Bill Text: TX HB2401 | 2021-2022 | 87th Legislature | Introduced
Bill Title: Preserving religious liberty from nativist jurisprudence.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Republican 2-0)
Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2021-03-16 - Referred to State Affairs [HB2401 Detail]
Download: Texas-2021-HB2401-Introduced.html
| By: Middleton | H.B. No. 2401 | |
|
|
||
|
|
||
| preserving religious liberty from nativist jurisprudence. | ||
| BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS: | ||
| SECTION 1. This Act shall be known as the Protection of | ||
| Religious Liberty from Nativist Jurisprudence Act. | ||
| SECTION 2. Chapter 110, Civil Practice and Remedies Code, | ||
| is amended by adding Subchapter B to read as follows: | ||
| SUBCHAPTER B. PROTECTION OF RELIGIOUS LIBERTY | ||
| Sec. 110.020. DEFINITIONS. In this subchapter: | ||
| (1) "state officer or employee" includes any state or local | ||
| officer or employee of this State, including any member of the board | ||
| of trustees of any school district in this state, and any teacher, | ||
| principal, administrator, or other person employed by any school | ||
| district in this state; | ||
| (2) "court" includes any court of this State (other than an | ||
| administrative or agency tribunal) or any Article III court of the | ||
| United States; | ||
| (3) "Blaine amendments" refers to: (a) the provision | ||
| codified at article I, section 7 of the Texas Constitution, which | ||
| reads: "No money shall be appropriated, or drawn from the Treasury | ||
| for the benefit of any sect, or religious society, theological or | ||
| religious seminary; nor shall property belonging to the State be | ||
| appropriated for any such purposes"; and (b) the third sentence of | ||
| article VII, section 5(c) of the Texas Constitution, which reads: | ||
| "The permanent school fund and the available school fund may not be | ||
| appropriated to or used for the support of any sectarian school"; | ||
| (4) "the Separation of Church and State doctrine" means (a) | ||
| any restriction, or denial of a benefit, that purports to be | ||
| justified on grounds of Separation of Church and State or any | ||
| element of the Supreme Court's decision in Lemon v. Kurtzman; or (b) | ||
| any restriction, or denial of a benefit, that purports to be | ||
| justified by the Blaine amendments. | ||
| Sec. 110.021. BLAINE AMENDMENTS. No state officer or | ||
| employee may enforce the Blaine Amendments unless and until the | ||
| Supreme Court of the United States overrules Espinoza v. Montana | ||
| Dept. Of Revenue, 140 S. Ct. 2246 (2020). | ||
| Sec. 110.022. SEPARATION OF CHURCH AND STATE. Except as | ||
| provided in section 110.024, no state officer or employee may | ||
| enforce the Separation of Church and State doctrine against any | ||
| person or entity in this state. | ||
| Sec. 110.023. INCORPORATION. Except as provided in section | ||
| 110.024, no state officer or employee may enforce the Establishment | ||
| Clause of the First Amendment against any person or entity other | ||
| than the federal government, its officers, or its | ||
| instrumentalities. | ||
| Sec. 110.024. EXCEPTIONS. Notwithstanding the | ||
| requirements of sections 110.022 and 110.023, a state officer or | ||
| employee may enforce the Separation of Church and State doctrine or | ||
| the Establishment Clause as necessary to comply with: | ||
| (a) a judgment or decree entered by a court against that | ||
| specific officer or employee, his superiors, or the entity for whom | ||
| he works; or | ||
| (b) a directly-on-point ruling from the Supreme Court of the | ||
| United States or the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, | ||
| when there is no reasonable grounds for distinguishing that ruling | ||
| factually or legally. | ||
| Sec. 110.025. CHURCH SPEECH. No state or local officer may | ||
| enforce any restrictions on speech or expression, whether in the | ||
| form of direct duties or conditions, that single out churches or | ||
| other religious organizations; nor shall any state or local officer | ||
| chill the speech of any person, or other entity, in this state by | ||
