[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 38, Number 50 (Monday, December 16, 2002)]
[Pages 2156-2160]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Executive Order 13279--Equal Protection of the Laws for Faith-Based and 
Community Organizations

December 12, 2002

    By the authority vested in me as President by the Constitution and 
the laws of the United States of America, including section 121(a) of 
title 40, United States Code, and section 301 of title 3, United States 
Code, and in order to guide Federal agencies in formulating and 
developing policies with implications for faith-based organizations and 
other community organizations, to ensure equal protection of the laws 
for faith-based and community organizations, to further the national 
effort to expand opportunities for, and strengthen the capacity of, 
faith-based and other community organizations so that

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they may better meet social needs in America's communities, and to 
ensure the economical and efficient administration and completion of 
Government contracts, it is hereby ordered as follows:
    Section 1. Definitions. For purposes of this order:
    (a) ``Federal financial assistance'' means assistance that non-
Federal entities receive or administer in the form of grants, contracts, 
loans, loan guarantees, property, cooperative agreements, food 
commodities, direct appropriations, or other assistance, but does not 
include a tax credit, deduction, or exemption.
    (b) ``Social service program'' means a program that is administered 
by the Federal Government, or by a State or local government using 
Federal financial assistance, and that provides services directed at 
reducing poverty, improving opportunities for low-income children, 
revitalizing low-income communities, empowering low-income families and 
low-income individuals to become self-sufficient, or otherwise helping 
people in need. Such programs include, but are not limited to, the 
following:
 (i)        child care services, protective services for children and 
            adults, services for children and adults in foster care, 
            adoption services, services related to the management and 
            maintenance of the home, day care services for adults, and 
            services to meet the special needs of children, older 
            individuals, and individuals with disabilities (including 
            physical, mental, or emotional disabilities);
 (ii)        transportation services;
 (iii)       job training and related services, and employment services;
 (iv)        information, referral, and counseling services;
 (v)         the preparation and delivery of meals and services related 
            to soup kitchens or food banks;
 (vi)        health support services;
 (vii)       literacy and mentoring programs;
 (viii)      services for the prevention and treatment of juvenile 
            delinquency and substance abuse, services for the prevention 
            of crime and the provision of assistance to the victims and 
            the families of criminal offenders, and services related to 
            intervention in, and prevention of, domestic violence; and
 (ix)        services related to the provision of assistance for housing 
            under Federal law.
    (c) ``Policies that have implications for faith-based and community 
organizations'' refers to all policies, programs, and regulations, 
including official guidance and internal agency procedures, that have 
significant effects on faith-based organizations participating in or 
seeking to participate in social service programs supported with Federal 
financial assistance.
    (d) ``Agency'' means a department or agency in the executive branch.
    (e) ``Specified agency heads'' mean the Attorney General, the 
Secretaries of Agriculture, Education, Health and Human Services, 
Housing and Urban Development, and Labor, and the Administrator of the 
Agency for International Development.
    Sec. 2. Fundamental Principles and Policymaking Criteria.
    In formulating and implementing policies that have implications for 
faith-based and community organizations, agencies that administer social 
service programs supported with Federal financial assistance shall, to 
the extent permitted by law, be guided by the following fundamental 
principles:
    (a) Federal financial assistance for social service programs should 
be distributed in the most effective and efficient manner possible;
    (b) The Nation's social service capacity will benefit if all 
eligible organizations, including faith-based and other community 
organizations, are able to compete on an equal footing for Federal 
financial assistance used to support social service programs;
    (c) No organization should be discriminated against on the basis of 
religion or religious belief in the administration or distribution of 
Federal financial assistance under social service programs;
    (d) All organizations that receive Federal financial assistance 
under social services programs should be prohibited from discriminating 
against beneficiaries or potential beneficiaries of the social services 
programs on the basis of religion or religious belief.

