Text of US SB 1808 (2013)

II 113TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION S. 1808 To prevent adverse treatment of any person on the basis of views held with respect to marriage. IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES DECEMBER 12 (legislative day, DECEMBER 11), 2013 Mr. LEE (for himself, Mr. VITTER, Mr. INHOFE, Mr. ROBERTS, Mr. COBURN, Mr. RUBIO, Mr. HATCH, Mr. BLUNT, Mr. WICKER, Mr. RISCH, Mr. GRA- HAM, and Mr. COCHRAN) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on the Judiciary A BILL To prevent adverse treatment of any person on the basis of views held with respect to marriage. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa- 1 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Marriage and Religious 4 Freedom Act’’. 5 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 6 Congress finds the following: 7 VerDate Mar 15 2010 01:37 Dec 14, 2013 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1808.IS S1808 jbell on DSK7SPTVN1PROD with BILLS 2 •S 1808 IS (1) Leading legal scholars concur that conflicts 1 between same-sex marriage and religious liberty are 2 real and should be legislatively addressed. 3 (2) As the President stated in response to the 4 decision of the Supreme Court on the Defense of 5 Marriage Act in 2013, ‘‘Americans hold a wide 6 range of views’’ on the issue of same-sex marriage, 7 and ‘‘maintaining our Nation’s commitment to reli- 8 gious freedom’’ is ‘‘vital’’. 9 (3) Protecting religious freedom from Govern- 10 ment intrusion is a Government interest of the high- 11 est order. Legislatively enacted measures advance 12 this interest by remedying, deterring, and preventing 13 Government interference with religious exercise in a 14 way that complements the protections mandated by 15 the First Amendment to the Constitution of the 16 United States. 17 (4) Laws that protect the free exercise of reli- 18 gious beliefs about marriage will encourage private 19 citizens and institutions to demonstrate similar tol- 20 erance and therefore contribute to a more respectful, 21 diverse, and peaceful society. 22 VerDate Mar 15 2010 01:37 Dec 14, 2013 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1808.IS S1808 jbell on DSK7SPTVN1PROD with BILLS 3 •S 1808 IS SEC. 3. PROTECTION OF THE FREE EXERCISE OF RELI- 1 GIOUS BELIEFS. 2 (a) IN GENERAL.—Notwithstanding any other law to 3 the contrary, the Federal Government shall not take an 4 adverse action against a person, wholly or partially on the 5 basis that such person acts in accordance with a religious 6 belief that marriage is or should be recognized as the 7 union of one man and one woman, or that sexual relations 8 are properly reserved to such a marriage. 9 (b) ADVERSE ACTION DEFINED.—As used in sub- 10 section (a), an adverse action means any action taken by 11 the Federal Government to— 12 (1) deny or revoke an exemption from taxation 13 under section 501(a) of the Internal Revenue Code 14 of 1986 of the person who is acting in accordance 15 with the religious belief referred to in subsection (a); 16 (2) disallow a deduction for Federal tax pur- 17 poses of any charitable contribution made to or by 18 such person; 19 (3) alter in any way the Federal tax treatment 20 of, or cause any tax, penalty, or payment to be as- 21 sessed against, such person or such person’s employ- 22 ees with respect to any benefit provided or not pro- 23 vided by such person to such person’s employees, 24 wholly or partially on the basis that the benefit is 25 VerDate Mar 15 2010 01:37 Dec 14, 2013 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1808.IS S1808 jbell on DSK7SPTVN1PROD with BILLS 4 •S 1808 IS provided or not provided on account of a religious 1 belief referred to in subsection (a); 2 (4) deem any employee benefit plan covering 3 employees of such person to have lost its status as 4 a ‘‘qualified plan’’ under section 401(a) of the Inter- 5 nal Revenue Code of 1986, or to be in violation of 6 any part of the Employee Retirement Income Secu- 7 rity Act of 1974 (29 U.S.C. 1001 et seq.), wholly or 8 partially on the basis that the benefit plan fails to 9 provide a benefit, right, or feature on account of 10 such person’s religious belief referred to in sub- 11 section (a); 12 (5) deny or exclude such person from receiving 13 any Federal grant, contract, cooperative agreement, 14 loan, license, certification, accreditation, employ- 15 ment, or other similar position or status; 16 (6) deny or withhold from such person any ben- 17 efit under a Federal benefit program; or 18 (7) otherwise discriminate against such person. 