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[Congressional Bills 119th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 3240 Introduced in House (IH)]
<DOC>
119th CONGRESS
1st Session
H. R. 3240
To restore fairness to service members who filed religious
accommodation requests and ensure their career progression is justly
reviewed.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
May 7, 2025
Mr. Jackson of Texas introduced the following bill; which was referred
to the Committee on Armed Services
_______________________________________________________________________
A BILL
To restore fairness to service members who filed religious
accommodation requests and ensure their career progression is justly
reviewed.
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 ``Reaffirming Every Servicemembers'
Trust Of Religious Exemptions Act'' or the ``RESTORE Act''.
SEC. 2. ESTABLISHMENT OF THE SPECIAL REVIEW BOARD FOR IMPACTED SERVICE
MEMBERS.
(a) Establishment of Review Board.--The Secretary of Defense shall
convene a special review board under the Deputy Under Secretary of
Defense for Personnel and Readiness to audit religious accommodation
requests and disposition and review the personnel records of each
service member who filed a religious accommodation request specifically
for the COVID-19 vaccine and remained in service (in this section
referred to as the ``Special Review Board'').
(b) Duties of the Review Board.--The Special Review Board shall
perform the following duties:
(1) Audit scope of religious accommodation decisions since
2020.--Conduct a Department of Defense-wide audit to assess the
full number of submissions, approvals, and consistency of
compliance with the Religious freedom Restoration Act of 1993
(RFRA) (42 U.S.C. 2000bb et seq.).
(2) Assess career impact.--Determine whether the service
member's career progression, promotions, assignments,
retention, or professional development opportunities were
negatively affected by their religious accommodation request or
COVID-19 vaccine refusal.
(3) Adjudicate career restorations.--Determine and take
corrective action if the service member is eligible for--
(A) backdated promotion to the rank they would have
achieved absent the adverse impact;
(B) correction of their Date of Rank (DOR) to align
with their peer group;
(C) restoration of lost pay and benefits, including
back pay, retirement contributions, and applicable
bonuses; and
(D) reinstatement to service if they left service
due to denial of religious accommodation that has since
been determined as unlawful.
(4) Expungement of adverse actions.--Ensure that all
adverse administrative actions related to refusal of the COVID-
19 vaccine (or other protected religious accommodation) are
expunged from the service member's record, including--
(A) administrative reprimands;
(B) negative or inconsistent evaluations;
(C) promotion delays or denials;
(D) issuance of Inactive Duty Training points to
reserve component personnel so that if affected they
shall receive a satisfactory year for participation;
and
(E) career assignment considerations to improve
service-member competitiveness previously impacted
solely due to vaccine refusal (or religious
accommodation).
(5) Review process.--Establish a mechanism for service
members to request review of decisions if they previously
submitted a religious accommodation and believe their records
or career progression were adversely impacted regardless of
accommodation request outcome.
(c) Timeline for Review and Reporting.--
(1) Review.--The Special Review Board shall complete a full
review of all affected military personnel not later than one
year after the date of the enactment of this Act.
(2) Report.--Not later than 60 days after the review is
completed, the Deputy Under Secretary of Defense for Personnel
and Readiness shall submit to the Committee on Armed Services
of the Senate and the Committee on Armed Services of the House
of Representatives a report detailing--
(A) the Special Review Board's findings;
(B) the number of cases reviewed; and
(C) corrective actions taken.
(d) Deadline for Compensation.--The Secretary of Defense shall
ensure that service members determined by the Special Review Board to
be eligible for backdated reinstatements, promotions, pay, and benefits
receive such compensation not later than 60 days after their case-
review under subsection (c)(1) is completed.
SEC. 3. CONGRESSIONAL OVERSIGHT AND ACCOUNTABILITY.
(a) Report of Initial Findings.--Not later than 90 days after the
date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary of Defense shall
submit to the Committee on Armed Services of the Senate and the
Committee on Armed Services of the House of Representatives a report
with initial findings of the audit directed in section 2(a). The report
should provide statistical analysis of the affected service member
population, assess compliance of Department of Defense with RFRA, and
provide plans to address identified areas of opportunity.
(b) Quarterly Reports.--The Secretary of Defense shall provide
quarterly reports to the Committee on Armed Services of the Senate and
the Committee on Armed Services of the House of Representatives
detailing--
(1) the number of cases reviewed by the Special Review
Board;
(2) the number of service members granted back pay,
promotions, or restored benefits;
(3) the number of adverse actions expunged from military
records;
(4) statistics on the performance of identified service
member populations with respect to boards, career progression,
and competitive assignment; and
(5) recommendations for further legislative action to
ensure fairness in military personnel policies.
(c) Inspector General Audit.--Not later than 18 months after the
date of the enactment of this Act, the Department of Defense Inspector
General shall conduct an independent audit and compliance review of the
implementation of this Act. The Inspector General shall review overall
data of religious accommodations and determine if RFRA was applied
consistently across the Department of Defense.
SEC. 4. DEFINITIONS.
In this Act:
(1) Adverse action.--The term ``adverse action'' includes--
(A) administrative reprimands;
(B) denial or delay of promotions;
(C) negative performance evaluations;
(D) forced involuntary separation;
(E) coerced voluntary separation; and
(F) denial of career-enhancing assignments.
(2) Religious accommodation.--The term ``religious
accommodation'' refers to a formally submitted request for
exemption from a military order, policy, or directive on
religious grounds, in accordance with the respective service
branch's religious accommodation policies.
(3) Service member.--The term ``service member'' means a
member of the Armed Forces total force serving on active duty,
reserve (to include Individual Ready Reserve (IRR)), or
National Guard status in any branch of the Department of
Defense.
SEC. 5. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.
There is authorized to be appropriated such sums as may be
necessary to carry out this Act. The Secretary of Defense shall
allocate necessary resources to support the Special Review Board.
<all>
Introduced in House
Introduced in House
Referred to the House Committee on Armed Services.
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