Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA)

Comparing state and federal RFRAs.

Waives sovereign immunity.

Federal Code

Iowa Code

Provides Remedies.

Federal Code

42 U.S.C. § 2000bb-1(c) (“appropriate relief”)

Iowa Code

Iowa Code § 675.4(2) (“appropriate relief, including damages, injunctive relief, or other appropriate redress”)

Protects Religious Exercise.

Federal Code

42 U.S.C. § 2000bb-2(4), 42 U.S.C. § 2000cc-5(7)(A) (“any exercise of religion, whether or not compelled by, or central to, a system of religious belief”)

Iowa Code

Iowa Code § 675.3(2) (“the ability to act or refuse to act in a manner substantially motivated by one’s sincerely held religious belief, whether or not the exercise is compulsory or central to a larger system of religious belief”)

Retroactive.

Federal Code

42 U.S.C. § 2000bb-3(a) (“all Federal law, and the implementation of that law, whether statutory or otherwise, and whether adopted before or after”)

Iowa Acts

SF 2095 § 8 (“all state and local laws and the implementation of state and local laws, whether statutory or otherwise, and whether adopted before, on, or after”)