Indiana Religious Freedom Restoration Act (SB 101)

This law was last updated on Feb 8, 2018

State

Indiana

Number

SB 101

Status

Current

Proposed

Jan 6, 2015

Topics

LGBTQ, Religious Freedom, RFRA

Full Bill Text

iga.in.gov

SB 101 prohibits the government from substantially burdening a person’s exercise of religion, even if the burden results from a rule of general applicability, unless it is in furtherance of a compelling governmental interest; and is the least restrictive means of furthering that compelling governmental interest.

The law defines “person” to include:

An individual;
An organization, a religious society, a church, a body of communicants, or a group organized and operated primarily for religious purposes; and
A partnership, a limited liability company, a corporation, a company, a firm, a society, a joint-stock company, an unincorporated association, or another entity that:
- may sue and be sued; and
- exercises practices that are compelled or limited by a system of religious belief held by individuals who have control of the entity.

A person whose exercise of religion has been substantially burdened, or is likely to be substantially burdened, by a violation of this law may assert the violation or impending violation as a claim or defense in a judicial or administrative proceeding, regardless of whether the state or any other governmental entity is a party to the proceeding.

The language of the bill would allow religious freedom to be raised as a defense in lawsuits between private citizens and therefore does not track the federal RFRA.

STATUS

Similar to HB 1632 and SB 568.

The law was amended shortly after with SB 50, in an attempt to provide protections for the LGBTQ community.