Bill Details
HR.1954 - 119th Congress
Status
Latest action
2025-03-06 - Referred to the House Committee on the Judiciary.
Introduced Date
2025-03-06
Policy Area
Civil Rights and Liberties, Minority Issues
Committees
View committees (1)
Cosponsors
View cosponsors (20)
- Rep. Raskin, Jamie [D-Maryland-8]
- Rep. Cohen, Steve [D-Tennessee-9]
- Rep. Scanlon, Mary Gay [D-Pennsylvania-5]
- Rep. Peters, Scott H. [D-California-50]
- Rep. Connolly, Gerald E. [D-Virginia-11]
- Rep. Tokuda, Jill N. [D-Hawaii-2]
- Rep. Krishnamoorthi, Raja [D-Illinois-8]
- Rep. Sánchez, Linda T. [D-California-38]
- Rep. Norton, Eleanor Holmes [D-District of Columbia]
- Rep. Schakowsky, Janice D. [D-Illinois-9]
- Rep. Pocan, Mark [D-Wisconsin-2]
- Rep. Strickland, Marilyn [D-Washington-10]
- Rep. Titus, Dina [D-Nevada-1]
- Rep. Williams, Nikema [D-Georgia-5]
- Rep. Cherfilus-McCormick, Sheila [D-Florida-20]
- Rep. Deluzio, Christopher R. [D-Pennsylvania-17]
- Rep. Friedman, Laura [D-California-30]
- Rep. Mfume, Kweisi [D-Maryland-7]
- Rep. Huffman, Jared [D-California-2]
- Rep. Jacobs, Sara [D-California-51]
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AI Summary This summary was generated by AI from the bill text. AI can get information wrong.
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.
Official Summaries
No summaries available
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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