Do No Harm Act
This bill makes the Religious Freedom Restoration Act of 1993 (RFRA) inapplicable to federal laws (or implementations of laws) that:
Under current law, RFRA prohibits the government from substantially burdening a person's exercise of religion even if the burden results from a rule of general applicability, except in furtherance of a compelling governmental interest when using the least restrictive means.
The bill makes RFRA inapplicable to: (1) terms requiring goods, services, functions, or activities to be performed or provided to beneficiaries of government contracts, grants, cooperative agreements, or awards; or (2) denials of a person's full and equal enjoyment of a government-provided good, service, benefit, facility, privilege, advantage, or accommodation.
To assert a RFRA claim or defense in a judicial proceeding, the government must be a party to the proceeding.
[Congressional Bills 115th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 2918 Introduced in Senate (IS)]
<DOC>
115th CONGRESS
2d Session
S. 2918
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
May 22, 2018
Ms. Harris (for herself, Mr. Leahy, Ms. Hirono, Mrs. Feinstein, Mr.
Durbin, Mr. Markey, Mr. Whitehouse, Mr. Sanders, Mr. Merkley, Mrs.
Gillibrand, Ms. Smith, Mr. Wyden, and Ms. Warren) 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 that imposes 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 that imposes 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 that
permits 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 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.
5661 (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, requiring a good, service, function, or
activity to be performed or provided to a beneficiary, of 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.''.
SEC. 5. DEFINITIONS.
Section 5 of the Religious Freedom Restoration Act of 1993 (42
U.S.C. 2000bb-2) is amended--
(1) in paragraph (3), by striking ``and'' at the end;
(2) in paragraph (4), by striking the period and inserting
``; and''; and
(3) by adding at the end the following:
``(5) the term `including' means including, but not limited
to, consistent with the term's standard meaning in Federal
law.''.
<all>
Introduced in Senate
Read twice and referred to the Committee on the Judiciary.
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