Hawaii First Amendment Defense Act (HB 2532)

HB 2532 would create government protections for “sincerely held” religious beliefs or moral convictions for people, religious organizations, and private associations. The bill would allow public and private businesses to legally refuse service to LGBTQ people based on the owner’s religious belief.

HB 2532 states that the sincerely held religious beliefs or moral convictions protected by this act are the belief or conviction that:

• Marriage is or should be recognized as the union of one man and one woman;
• Sexual relations are properly reserved to such a marriage; and
• Male (man) or female (woman) refer to an individual’s immutable biological sex as objectively determined by anatomy and genetics at time of birth.

The bill defines “discriminatory action” as any state government action to discriminate against a person with such beliefs or convictions, including state action to:

• alter the tax treatment of, cause any tax, penalty, or payment to be assessed against, or deny, delay, or revoke certain tax exemptions of any such person;
• apply or cause to be applied, a fine, penalty, or payment assessed against such person;
• disallow a deduction of any charitable contribution made to or by such person;
• withhold, reduce, exclude, terminate, or otherwise deny any state grant, contract, subcontract, cooperative agreement, guarantee, loan, scholarship, diploma, grade, recognition, license, certification, accreditation, employment, or other similar benefit, position, or status from or to such person;
• withhold, reduce, exclude, terminate, or otherwise deny any benefit under a state benefit program;
• withhold, reduce, exclude, terminate or otherwise make unavailable or deny access or an entitlement to state property, facilities, educational institutions, speech fora (including traditional, limited, and nonpublic fora), or charitable fundraising campaigns from or to such person; or
• investigate or initiate an investigation, claim, or administrative proceeding of suchperson, if that person would not otherwise be subject to such action.

The bill requires the state to consider to be accredited, licensed, or certified for purposes of state law any person who would be accredited, licensed, or certified for such purposes but for a determination that the person believes or acts in accordance with such a religious belief or moral conviction.

The bill permits a person to assert an actual or threatened violation of this Act as a claim or defense in a judicial or administrative proceeding and to obtain compensatory damages or other appropriate relief against the state.

STATUS

Similar to HB 2181.

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People