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Accordingly, organizations, in providing services supported in whole or 
in part with Federal financial assistance, and in their outreach 
activities related to such services, should not be allowed to 
discriminate against current or prospective program beneficiaries on the 
basis of religion, a religious belief, a refusal to hold a religious 
belief, or a refusal to actively participate in a religious practice;
    (e) The Federal Government must implement Federal programs in 
accordance with the Establishment Clause and the Free Exercise Clause of 
the First Amendment to the Constitution. Therefore, organizations that 
engage in inherently religious activities, such as worship, religious 
instruction, and proselytization, must offer those services separately 
in time or location from any programs or services supported with direct 
Federal financial assistance, and participation in any such inherently 
religious activities must be voluntary for the beneficiaries of the 
social service program supported with such Federal financial assistance; 
and
    (f) Consistent with the Free Exercise Clause and the Free Speech 
Clause of the Constitution, faith-based organizations should be eligible 
to compete for Federal financial assistance used to support social 
service programs and to participate fully in the social service programs 
supported with Federal financial assistance without impairing their 
independence, autonomy, expression, or religious character. Accordingly, 
a faith-based organization that applies for or participates in a social 
service program supported with Federal financial assistance may retain 
its independence and may continue to carry out its mission, including 
the definition, development, practice, and expression of its religious 
beliefs, provided that it does not use direct Federal financial 
assistance to support any inherently religious activities, such as 
worship, religious instruction, or proselytization. Among other things, 
faith-based organizations that receive Federal financial assistance may 
use their facilities to provide social services supported with Federal 
financial assistance, without removing or altering religious art, icons, 
scriptures, or other symbols from these facilities. In addition, a 
faith-based organization that applies for or participates in a social 
service program supported with Federal financial assistance may retain 
religious terms in its organization's name, select its board members on 
a religious basis, and include religious references in its 
organization's mission statements and other chartering or governing 
documents.
    Sec. 3. Agency Implementation.
    (a) Specified agency heads shall, in coordination with the White 
House Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives (White House 
OFBCI), review and evaluate existing policies that have implications for 
faith-based and community organizations in order to assess the 
consistency of such policies with the fundamental principles and 
policymaking criteria articulated in section 2 of this order.
    (b) Specified agency heads shall ensure that all policies that have 
implications for faith-based and community organizations are consistent 
with the fundamental principles and policymaking criteria articulated in 
section 2 of this order. Therefore, specified agency heads shall, to the 
extent permitted by law:
 (i)         amend all such existing policies of their respective 
            agencies to ensure that they are consistent with the 
            fundamental principles and policymaking criteria articulated 
            in section 2 of this order;
 (ii)        where appropriate, implement new policies for their 
            respective agencies that are consistent with and necessary 
            to further the fundamental principles and policymaking 
            criteria set forth in section 2 of this order; and
 (iii)       implement new policies that are necessary to ensure that 
            their respective agencies collect data regarding the 
            participation of faith-based and community organizations in 
            social service programs that receive Federal financial 
            assistance.
    (c) Within 90 days after the date of this order, each specified 
agency head shall report to the President, through the Director of the 
White House OFBCI, the actions it proposes to undertake to accomplish 
the activities set forth in sections 3(a) and (b) of this order.
    Sec. 4. Amendment of Executive Order 11246.

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    Pursuant to section 121(a) of title 40, United States Code, and 
section 301 of title 3, United States Code, and in order to further the 
strong Federal interest in ensuring that the cost and progress of 
Federal procurement contracts are not adversely affected by an 
artificial restriction of the labor pool caused by the unwarranted 
exclusion of faith-based organizations from such contracts, section 204 
of Executive Order 11246 of September 24, 1965, as amended, is hereby 
further amended to read as follows:
    ``SEC. 204 (a) The Secretary of Labor may, when the Secretary deems 
that special circumstances in the national interest so require, exempt a 
contracting agency from the requirement of including any or all of the 
provisions of Section 202 of this Order in any specific contract, 
subcontract, or purchase order.
    (b) The Secretary of Labor may, by rule or regulation, exempt 
certain classes of contracts, subcontracts, or purchase orders (1) 
whenever work is to be or has been performed outside the United States 
and no recruitment of workers within the limits of the United States is 
involved; (2) for standard commercial supplies or raw materials; (3) 
involving less than specified amounts of money or specified numbers of 
workers; or (4) to the extent that they involve subcontracts below a 
specified tier.
    (c) Section 202 of this Order shall not apply to a Government 
contractor or subcontractor that is a religious corporation, 
association, educational institution, or society, with respect to the 
employment of individuals of a particular religion to perform work 
connected with the carrying on by such corporation, association, 
educational institution, or society of its activities. Such contractors 
and subcontractors are not exempted or excused from complying with the 
other requirements contained in this Order.
    (d) The Secretary of Labor may also provide, by rule, regulation, or 
order, for the exemption of facilities of a contractor that are in all 
respects separate and distinct from activities of the contractor related 
to the performance of the contract: provided, that such an exemption 
will not interfere with or impede the effectuation of the purposes of 
this Order: and provided further, that in the absence of such an 
exemption all facilities shall be covered by the provisions of this 
Order.''
    Sec. 5. General Provisions.
    (a) This order supplements but does not supersede the requirements 
contained in Executive Orders 13198 and 13199 of January 29, 2001.
    (b) The agencies shall coordinate with the White House OFBCI 
concerning the implementation of this order.
    (c) Nothing in this order shall be construed to require an agency to 
take any action that would impair the conduct of foreign affairs or the 
national security.
    Sec. 6. Responsibilities of Executive Departments and Agencies. All 
executive departments and agencies (agencies) shall:
    (a) designate an agency employee to serve as the liaison and point 
of contact with the White House OFBCI; and
    (b) cooperate with the White House OFBCI and provide such 
information, support, and assistance to the White House OFBCI as it may 
request, to the extent permitted by law.
    Sec. 7. Judicial Review.
    This order is intended only to improve the internal management of 
the executive branch, and it is not intended to, and does not, create 
any right or benefit, substantive or procedural, enforceable at law or 
in equity by a party against the United States, its agencies, or 
entities, its officers, employees or agents, or any person.
                                                George W. Bush
 The White House,
 December 12, 2002.

 [Filed with the Office of the Federal Register, 12:09 p.m., December 
13, 2002]

Note: This Executive order was published in the Federal Register on 
December 16.

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