Bill Details

HR.1954 - 119th Congress

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This bill would narrow how the federal religious freedom law can be used. Its main goal is to make sure religious freedom claims cannot be used to block civil rights laws, workplace protections, health care access, or other rules meant to prevent harm to other people. It would also make clear that this law is mainly for cases involving the government, not disputes between private people or private organizations.

  • It says the religious freedom law cannot be used to challenge laws or policies that protect people from discrimination or support equal opportunity, including laws like the Civil Rights Act, the Americans with Disabilities Act, the Family and Medical Leave Act, and the Violence Against Women Act.
  • It would also block the law from being used against requirements for wages, compensation, benefits, leave, or workplace rules that protect workers acting together.
  • The bill would prevent religious freedom claims from being used to fight protections against child labor, child abuse, or child exploitation, and against rules involving access to health care, health information, referrals, treatment, or insurance coverage.
  • It would limit the law’s reach in government-funded programs and contracts, and it would say the law applies only in cases involving the government, not as a general tool in private lawsuits.

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Current Full Text

[Congressional Bills 119th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 1954 Introduced in House (IH)]

<DOC>






119th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 1954

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

                             March 6, 2025

Mr. Scott of Virginia (for himself, Mr. Raskin, Mr. Cohen, Ms. Scanlon, 
Mr. Peters, Mr. Connolly, Ms. Tokuda, Mr. Krishnamoorthi, Ms. Sanchez, 
 Ms. Norton, Ms. Schakowsky, Mr. Pocan, Ms. Strickland, Ms. Titus, Ms. 
    Williams of Georgia, Mrs. Cherfilus-McCormick, Mr. Deluzio, Ms. 
 Friedman, Mr. Mfume, Mr. Huffman, Ms. Jacobs, Mr. Neal, Ms. Chu, Mr. 
 Cleaver, Mr. Moulton, Ms. Garcia of Texas, Ms. Pingree, Mr. Davis of 
   Illinois, Mr. Quigley, Mrs. Torres of California, Mr. Foster, Mr. 
 Takano, Ms. DelBene, Mr. Hoyer, Mrs. Dingell, Ms. Omar, Ms. DeLauro, 
   Mr. Mrvan, Ms. Bonamici, Mr. Schneider, Mr. Costa, Mr. Gomez, Mr. 
     Carson, Mr. Moskowitz, Ms. Wilson of Florida, Ms. Waters, Mr. 
  Magaziner, Mr. Fields, Mr. Carbajal, Mr. Garcia of California, Ms. 
      Kelly of Illinois, Mr. Thompson of Mississippi, Ms. Dean of 
 Pennsylvania, Mr. Tonko, Mr. Panetta, Ms. Ansari, Mr. DeSaulnier, Mr. 
  Evans of Pennsylvania, Mr. Thanedar, Mr. Sherman, Mr. Pallone, Mr. 
  Stanton, Mr. Khanna, Ms. McCollum, Ms. Brownley, Ms. Stansbury, Mr. 
  Doggett, Mr. Courtney, Ms. DeGette, Mr. Veasey, Ms. McClellan, Ms. 
 Matsui, Mr. Torres of New York, Ms. Barragan, Ms. Wasserman Schultz, 
 Mr. Nadler, Mr. McGarvey, and Mr. Amo) 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. 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.--Subsections (a), (b), and (c) do not 
apply to--
            ``(1) 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.), and the Violence Against 
                Women Act of 1994 (42 U.S.C. 13925 et seq.);
                    ``(B) an employer to provide a wage, other 
                compensation, or a benefit, including leave, or a 
                standard protecting collective activity in the 
                workplace;
                    ``(C) a 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) any term of a government contract, grant, cooperative 
        agreement, or other award, that provides funds directly or 
        indirectly, and that requires a good, service, function, or 
        activity to be performed for or provided to a beneficiary of or 
        a participant in a program or activity funded, directly or 
        indirectly, by a government contract, grant, cooperative 
        agreement, or other award; or
            ``(3) 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. 3. 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 (42 U.S.C. 2000bb et seq.).
    (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 through the 
first period and inserting ``judicial proceeding to which a government 
is a party and obtain appropriate relief against that government.''.
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