[Congressional Bills 106th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 4862 Introduced in House (IH)]
106th CONGRESS
2d Session
H. R. 4862
To protect religious liberty, and for other purposes.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
July 13, 2000
Mr. Canady of Florida (for himself, Mr. Nadler, and Mr. Edwards)
introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on
the Judiciary
_______________________________________________________________________
A BILL
To protect religious liberty, 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 ``Religious Land Use and
Institutionalized Persons Act of 2000''.
SEC. 2. PROTECTION OF LAND USE AS RELIGIOUS EXERCISE.
(a) Substantial Burdens.--
(1) General rule.--No government shall impose or implement
a land use regulation in a manner that imposes a substantial
burden on the religious exercise of a person, including a
religious assembly or institution, unless the government
demonstrates that imposition of the burden on that person,
assembly, or institution--
(A) is in furtherance of a compelling governmental
interest; and
(B) is the least restrictive means of furthering
that compelling governmental interest.
(2) Scope of application.--This subsection applies in any
case in which--
(A) the substantial burden is imposed in a program
or activity that receives Federal financial assistance,
even if the burden results from a rule of general
applicability;
(B) the substantial burden affects, or 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; or
(C) the substantial burden is imposed in the
implementation of a land use regulation or system of
land use regulations, under which a government makes,
or has in place formal or informal procedures or
practices that permit the government to make,
individualized assessments of the proposed uses for the
property involved.
(b) Discrimination and Exclusion.--
(1) Equal terms.--No government shall impose or implement a
land use regulation in a manner that treats a religious
assembly or institution on less than equal terms with a
nonreligious assembly or institution.
(2) Nondiscrimination.--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.
(3) Exclusions and limits.--No government shall impose or
implement a land use regulation that--
(A) totally excludes religious assemblies from a
jurisdiction; or
(B) unreasonably limits religious assemblies,
institutions, or structures within a jurisdiction.
SEC. 3. PROTECTION OF RELIGIOUS EXERCISE OF INSTITUTIONALIZED PERSONS.
(a) General Rule.--No government shall impose a substantial burden
on the religious exercise of a person residing in or confined to an
institution, as defined in section 2 of the Civil Rights of
Institutionalized Persons Act (42 U.S.C. 1997), even if the burden
results from a rule of general applicability, unless the government
demonstrates that imposition of the burden on that person--
(1) is in furtherance of a compelling governmental
interest; and
(2) is the least restrictive means of furthering that
compelling governmental interest.
(b) Scope of Application.--This section applies in any case in
which--
(1) the substantial burden is imposed in a program or
activity that receives Federal financial assistance; or
(2) the substantial burden affects, or removal of that
substantial burden would affect, commerce with foreign nations,
among the several States, or with Indian tribes.
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) Burden of Persuasion.--If a plaintiff produces prima facie
evidence to support a claim alleging a violation of the Free Exercise
Clause or a violation of section 2, the government shall bear the
burden of persuasion on any element of the claim, except that the
plaintiff shall bear the burden of persuasion on whether the law
(including a regulation) or government practice that is challenged by
the claim substantially burdens the plaintiff's exercise of religion.
(c) Full Faith and Credit.--Adjudication of a claim of a violation
of section 2 in a non-Federal forum shall not be entitled to full faith
and credit in a Federal court unless the claimant had a full and fair
adjudication of that claim in the non-Federal forum.
(d) Attorneys' Fees.--Section 722(b) of the Revised Statutes (42
U.S.C. 1988(b)) is amended--
(1) by inserting ``the Religious Land Use and
Institutionalized Persons Act of 2000,'' after ``Religious
Freedom Restoration Act of 1993,''; and
(2) by striking the comma that follows a comma.
(e) Prisoners.--Nothing in this Act shall be construed to amend or
repeal the Prison Litigation Reform Act of 1995 (including provisions
of law amended by that Act).
(f) Authority of United States To Enforce This Act.--The United
States may bring an action for injunctive or declaratory relief to
enforce compliance with this Act. Nothing in this subsection shall be
construed to deny, impair, or otherwise affect any right or authority
of the Attorney General, the United States, or any agency, officer, or
employee of the United States, acting under any law other than this
subsection, to institute or intervene in any proceeding.
(g) Limitation.--If the only jurisdictional basis for applying a
provision of this Act is a claim that a substantial burden by a
government on religious exercise affects, or that removal of that
substantial burden would affect, commerce with foreign nations, among
the several States, or with Indian tribes, the provision shall not
apply if the government demonstrates that all substantial burdens on,
or the removal of all substantial burdens from, similar religious
exercise throughout the Nation would not lead in the aggregate to a
substantial effect on commerce with foreign nations, among the several
States, or with Indian tribes.
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 a
government to incur expenses in its own operations to avoid imposing 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 or practice that results in a
substantial burden on religious exercise, by retaining the policy or
practice and exempting the substantially burdened religious exercise,
by providing exemptions from the policy or practice for applications
that substantially burden religious exercise, or by any other means
that eliminates the substantial burden.
(f) Effect on Other Law.--With respect to a claim brought under
this Act, proof that a substantial burden on a person's religious
exercise affects, or removal of that burden would affect, commerce with
foreign nations, among the several States, or with Indian tribes, shall
not establish any inference or presumption that Congress intends that
any religious exercise is, or is not, subject to any law other than
this Act.
(g) Broad Construction.--This Act shall be construed in favor of a
broad protection of religious exercise, to the maximum extent permitted
by the terms of this Act and the Constitution.
(h) No Preemption or Repeal.--Nothing in this Act shall be
construed to preempt State law, or repeal Federal law, that is equally
as protective of religious exercise as, or more protective of religious
exercise than, this Act.
(i) 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. 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 a
subdivision of a State'' and inserting ``or of a covered
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 ``religious exercise, as defined in section 8 of the
Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act of
2000.''.
(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.
In this Act:
(1) Claimant.--The term ``claimant'' means a person raising
a claim or defense under this Act.
(2) Demonstrates.--The term ``demonstrates'' means meets
the burdens of going forward with the evidence and of
persuasion.
(3) Free exercise clause.--The term ``Free Exercise
Clause'' means that portion of the first amendment to the
Constitution that proscribes laws prohibiting the free exercise
of religion.
(4) Government.--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, 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 4(b) and 5,
includes the United States, a branch, department,
agency, instrumentality, or official of the United
States, and any other person acting under color of
Federal law.
(5) Land use regulation.--The term ``land use regulation''
means a zoning or landmarking law, or the application of such a
law, that limits or restricts a claimant's use or development
of land (including a structure affixed to land), if the
claimant has an ownership, leasehold, easement, servitude, or
other property interest in the regulated land or a contract or
option to acquire such an interest.
(6) Program or activity.--The term ``program or activity''
means all of the operations of any entity described in
paragraph (1) or (2) of section 606 of the Civil Rights Act of
1964 (42 U.S.C. 2000d-4a).
(7) Religious exercise.--
(A) In general.--The term ``religious exercise''
includes any exercise of religion, whether or not
compelled by, or central to, a system of religious
belief.
(B) Rule.--The use, building, or conversion of real
property for the purpose of religious exercise shall be
considered to be religious exercise of the person or
entity that uses or intends to use the property for
that purpose.
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