I
119THCONGRESS
1
STSESSION 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
MARCH6, 2025
Mr. S
COTTof Virginia (for himself, Mr. RASKIN, Mr. COHEN, Ms. SCANLON,
Mr. P
ETERS, Mr. CONNOLLY, Ms. TOKUDA, Mr. KRISHNAMOORTHI, Ms.
S
A´NCHEZ, Ms. NORTON, Ms. SCHAKOWSKY, Mr. POCAN, Ms. STRICK-
LAND, Ms. TITUS, Ms. WILLIAMSof Georgia, Mrs. CHERFILUS-MCCOR-
MICK, Mr. DELUZIO, Ms. FRIEDMAN, Mr. MFUME, Mr. HUFFMAN, Ms.
J
ACOBS, Mr. NEAL, Ms. CHU, Mr. CLEAVER, Mr. MOULTON, Ms. GARCIA
of Texas, Ms. P
INGREE, Mr. DAVISof Illinois, Mr. QUIGLEY, Mrs.
T
ORRESof California, Mr. FOSTER, Mr. TAKANO, Ms. DELBENE, Mr.
H
OYER, Mrs. DINGELL, Ms. OMAR, Ms. DELAURO, Mr. MRVAN, Ms.
B
ONAMICI, Mr. SCHNEIDER, Mr. COSTA, Mr. GOMEZ, Mr. CARSON, Mr.
M
OSKOWITZ, Ms. WILSONof Florida, Ms. WATERS, Mr. MAGAZINER, Mr.
F
IELDS, Mr. CARBAJAL, Mr. GARCIAof California, Ms. KELLYof Illinois,
Mr. T
HOMPSONof Mississippi, Ms. DEANof Pennsylvania, Mr. TONKO,
Mr. P
ANETTA, Ms. ANSARI, Mr. DESAULNIER, Mr. EVANSof Pennsyl-
vania, Mr. T
HANEDAR, Mr. SHERMAN, Mr. PALLONE, Mr. STANTON, Mr.
K
HANNA, Ms. MCCOLLUM, Ms. BROWNLEY, Ms. STANSBURY, Mr. DOG-
GETT, Mr. COURTNEY, Ms. DEGETTE, Mr. VEASEY, Ms. MCCLELLAN,
Ms. M
ATSUI, Mr. TORRESof New York, Ms. B ARRAGA´N, Ms.
W
ASSERMANSCHULTZ, Mr. NADLER, Mr. MCGARVEY, and Mr. AMO) in-
troduced 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.
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•HR 1954 IH
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 ‘‘Do No Harm Act’’. 4
SEC. 2. EXCEPTION FROM APPLICATION OF ACT WHERE 5
FEDERAL LAW PREVENTS HARM TO OTHERS. 6
Section 3 of the Religious Freedom Restoration Act 7
of 1993 (42 U.S.C. 2000bb–1) is amended by adding at 8
the end the following: 9
‘‘(d) A
DDITIONALEXCEPTIONFROMAPPLICATION 10
OFACTWHEREFEDERALLAWPREVENTSHARM TO 11
O
THERS.—Subsections (a), (b), and (c) do not apply to— 12
‘‘(1) any provision of law or its implementation 13
that provides for or requires— 14
‘‘(A) a protection against discrimination or 15
the promotion of equal opportunity, including 16
the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (42 U.S.C. 2000a 17
et seq.), the Americans with Disabilities Act of 18
1990 (42 U.S.C. 12101 et seq.), the Family 19
and Medical Leave Act of 1993 (29 U.S.C. 20
2601 et seq.), and the Violence Against Women 21
Act of 1994 (42 U.S.C. 13925 et seq.); 22
‘‘(B) an employer to provide a wage, other 23
compensation, or a benefit, including leave, or 24
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•HR 1954 IH
a standard protecting collective activity in the 1
workplace; 2
‘‘(C) a protection against child labor, child 3
abuse, or child exploitation; or 4
‘‘(D) access to, information about, a refer-5
ral for, provision of, or coverage for, any health 6
care item or service; 7
‘‘(2) any term of a government contract, grant, 8
cooperative agreement, or other award, that provides 9
funds directly or indirectly, and that requires a 10
good, service, function, or activity to be performed 11
for or provided to a beneficiary of or a participant 12
in a program or activity funded, directly or indi-13
rectly, by a government contract, grant, cooperative 14
agreement, or other award; or 15
‘‘(3) the extent that application would result in 16
denying a person the full and equal enjoyment of a 17
good, service, benefit, facility, privilege, advantage, 18
or accommodation provided by the government.’’. 19
SEC. 3. CLARIFICATION OF PRECLUSION OF LITIGATION 20
BETWEEN PRIVATE PARTIES. 21
(a) P
URPOSE.—The purpose of the amendment made 22
by subsection (b) is to clarify the applicability of the Reli-23
gious Freedom Restoration Act of 1993 (42 U.S.C. 24
2000bb et seq.). 25
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•HR 1954 IH
(b) PRECLUSION.—Section 3(c) of the Religious 1
Freedom Restoration Act of 1993 (42 U.S.C. 2000bb– 2
1(c)) is amended, in the first sentence, by striking ‘‘judi-3
cial proceeding’’ and all that follows through the first pe-4
riod and inserting ‘‘judicial proceeding to which a govern-5
ment is a party and obtain appropriate relief against that 6
government.’’. 7
Æ
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