SACRED Act

II 116TH CONGRESS 2D SESSION S. 4340 To ensure that a State or local jurisdiction is ineligible to receive or use funds allocated, appropriated, or authorized to address COVID–19 if that State or jurisdiction discriminates against religious individuals or religious institutions, and for other purposes. IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES JULY 28, 2020 Mr. CRUZ introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Finance A BILL To ensure that a State or local jurisdiction is ineligible to receive or use funds allocated, appropriated, or author- ized to address COVID–19 if that State or jurisdiction discriminates against religious individuals or religious in- stitutions, and for other purposes. 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 ‘‘Safeguarding Ameri- 4 cans from Coronavirus and Religious Exercise Discrimina- 5 tion Act’’ or the ‘‘SACRED Act’’. 6 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:53 Aug 10, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S4340.IS S4340 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 2 •S 4340 IS SEC. 2. PREVENTING DISCRIMINATION AGAINST RELI- 1 GIOUS INDIVIDUALS AND INSTITUTIONS. 2 (a) INELIGIBILITY FOR FUNDS.—A State or local ju- 3 risdiction shall be ineligible to receive or use funds allo- 4 cated, appropriated, or authorized to address COVID–19 5 (referred to as ‘‘covered funds’’) if that State or local ju- 6 risdiction is committing a violation described in subsection 7 (b). 8 (b) VIOLATIONS.—A State or local jurisdiction com- 9 mits a violation under this subsection if that State or local 10 jurisdiction— 11 (1) enforces, or announces the intent to enforce, 12 any law, regulation, policy, order, proclamation, or 13 decree related to COVID–19 that discriminates 14 against religious individuals or religious institutions; 15 or 16 (2) provides, or shows an intention to provide, 17 covered funds to a separate State or local jurisdic- 18 tion that is ineligible to receive or use those funds 19 because the State or local jurisdiction has committed 20 a violation described in paragraph (1). 21 (c) DETERMINATION OF INELIGIBILITY.—The Attor- 22 ney General shall make a determination of whether a State 23 or local jurisdiction is ineligible to receive or use covered 24 funds in accordance with subsection (a). 25 (d) ENFORCEMENT.— 26 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:53 Aug 10, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S4340.IS S4340 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 3 •S 4340 IS (1) FUNDS NOT YET DISBURSED.—If, before 1 the covered funds are disbursed, the Attorney Gen- 2 eral determines that a State or local jurisdiction is 3 ineligible to receive such funds, the covered funds 4 shall not be disbursed until the Attorney General 5 certifies that the State or local jurisdiction is no 6 longer in violation of subsection (b) and is eligible to 7 receive covered funds. 8 (2) FUNDS ALREADY DISBURSED.—If, after 9 covered funds have been disbursed, the Attorney 10 General determines that a State or local jurisdiction 11 was not, or is no longer, eligible to receive those cov- 12 ered funds, the applicable Federal agency that would 13 otherwise disburse such covered funds shall identify 14 and withhold from the State or local jurisdiction 15 funds otherwise authorized to be allocated to that 16 State or local jurisdiction from that Federal agency 17 in an amount not to exceed the amount the State or 18 local jurisdiction received in covered funds from that 19 Federal agency, until the Attorney General certifies 20 that the State or local jurisdiction is no longer in 21 violation of subsection (b) and is eligible to receive 22 such covered funds. 23 (3) FUNDS TRANSFERRED.—If a State or local 24 jurisdiction transferred covered funds to another 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:53 Aug 10, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S4340.IS S4340 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 4 •S 4340 IS State or local jurisdiction that is in violation of sub- 1 section (b)(1), the applicable Federal agency shall 2 identify and withhold from the State or local juris- 3 diction funds otherwise authorized to be allocated to 4 that State or local jurisdiction from that Federal 5 agency in an amount not to exceed the amount of 6 covered funds the State or local jurisdiction trans- 7 ferred in violation of subsection (b)(2) that were dis- 8 bursed from that Federal agency, until the Attorney 9 General certifies that the State or local jurisdiction 10 that received transferred covered funds is eligible to 11 receive and use those funds, or the covered funds are 12 returned from the recipient to the transferring State 13 or local jurisdiction. 14 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:53 Aug 10, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\S4340.IS S4340 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS