Clarifying Civil Rights Remedies Act of 2024

[Congressional Bills 118th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 5354 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

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118th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                S. 5354

   To amend the civil rights remedies equalization provision of the 
Rehabilitation Act Amendments of 1986 to clarify civil rights remedies.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                           November 20, 2024

Mrs. Murray (for herself, Mr. Durbin, Ms. Baldwin, Mr. Blumenthal, Mr. 
 Booker, Mr. Casey, Ms. Duckworth, Mr. Helmy, Mr. Kaine, Mr. Sanders, 
Mr. Van Hollen, Mr. Welch, and Mr. Whitehouse) introduced the following 
  bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Health, 
                     Education, Labor, and Pensions

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
   To amend the civil rights remedies equalization provision of the 
Rehabilitation Act Amendments of 1986 to clarify civil rights remedies.

    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 ``Clarifying Civil Rights Remedies Act 
of 2024''.

SEC. 2. PURPOSES.

    The purposes of this Act are--
            (1) to remedy and deter violations of rights guaranteed 
        under section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, section 
        1557 of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, title 
        IX of the Education Amendments of 1972, the Age Discrimination 
        Act of 1975, and title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, by 
        safeguarding the availability of damages for emotional harm in 
        actions alleging violations of these laws; and
            (2) to invoke the sweep of congressional authority, 
        including the power to enforce the Equal Protection Clause of 
        the 14th Amendment to the Constitution of the United States and 
        to set the terms on which Congress disburses Federal money 
        under the Spending Clause of section 8 of article I of the 
        Constitution, in order to remedy and deter discrimination on 
        the basis of disability, race, color, national origin, age, and 
        sex that people face every day.

SEC. 3. CIVIL RIGHTS REMEDIES.

    Section 1003 of the Rehabilitation Act Amendments of 1986 (42 
U.S.C. 2000d-7) is amended--
            (1) by redesignating subsection (b) as subsection (c);
            (2) by inserting after subsection (a) the following:
    ``(b) Compensatory Damages.--Remedies at law available for a 
violation of a section or other provision referred to in subsection 
(a)(1), in a suit against any entity, private or public, including a 
State, shall include all types of compensatory damages, including 
damages for emotional harm.''; and
            (3) by amending subsection (c), as amended by paragraph 
        (1), to read as follows:
    ``(c) Effective Date.--The provisions of subsection (a) shall take 
effect with respect to violations that occur in whole or in part after 
October 21, 1986. Subsection (b) shall take effect with respect to 
violations for which a court has not rendered a final decision on the 
date of enactment of the Clarifying Civil Rights Remedies Act of 
2024.''.
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