unless
the government demonstrates that application of the burden to
the person is in furtherance of a compelling governmental
interest and is the least restrictive means of furthering
that compelling governmental interest.
(B) No government shall impose or implement a land use
regulation in a manner that does not treat religious
assemblies or institutions on equal terms with nonreligious
assemblies or institutions.
(C) No government shall impose or implement a land use
regulation that discriminates against any assembly or
institution on the basis of religion or religious
denomination.
(D) No government with zoning authority shall unreasonably
exclude from the jurisdiction over which it has authority, or
unreasonably limit within that jurisdiction, assemblies or
institutions principally devoted to religious exercise.
(2) Full faith and credit.--Adjudication of a claim of a
violation of the Free Exercise Clause or this subsection in a
non-Federal forum shall be entitled to full faith and credit
in a Federal court only if the claimant had a full and fair
adjudication of that claim in the non-Federal forum.
(3) Nonpreemption.--Nothing in this subsection shall
preempt State law that is equally or more protective of
religious exercise.
SEC. 4. JUDICIAL RELIEF.
(a) Cause of Action.--A person may assert a violation of
this Act 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.
(b) Attorneys' Fees.--Section 722(b) of the Revised
Statutes (42 U.S.C. 1988(b)) is amended--
(1) by inserting ``the Religious Liberty Protection Act of
1998,'' after ``Religious Freedom Restoration Act of 1993,'';
and
(2) by striking the comma that follows a comma.
(c) Prisoners.--Any litigation under this Act in which the
claimant is a prisoner shall be subject to the Prison
Litigation Reform Act of 1995 (including provisions of law
amended by that Act).
(d) Authority of United States to Enforce This Act.--The
United States may sue for injunctive or declaratory relief to
enforce compliance with this Act.
(e) Persons Who May Raise a Claim or Defense.--A person who
may raise a claim or defense under subsection (a) is--
(1) an owner of a dwelling described in section 803(b) of
the Fair Housing Act (42 U.S.C. 3603(b)), with respect to a
prohibition relating to discrimination in housing;
(2) with respect to a prohibition against discrimination in
employment--
(A) a religious corporation, association, educational
institution (as described in 42 U.S.C. 2000e-2(e)), or
society, with respect to the employment of individuals who
perform duties such as spreading or teaching faith, other
instructional functions, performing or assisting in
devotional services, or activities relating to the internal
governance of such corporation, association, educational
institution, or society in the carrying on of its activities;
or
(B) an entity employing 5 or fewer individuals; or
(3) any other person, with respect to an assertion of any
other claim or defense relating to a law other than a law--
(A) prohibiting discrimination in housing and employment,
except as described in paragraphs (1) and (2); or
(B) prohibiting discrimination in a public accommodation.
SEC. 5. RULES OF CONSTRUCTION.
(a) Religious Belief Unaffected.--Nothing in this Act shall
be construed to authorize any government to burden any
religious belief.
(b) Religious Exercise Not Regulated.--Nothing in this Act
shall create any basis for restricting or burdening religious
exercise or for claims against a religious organization,
including any religiously affiliated school or university,
not acting under color of law.
(c) Claims to Funding Unaffected.--Nothing in this Act
shall create or preclude a right of any religious
organization to receive funding or other assistance from a
government, or of any person to receive government funding
for a religious activity, but this Act may require government
to incur expenses in its own operations to avoid imposing a
burden or a substantial burden on religious exercise.
(d) Other Authority To Impose Conditions on Funding
Unaffected.--Nothing in this Act shall--
(1) authorize a government to regulate or affect, directly
or indirectly, the activities or policies of a person other
than a government as a condition of receiving funding or
other assistance; or
(2) restrict any authority that may exist under other law
to so regulate or affect, except as provided in this Act.
(e) Governmental Discretion in Alleviating Burdens on
Religious Exercise.--A government may avoid the preemptive
force of any provision of this Act by changing the policy
that results in the substantial burden on religious exercise,
by retaining the policy and exempting the burdened religious
exercise, by providing exemptions from the policy for
applications that substantially burden religious exercise, or
by any other means that eliminates the substantial burden.
(f) Effect on Other Law.--In a claim under section 2(a)(2)
of this Act, proof that a substantial burden on a person's
religious exercise, or removal of that burden, affects or
would affect commerce, shall not establish any inference or
presumption that Congress intends that any religious exercise
is, or is not, subject to any other law.
(g) Broad Construction.--This Act should be construed in
favor of a broad protection of religious exercise, to the
maximum extent permitted by its terms and the Constitution.
(h) Severability.--If any provision of this Act or of an
amendment made by this Act, or any application of such
provision to any person or circumstance, is held to be
unconstitutional, the remainder of this Act, the amendments
made by this Act, and the application of the provision to any
other person or circumstance shall not be affected.
SEC. 6. ESTABLISHMENT CLAUSE UNAFFECTED.
Nothing in this Act shall be construed to affect,
interpret, or in any way address that portion of the first
amendment to the Constitution prohibiting laws respecting an
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.
SEC. 7. AMENDMENTS TO RELIGIOUS FREEDOM RESTORATION ACT.
(a) Definitions.--Section 5 of the Religious Freedom
Restoration Act of 1993 (42 U.S.C. 2000bb-2) is amended--
(1) in paragraph (1), by striking ``a State, or subdivision
of a State'' and inserting ``a covered entity or a
subdivision of such an entity'';
(2) in paragraph (2), by striking ``term'' and all that
follows through ``includes'' and inserting ``term `covered
entity' means''; and
(3) in paragraph (4), by striking all after ``means,'' and
inserting ``any exercise of religion, whether or not
compelled by, or central to, a system of religious belief,
and includes (A) the use, building, or conversion of real
property by a person or entity intending that property for
religious exercise; and (B) any conduct protected as exercise
of religion under the first amendment to the Constitution.''.
(b) Conforming Amendment.--Section 6(a) of the Religious
Freedom Restoration Act of 1993 (42 U.S.C. 2000bb-3(a)) is
amended by striking ``and State''.
SEC. 8. DEFINITIONS.
As used in this Act--
(1) the term ``religious exercise'' means any exercise of
religion, whether or not compelled by, or central to, a
system of religious belief, and includes (A) the use,
building, or conversion of real property by a person or
entity intending that property for religious exercise; and
(B) any conduct protected as exercise of religion under the
first amendment to the Constitution;
(2) the term ``Free Exercise Clause'' means that portion of
the first amendment to the Constitution that proscribes laws
prohibiting the free exercise of religion and includes the
application of that proscription under the 14th amendment to
the Constitution;
(3) the term ``land use regulation'' means a law or
decision by a government that limits or restricts a private
person's uses or development of land, or of structures
affixed to land, where the law or decision applies to one or
more particular parcels of land or to land within one or more
designated geographical zones, and where the private person
has an ownership, leasehold, easement, servitude, or other
property interest in the regulated land, or a contract or
option to acquire such an interest;
(4) the term ``program or activity'' means a program or
activity as defined in paragraph (1) or (2) of section 606 of
the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (42 U.S.C. 2000d-4a);
(5) the term ``demonstrates'' means meets the burdens of
going forward with the evidence and of persuasion; and
(6) the term ``government''--
(A) means--
(i) a State, county, municipality, or other governmental
entity created under the authority of a State;
(ii) any branch, department, agency, instrumentality,
subdivision, or official of an entity listed in clause (i);
and
(iii) any other person acting under color of State law; and
(B) for the purposes of sections 3(a) and 5, includes the
United States, a branch, department, agency, instrumentality
or official of
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the United States, and any person acting under color of
Federal law.