[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 36, Number 38 (Monday, September 25, 2000)]
[Pages 2168-2169]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Statement on Signing the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized 
Persons Act of 2000

September 22, 2000

    Today I am pleased to sign into law S. 2869, the ``Religious Land 
Use and Institutionalized Persons Act of 2000,'' which will provide 
important protections for religious exercise in America. This Act will, 
in certain cases, forbid State and local governments from imposing a 
substantial burden on the exercise of religion unless they could 
demonstrate that imposition of such a burden is the least restrictive 
means of furthering a compelling governmental interest. The Act would 
protect the exercise of religion in two situations: (1) where State and 
local governments seek to impose or implement a zoning or landmark law 
in a manner that imposes a substantial burden on religious exercise and 
(2) where State and local governments seek to impose a substantial 
burden on the religious exercise of persons residing or confined to 
certain institutions.
    I applaud the Congress, particularly Senators Kennedy, Hatch, Reid, 
and Schumer, and Representatives Canady and Nadler for their hard work 
in passing this legislation. The Religious Land Use and 
Institutionalized Persons Act will provide protection for one of our 
country's greatest liberties--the exercise of religion--while carefully 
preserving the civil rights of all Americans. Just as I fully supported 
the Religious Freedom Restoration Act in 1993, I support Senator 
Kennedy's and Hatch's bill. Religious liberty is a constitutional value 
of the highest order, and the Framers of the Constitution included 
protection for the free exercise of religion in the very first 
Amendment. This Act recognizes the importance the free exercise of 
religion plays in our democratic society.
    I also want to thank the Coalition for the Free Exercise of Religion 
and the civil rights community for the central role they played in 
crafting this legislation. Their work in passing this legislation once 
again demonstrates

[[Page 2169]]

that people of all political bents and faiths can work together for a 
common purpose that benefits all Americans.
                                            William J. Clinton
 The White House,
 September 22, 2000.

Note: S. 2869, approved September 22, was not received by the Office of 
the Federal Register in time for assignment of a Public Law number.