Texas 2021 - 87th Regular

Texas House Bill HB2401 Compare Versions

Only one version of the bill is available at this time.

Old	New	Differences
1	1	By: Middleton H.B. No. 2401
2	2
3	3
4	4	A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
5	5	AN ACT
6	6	preserving religious liberty from nativist jurisprudence.
7	7	BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
8	8	SECTION 1. This Act shall be known as the Protection of
9	9	Religious Liberty from Nativist Jurisprudence Act.
10	10	SECTION 2. Chapter 110, Civil Practice and Remedies Code,
11	11	is amended by adding Subchapter B to read as follows:
12	12	SUBCHAPTER B. PROTECTION OF RELIGIOUS LIBERTY
13	13	Sec. 110.020. DEFINITIONS. In this subchapter:
14	14	(1) "state officer or employee" includes any state or local
15	15	officer or employee of this State, including any member of the board
16	16	of trustees of any school district in this state, and any teacher,
17	17	principal, administrator, or other person employed by any school
18	18	district in this state;
19	19	(2) "court" includes any court of this State (other than an
20	20	administrative or agency tribunal) or any Article III court of the
21	21	United States;
22	22	(3) "Blaine amendments" refers to: (a) the provision
23	23	codified at article I, section 7 of the Texas Constitution, which
24	24	reads: "No money shall be appropriated, or drawn from the Treasury
25	25	for the benefit of any sect, or religious society, theological or
26	26	religious seminary; nor shall property belonging to the State be
27	27	appropriated for any such purposes"; and (b) the third sentence of
28	28	article VII, section 5(c) of the Texas Constitution, which reads:
29	29	"The permanent school fund and the available school fund may not be
30	30	appropriated to or used for the support of any sectarian school";
31	31	(4) "the Separation of Church and State doctrine" means (a)
32	32	any restriction, or denial of a benefit, that purports to be
33	33	justified on grounds of Separation of Church and State or any
34	34	element of the Supreme Court's decision in Lemon v. Kurtzman; or (b)
35	35	any restriction, or denial of a benefit, that purports to be
36	36	justified by the Blaine amendments.
37	37	Sec. 110.021. BLAINE AMENDMENTS. No state officer or
38	38	employee may enforce the Blaine Amendments unless and until the
39	39	Supreme Court of the United States overrules Espinoza v. Montana
40	40	Dept. Of Revenue, 140 S. Ct. 2246 (2020).
41	41	Sec. 110.022. SEPARATION OF CHURCH AND STATE. Except as
42	42	provided in section 110.024, no state officer or employee may
43	43	enforce the Separation of Church and State doctrine against any
44	44	person or entity in this state.
45	45	Sec. 110.023. INCORPORATION. Except as provided in section
46	46	110.024, no state officer or employee may enforce the Establishment
47	47	Clause of the First Amendment against any person or entity other
48	48	than the federal government, its officers, or its
49	49	instrumentalities.
50	50	Sec. 110.024. EXCEPTIONS. Notwithstanding the
51	51	requirements of sections 110.022 and 110.023, a state officer or
52	52	employee may enforce the Separation of Church and State doctrine or
53	53	the Establishment Clause as necessary to comply with:
54	54	(a) a judgment or decree entered by a court against that
55	55	specific officer or employee, his superiors, or the entity for whom
56	56	he works; or
57	57	(b) a directly-on-point ruling from the Supreme Court of the
58	58	United States or the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit,
59	59	when there is no reasonable grounds for distinguishing that ruling
60	60	factually or legally.
61	61	Sec. 110.025. CHURCH SPEECH. No state or local officer may
62	62	enforce any restrictions on speech or expression, whether in the
63	63	form of direct duties or conditions, that single out churches or
64	64	other religious organizations; nor shall any state or local officer
65	65	chill the speech of any person, or other entity, in this state by
66	66	publishing any such restrictions as law or required by law.
67	67	Sec. 110.026. REMEDIES. (a) Any person or other entity
68	68	residing, praying, preaching, or doing business in this State may
69	69	bring a civil action in any court of this State against any state or
70	70	local officer who violates this subchapter, and upon finding that
71	71	the defendant has violated or is violating that person or entity's
72	72	rights under this statute, the Court shall award:
73	73	(1) Declaratory relief;
74	74	(2) Injunctive relief; and
75	75	(3) Costs and reasonable attorneys' fees.
76	76	(b) The plaintiff in any action brought under this section
77	77	shall have the right to a jury trial.
78	78	Sec. 110.027. AWARD OF ATTORNEYS' FEES IN ESTABLISHMENT
79	79	CLAUSE LAWSUITS. (a) Any person, entity, lawyer, or law firm that
80	80	sues to enforce the Blaine Amendments, the Separation of Church and
81	81	State Doctrine, or the Establishment Clause against any person or
82	82	entity in the State of Texas, in any state or federal court, or that
83	83	represents any litigant seeking such relief in any state or federal
84	84	court, shall be jointly and severally liable to pay the costs and
85	85	attorneys' fees of the prevailing party or parties, notwithstanding
86	86	any other provision of law.
87	87	(b) A litigant shall be deemed a "prevailing party" under
88	88	this section if a state or federal court dismisses any claim or
89	89	cause of action brought against it that seeks the relief described
90	90	in subsection (a), regardless of the reason for such dismissal, or
91	91	if a state or federal court enters judgment in its favor on any such
92	92	claim or cause of action.
93	93	(c) A prevailing party under this section may bring a civil
94	94	action to recover costs and attorneys' fees against a person,
95	95	entity, lawyer, or law firm that sought declaratory or injunctive
96	96	relief described in subsection (a) within three (3) years of the
97	97	date on which the dismissal or judgment described in subsection (b)
98	98	becomes final upon the conclusion of appellate review, or within
99	99	three (3) years of the date on which the time for seeking appellate
100	100	review expires, regardless of whether the prevailing party sought
101	101	to recover costs or attorneys' fees in the underlying action. It
102	102	shall not be a defense that the prevailing party failed to seek
103	103	recovery of costs or attorneys' fees in the underlying action, and
104	104	it shall not be a defense that the court in the underlying action
105	105	declined to recognize or enforce the requirements of this section.
106	106	(d) An award of costs and attorneys' fees under this section
107	107	shall include interest.
108	108	Sec. 110.027. SEVERABILITY. Every provision, section,
109	109	subsection, sentence, clause, phrase, or word of this subchapter,
110	110	and every application of the provisions in this subchapter to every
111	111	person, groups of persons, or circumstances, are severable from
112	112	each other. If any application of any provision in this subchapter
113	113	to any person, group of persons, or circumstances is found by a
114	114	court to be unconstitutional or invalid, on any ground for any
115	115	reason whatsoever, then the remaining applications of that
116	116	provision to all other persons and circumstances shall be severed
117	117	and may not be affected. All constitutional applications of this
118	118	subchapter shall be severed from any applications that a court
119	119	finds to be unconstitutional, leaving the constitutional
120	120	applications in force, because it is the Legislature's intent and
121	121	priority that the constitutional applications be allowed to stand
122	122	alone. The Legislature further declares that it would have passed
123	123	this subchapter, and each provision, section, subsection,
124	124	sentence, clause, phrase, or word, and all constitutional
125	125	applications of this subchapter, irrespective of the fact that any
126	126	provision, section, subsection, sentence, clause, phrase, or word,
127	127	or applications of this subchapter, were to be declared
128	128	unconstitutional by any court.
129	129	SECTION 3. This Act takes effect September 1, 2021.