[Congressional Bills 117th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 2752 Introduced in Senate (IS)]
<DOC>
117th CONGRESS
1st Session
S. 2752
To amend the Religious Freedom Restoration Act of 1993 to protect civil
rights and otherwise prevent meaningful harm to third parties, and for
other purposes.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
September 15, 2021
Mr. Booker (for himself, Mr. Whitehouse, Ms. Cortez Masto, Mr. Merkley,
Ms. Klobuchar, Mrs. Feinstein, Mr. Blumenthal, Mrs. Gillibrand, Mr.
Padilla, Mr. Murphy, Ms. Duckworth, Mrs. Shaheen, Ms. Smith, Ms.
Hirono, Mr. Durbin, Mr. Van Hollen, Mr. Coons, Ms. Stabenow, Mr.
Carper, Mr. Sanders, Ms. Cantwell, Mr. Brown, Mr. Menendez, Ms.
Baldwin, Mr. Reed, Mr. Markey, Ms. Warren, Mr. Lujan, Mrs. Murray, and
Ms. Rosen) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and
referred to the Committee on the Judiciary
_______________________________________________________________________
A BILL
To amend the Religious Freedom Restoration Act of 1993 to protect civil
rights and otherwise prevent meaningful harm to third parties, 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 ``Do No Harm Act''.
SEC. 2. SENSE OF CONGRESS.
It is the sense of Congress that--
(1) the Religious Freedom Restoration Act of 1993 should
not be interpreted to authorize an exemption from generally
applicable law if the exemption would impose the religious
views, habits, or practices of one party upon another;
(2) the Religious Freedom Restoration Act of 1993 should
not be interpreted to authorize an exemption from generally
applicable law if the exemption would impose meaningful harm,
including dignitary harm, on a third party; and
(3) the Religious Freedom Restoration Act of 1993 should
not be interpreted to authorize an exemption for one party from
generally applicable law if the exemption would permit
discrimination against others, including persons who do not
belong to the religion or adhere to the beliefs of that party.
SEC. 3. EXCEPTION FROM APPLICATION OF ACT WHERE FEDERAL LAW PREVENTS
HARM TO OTHERS.
Section 3 of the Religious Freedom Restoration Act of 1993 (42
U.S.C. 2000bb-1) is amended by adding at the end the following:
``(d) Additional Exception From Application of Act Where Federal
Law Prevents Harm to Others.--Subsection (a) shall not apply--
``(1) to any provision of law or its implementation that
provides for or requires--
``(A) a protection against discrimination or the
promotion of equal opportunity, including the Civil
Rights Act of 1964 (42 U.S.C. 2000a et seq.), the
Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 (42 U.S.C.
12101 et seq.), the Family and Medical Leave Act of
1993 (29 U.S.C. 2601 et seq.), Executive Order 11246
(42 U.S.C. 2000e note; relating to equal opportunity in
Federal employment), the Violence Against Women Act of
1994 (42 U.S.C. 13925 et seq.), the final rule,
including any amendment made by such rule, of the
Department of Housing and Urban Development entitled
`Equal Access to Housing in HUD Programs Regardless of
Sexual Orientation or Gender Identity' (77 Fed. Reg.
5662 (February 3, 2012)) (or any corresponding similar
regulation or ruling), or section 5.106 of title 24,
Code of Federal Regulations (or any corresponding
similar regulation or ruling);
``(B) an employer to provide a wage, other
compensation, or a benefit including leave, or a
standard protecting collective activity in the
workplace;
``(C) protection against child labor, child abuse,
or child exploitation; or
``(D) access to, information about, a referral for,
provision of, or coverage for, any health care item or
service;
``(2) to any term of a government contract, grant,
cooperative agreement, or other instrument for an award, that
requires a good, service, function, or activity to be performed
for or provided to a beneficiary of or participant in a program
or activity funded by such a government contract, grant,
cooperative agreement, or other instrument for an award; or
``(3) to the extent that application would result in
denying a person the full and equal enjoyment of a good,
service, benefit, facility, privilege, advantage, or
accommodation provided by the government.''.
SEC. 4. CLARIFICATION OF PRECLUSION OF LITIGATION BETWEEN PRIVATE
PARTIES.
(a) Purpose.--The purpose of the amendment made by subsection (b)
is to clarify the applicability of the Religious Freedom Restoration
Act of 1993, as enacted.
(b) Preclusion.--Section 3(c) of the Religious Freedom Restoration
Act of 1993 (42 U.S.C. 2000bb-1(c)) is amended, in the first sentence,
by striking ``judicial proceeding'' and all that follows and inserting
``judicial proceeding to which the government is a party and obtain
appropriate relief against that government.''.
<all>