| publishing any such restrictions as law or required by law. | ||
| Sec. 110.026. REMEDIES. (a) Any person or other entity | ||
| residing, praying, preaching, or doing business in this State may | ||
| bring a civil action in any court of this State against any state or | ||
| local officer who violates this subchapter, and upon finding that | ||
| the defendant has violated or is violating that person or entity's | ||
| rights under this statute, the Court shall award: | ||
| (1) Declaratory relief; | ||
| (2) Injunctive relief; and | ||
| (3) Costs and reasonable attorneys' fees. | ||
| (b) The plaintiff in any action brought under this section | ||
| shall have the right to a jury trial. | ||
| Sec. 110.027. AWARD OF ATTORNEYS' FEES IN ESTABLISHMENT | ||
| CLAUSE LAWSUITS. (a) Any person, entity, lawyer, or law firm that | ||
| sues to enforce the Blaine Amendments, the Separation of Church and | ||
| State Doctrine, or the Establishment Clause against any person or | ||
| entity in the State of Texas, in any state or federal court, or that | ||
| represents any litigant seeking such relief in any state or federal | ||
| court, shall be jointly and severally liable to pay the costs and | ||
| attorneys' fees of the prevailing party or parties, notwithstanding | ||
| any other provision of law. | ||
| (b) A litigant shall be deemed a "prevailing party" under | ||
| this section if a state or federal court dismisses any claim or | ||
| cause of action brought against it that seeks the relief described | ||
| in subsection (a), regardless of the reason for such dismissal, or | ||
| if a state or federal court enters judgment in its favor on any such | ||
| claim or cause of action. | ||
| (c) A prevailing party under this section may bring a civil | ||
| action to recover costs and attorneys' fees against a person, | ||
| entity, lawyer, or law firm that sought declaratory or injunctive | ||
| relief described in subsection (a) within three (3) years of the | ||
| date on which the dismissal or judgment described in subsection (b) | ||
| becomes final upon the conclusion of appellate review, or within | ||
| three (3) years of the date on which the time for seeking appellate | ||
| review expires, regardless of whether the prevailing party sought | ||
| to recover costs or attorneys' fees in the underlying action. It | ||
| shall not be a defense that the prevailing party failed to seek | ||
| recovery of costs or attorneys' fees in the underlying action, and | ||
| it shall not be a defense that the court in the underlying action | ||
| declined to recognize or enforce the requirements of this section. | ||
| (d) An award of costs and attorneys' fees under this section | ||
| shall include interest. | ||
| Sec. 110.027. SEVERABILITY. Every provision, section, | ||
| subsection, sentence, clause, phrase, or word of this subchapter, | ||
| and every application of the provisions in this subchapter to every | ||
| person, groups of persons, or circumstances, are severable from | ||
| each other. If any application of any provision in this subchapter | ||
| to any person, group of persons, or circumstances is found by a | ||
| court to be unconstitutional or invalid, on any ground for any | ||
| reason whatsoever, then the remaining applications of that | ||
| provision to all other persons and circumstances shall be severed | ||
| and may not be affected. All constitutional applications of this | ||
| subchapter shall be severed from any applications that a court | ||
| finds to be unconstitutional, leaving the constitutional | ||
| applications in force, because it is the Legislature's intent and | ||
| priority that the constitutional applications be allowed to stand | ||
| alone. The Legislature further declares that it would have passed | ||
| this subchapter, and each provision, section, subsection, | ||
| sentence, clause, phrase, or word, and all constitutional | ||
| applications of this subchapter, irrespective of the fact that any | ||
| provision, section, subsection, sentence, clause, phrase, or word, | ||
| or applications of this subchapter, were to be declared | ||
| unconstitutional by any court. | ||
| SECTION 3. This Act takes effect September 1, 2021. | ||
