ATLANTA (February 14, 2023) | Today, State Senator Ed Setzler (R – Acworth) introduced Senate Bill 180, providing state-level protection for people of all faiths by simply mirroring current federal law. The bill text adapts the same language from the Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA) passed by Congress in 1993 and applies it to the state and local levels.
“My goal is to ensure we have important federal protection here in Georgia: nothing more, nothing less. This measured, reasonable approach will safeguard people of all faiths, and I encourage all of my colleagues to scrutinize the bill’s text before rendering an opinion,” said Sen. Setzler.
The 1993 federal RFRA bill was sponsored by then-U.S. Representative Chuck Schumer (D-NY) and the late U.S. Senator Ted Kennedy (D-MA). RFRA was overwhelmingly bipartisan, passing with near unanimous support and being signed into law by President Bill Clinton. RFRA was the overarching law of the land until a 1997 U.S. Supreme Court decision ruled that the law only applied to the federal government but not to states. This decision has compelled 34 states to enact similar protection for their citizens by statute or court precedent.
“It’s hard to imagine, given today’s bitter partisanship, but 30 years ago, Washington politicians knew how important RFRA was in defending a foundational Constitutional right. It’s time for reasonable people to come together and resolve this glaring deficiency in our state law,” added Sen. Setzler.
Sen. Setzler was a State Representative in 2016 when former Governor Nathan Deal vetoed an expanded version of RFRA with many additional provisions requested by special interests on every side of the issue. The Senator stressed that his goal to keep this version of RFRA simply a mirror of federal law and the debate regarding the bill focused on substance.
“Some may call this simply RFRA 2.0 or RFRA Lite, depending on their ideological perspective. Both are wrong and it is wrong to call a fair, balanced, anti-discriminatory bill discriminatory as a vehicle for a political statement. It was the original intent of bipartisan federal lawmakers to have this important constitutional protection extend to states, and that is the only thing this legislation does.” said, Sen. Setzler.
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Sen. Ed Setzler represents the 37th Senate District, which includes parts of Cobb and Bartow County. He may be reached by phone at (404) 656-0256 or by email at ed.setzler@senate.ga.gov