Sec. 601. Preventing discrimination against religious individuals and institutions
441 words·~2 min read·
/bill/116/s/4537/is/section-601A research copy — for the controlling text, always check the official state or federal source. Not legal advice.
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). A State or local jurisdiction commits a violation under this subsection if that State or local jurisdiction— 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 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).
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). 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. 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. 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.