Bill Sponsor
Senate Bill 4340
116th Congress(2019-2020)
SACRED Act
Introduced
Introduced
Introduced in Senate on Jul 28, 2020
Overview
Text
Introduced in Senate 
Jul 28, 2020
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Introduced in Senate(Jul 28, 2020)
Jul 28, 2020
About Linkage
Multiple bills can contain the same text. This could be an identical bill in the opposite chamber or a smaller bill with a section embedded in a larger bill.
Bill Sponsor regularly scans bill texts to find sections that are contained in other bill texts. When a matching section is found, the bills containing that section can be viewed by clicking "View Bills" within the bill text section.
Bill Sponsor is currently only finding exact word-for-word section matches. In a future release, partial matches will be included.
S. 4340 (Introduced-in-Senate)


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 authorized to address COVID–19 if that State or jurisdiction discriminates against religious individuals or religious institutions, 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 “Safeguarding Americans from Coronavirus and Religious Exercise Discrimination Act” or the “SACRED Act”.

SEC. 2. Preventing discrimination against religious individuals and institutions.

(a) Ineligibility for funds.—A State or local jurisdiction shall be ineligible to receive or use funds allocated, appropriated, or authorized to address COVID–19 (referred to as “covered funds”) if that State or local jurisdiction is committing a violation described in subsection (b).

(b) Violations.—A State or local jurisdiction commits a violation under this subsection if that State or local jurisdiction—

(1) enforces, or announces the intent to enforce, any law, regulation, policy, order, proclamation, or decree related to COVID–19 that discriminates against religious individuals or religious institutions; or

(2) provides, or shows an intention to provide, covered funds to a separate State or local jurisdiction that is ineligible to receive or use those funds because the State or local jurisdiction has committed a violation described in paragraph (1).

(c) Determination of ineligibility.—The Attorney General shall make a determination of whether a State or local jurisdiction is ineligible to receive or use covered funds in accordance with subsection (a).

(d) Enforcement.—

(1) FUNDS NOT YET DISBURSED.—If, before the covered funds are disbursed, the Attorney General determines that a State or local jurisdiction is ineligible to receive such funds, the covered funds shall not be disbursed until the Attorney General certifies that the State or local jurisdiction is no longer in violation of subsection (b) and is eligible to receive covered funds.

(2) FUNDS ALREADY DISBURSED.—If, after covered funds have been disbursed, the Attorney General determines that a State or local jurisdiction was not, or is no longer, eligible to receive those covered funds, the applicable Federal agency that would otherwise disburse such covered funds shall identify and withhold from the State or local jurisdiction funds otherwise authorized to be allocated to that State or local jurisdiction from that Federal agency in an amount not to exceed the amount the State or local jurisdiction received in covered funds from that Federal agency, until the Attorney General certifies that the State or local jurisdiction is no longer in violation of subsection (b) and is eligible to receive such covered funds.

(3) FUNDS TRANSFERRED.—If a State or local jurisdiction transferred covered funds to another State or local jurisdiction that is in violation of subsection (b)(1), the applicable Federal agency shall identify and withhold from the State or local jurisdiction funds otherwise authorized to be allocated to that State or local jurisdiction from that Federal agency in an amount not to exceed the amount of covered funds the State or local jurisdiction transferred in violation of subsection (b)(2) that were disbursed from that Federal agency, until the Attorney General certifies that the State or local jurisdiction that received transferred covered funds is eligible to receive and use those funds, or the covered funds are returned from the recipient to the transferring State or local jurisdiction.