19 SEC. 4. JUDICIAL RELIEF. 20 (a) CAUSE OF ACTION.—A person may assert an ac- 21 tual or threatened violation of this Act as a claim or de- 22 fense in a judicial proceeding and obtain compensatory 23 damages, injunctive relief, declaratory relief, or any other 24 appropriate relief against the Federal Government. Stand- 25 VerDate Mar 15 2010 01:37 Dec 14, 2013 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1808.IS S1808 jbell on DSK7SPTVN1PROD with BILLS 5 •S 1808 IS ing to assert a claim or defense under this section shall 1 be governed by the general rules of standing under Article 2 III of the Constitution. 3 (b) ATTORNEYS’ FEES.—Section 722(b) of the Re- 4 vised Statutes (42 U.S.C. 1988(b)) is amended by insert- 5 ing ‘‘the Marriage and Religious Freedom Act,’’ after ‘‘the 6 Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act of 7 2000,’’. 8 (c) AUTHORITY OF UNITED STATES TO ENFORCE 9 THIS ACT.—The Attorney General may bring an action 10 for injunctive or declaratory relief against an independent 11 establishment described in section 104(1) of title 5, United 12 States Code, or an officer or employee of that independent 13 establishment, to enforce compliance with this Act. Noth- 14 ing in this subsection shall be construed to deny, impair, 15 or otherwise affect any right or authority of the Attorney 16 General, the United States, or any agency, officer, or em- 17 ployee of the United States, acting under any law other 18 than this subsection, to institute or intervene in any pro- 19 ceeding. 20 SEC. 5. RULES OF CONSTRUCTION. 21 (a) BROAD CONSTRUCTION.—This Act shall be con- 22 strued in favor of a broad protection of religious beliefs 23 described in section 3, to the maximum extent permitted 24 by the terms of this Act and the Constitution. 25 VerDate Mar 15 2010 01:37 Dec 14, 2013 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1808.IS S1808 jbell on DSK7SPTVN1PROD with BILLS 6 •S 1808 IS (b) NO PREEMPTION, REPEAL, OR NARROW CON- 1 STRUCTION.—Nothing in this Act shall be construed to 2 preempt State law, or repeal Federal law, that is equally 3 as protective of religious beliefs as, or more protective of 4 religious beliefs than, this Act. Nothing in this Act shall 5 be considered to narrow the meaning or application of any 6 other State or Federal law protecting religious beliefs. 7 (c) SEVERABILITY.—If any provision of this Act or 8 any application of such provision to any person or cir- 9 cumstance is held to be unconstitutional, the remainder 10 of this Act and the application of the provision to any 11 other person or circumstance shall not be affected. 12 SEC. 6. DEFINITIONS. 13 In this Act: 14 (1) FEDERAL BENEFIT PROGRAM.—The term 15 ‘‘Federal benefit program’’ has the meaning given 16 that term in section 552a of title 5, United States 17 Code. 18 (2) FEDERAL GOVERNMENT.—The term ‘‘Fed- 19 eral Government’’ includes each authority of any 20 branch of the Government of the United States. 21 (3) PERSON.—The term ‘‘person’’ means a per- 22 son as defined in section 1 of title 1, United States 23 Code, and includes any such person regardless of re- 24 VerDate Mar 15 2010 01:37 Dec 14, 2013 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1808.IS S1808 jbell on DSK7SPTVN1PROD with BILLS 7 •S 1808 IS ligious affiliation or lack thereof, and regardless of 1 for-profit or nonprofit status. 2 Æ VerDate Mar 15 2010 01:37 Dec 14, 2013 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\S1808.IS S1808 jbell on DSK7SPTVN1PROD with BILLS