Equal Opportunity First Amendment Act
Latest action · Jul 30, 2020 Referred to the House Committee on the Judiciary.
Progress
Where this bill reached, and when. A stage with no date was not reached; one that failed a vote and later carried shows the date it carried.
- IntroducedJul 30, 2020
- Passed HouseNot reached
- Passed SenateNot reached
- To the PresidentNot reached
- Became lawNot reached
Summary
Equal Opportunity First Amendment Act
This bill requires states and local governments to enforce orders limiting public gatherings under emergency declarations equally.
Specifically, the bill (1) prohibits states and units of local government that issue orders that limit gatherings to a certain number of people pursuant to a national emergency or similar state emergency declaration from discriminating in the enforcement of such order, in the case of persons who are exercising a right protected under the First Amendment; and (2) authorizes a private right of action in U.S. district court by a person who is harmed by a violation of this provision.
Cosponsors 25
Members who signed on, in the order they did. Signatures ran from Jul 30, 2020 to Oct 23, 2020; 22 are original cosponsors, there from the day it was introduced.
| Seat | Cosponsor | Signed on | |
|---|---|---|---|
| R-VA | Ben Cline | Original | Jul 30, 2020 |
| R-TX | Bill Flores | Original | Jul 30, 2020 |
| R-OH | Bob Gibbs | Original | Jul 30, 2020 |
| R-TX | Brian Babin | Original | Jul 30, 2020 |
| R-NC | Dan Bishop | Original | Jul 30, 2020 |
| R-PA | Daniel Meuser | Original | Jul 30, 2020 |
| R-TN | David P. Roe | Original | Jul 30, 2020 |
| R-CO | Doug Lamborn | Original | Jul 30, 2020 |
| R-VA | H. Morgan Griffith | Original | Jul 30, 2020 |
| R-IN | James R. Baird | Original | Jul 30, 2020 |
| R-SC | Jeff Duncan | Original | Jul 30, 2020 |
| R-IN | Jim Banks | Original | Jul 30, 2020 |
| R-GA | Jody B. Hice | Original | Jul 30, 2020 |
| R-TX | Louie Gohmert | Original | Jul 30, 2020 |
| R-TN | Mark E. Green | Original | Jul 30, 2020 |
Committees 1
Where it was sent and what each committee and subcommittee did with it, in order.
| Chamber | Committee | What it did |
|---|---|---|
| House | Judiciary Committee | Referred Jul 30, 2020 |
Actions 2
Everything that happened, newest first.
- Jul 30, 2020Introduced in House
- Jul 30, 2020Referred to the House Committee on the Judiciary.
Research
What has been written about this bill: committee reports, cost estimates, the sponsor’s authority statement, printed hearings and the Congressional Research Service’s work.
Constitutional authority
The sponsor’s statement, as printed in the Congressional Record, vol. 166, no. 135, July 30, 2020, page H4190.
Titles 2
Every title it has carried, official and short, at each stage.
- Official Title as Introduced
- To require States and units of local governments to enforce stay-at-home orders equally, and for other purposes.
- Short Title(s) as Introduced
- Equal Opportunity First Amendment Act
Subjects
Assigned by the Library of Congress. Policy area: Civil Rights and Liberties, Minority Issues.
Text 1
Each version as it was printed, newest first.
- Jul 30, 2020Introduced in House
Everything here is as published by Congress: the summary is the Congressional Research Service's, the action wording is the clerks', and the subjects are the Library of Congress's. How far it got is read from the actions themselves, taking the most recent one of each kind, so a bill that failed a vote and later passed is shown as having passed. Records come from this bill on Congress.gov and govinfo.gov; cost estimates are the Congressional Budget Office's, and the hearings are the printed hearings GovInfo publishes, which can appear months after the hearing.
