Do No Harm Act

Do No Harm Act

This bill prohibits the application of the Religious Freedom Restoration Act of 1993 (RFRA) to specified federal laws or the implementation of such laws. Currently, 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.

Under the bill, RFRA is inapplicable to laws or the implementation of laws that

• protect against discrimination or the promotion of equal opportunity (e.g., the Civil Rights Act of 1964);
• require employers to provide wages, other compensation, or benefits, including leave;
• protect collective activity in the workplace;
• protect against child labor, abuse, or exploitation; or
• provide for access to, information about, referrals for, provision of, or coverage for, any health care item or service.

The bill prevents RFRA from being used to deny (1) goods or services the government has contracted, granted, or made an agreement to provide to a beneficiary; or (2) a person's full and equal enjoyment of a government-provided good, service, benefit, facility, privilege, advantage, or accommodation.

In order for a person to assert a RFRA claim or defense in a judicial proceeding, the government must be a party to the proceeding.

[Congressional Bills 116th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 1450 Introduced in House (IH)]

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116th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 1450

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 HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                           February 28, 2019

  Mr. Kennedy (for himself, Mr. Scott of Virginia, Mrs. Demings, Ms. 
 DeGette, Ms. Speier, Ms. Norton, Mr. Hastings, Miss Rice of New York, 
   Mrs. Dingell, Mr. Cohen, Mr. Espaillat, Ms. DeLauro, Mr. Smith of 
     Washington, Mr. Lynch, Mr. Khanna, Ms. Meng, Mr. Swalwell of 
California, Mr. Kilmer, Mr. Quigley, Ms. McCollum, Ms. Jackson Lee, Mr. 
    Krishnamoorthi, Mrs. Beatty, Mrs. Watson Coleman, Ms. Wild, Mr. 
  Panetta, Ms. Brownley of California, Mr. Moulton, Mr. McEachin, Mr. 
Pocan, Mrs. Napolitano, Ms. Schakowsky, Mr. Serrano, Mrs. Lawrence, Mr. 
 Raskin, Mr. Welch, Ms. Bonamici, Mr. Nadler, Mr. Sean Patrick Maloney 
 of New York, Ms. Porter, Mr. Pallone, Ms. Clark of Massachusetts, Mr. 
Huffman, Mr. DeFazio, Mr. Blumenauer, Mr. Lamb, Ms. Scanlon, Mr. Kind, 
  Ms. Velazquez, Mr. Rush, Mr. Schiff, Mr. McGovern, and Ms. Haaland) 
 introduced the following bill; which was 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 that permits 
        discrimination against other persons, including persons who do 
        not belong to the religion or adhere to the beliefs of those to 
        whom the exemption is given.

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.--This section does not apply--
            ``(1) to any provision of law or its implementation that 
        provides for or requires--
                    ``(A) protections against discrimination or the 
                promotion of equal opportunity including the Civil 
                Rights Act of 1964, the Americans with Disabilities 
                Act, the Family Medical Leave Act, Executive Order 
                11246, the Violence Against Women Act, and Equal Access 
                to Housing in HUD Programs Regardless of Sexual 
                Orientation or Gender Identity (77 FR 5662);
                    ``(B) employers to provide wages, other 
                compensation, or benefits including leave, or standards 
                protecting collective activity in the workplace;
                    ``(C) protections against child labor, abuse, or 
                exploitation; or
                    ``(D) access to, information about, referrals for, 
                provision of, or coverage for, any health care item or 
                service;
            ``(2) to any term requiring goods, services, functions, or 
        activities to be performed or provided to beneficiaries of a 
        government contract, grant, cooperative agreement, or other 
        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.''.
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