Virginia Religious Freedom Restoration Act

This law was last updated on Dec 12, 2016

State

Virginia

Number

Va. Code §57-2.02

Status

Current

Proposed

Jan 16, 2007

Topics

LGBTQ, Religious Freedom, RFRA

Full Bill Text

law.lis.virginia.gov

The Virginia RFRA provides that no government entity shall substantially burden a person’s free exercise of religion even if the burden results from a rule of general applicability unless it demonstrates that application of the burden to the person is:

essential to further a compelling governmental interest; and
the least restrictive means of furthering that compelling governmental interest.

A person whose religious exercise has been burdened by government may assert that violation as a claim or defense in any judicial or administrative proceeding and may obtain declaratory and injunctive relief from a circuit court, but shall not obtain monetary damages.

The law does not specify that a claim or defense in a judicial proceeding must be against the government, which would potentially allow for private citizens to file suit against other private citizens. Therefore, this RFRA does not track the federal RFRA.