Restoring Equal Opportunity Act
The Restoring Equal Opportunity Act would remove the ability to bring disparate-impact claims under federal civil rights law in two areas: employment and housing. It amends the Civil Rights Act of 1964 to bar lawsuits alleging unlawful employment practices based on disparate impact, and it amends the Fair Housing Act to do the same for discriminatory housing practices. The bill defines disparate impact as a neutral practice that, while not intended to discriminate, may have a disproportionate effect on protected groups. In addition, the bill nullifies certain regulations approved by the President that interpret Title VII and Title VI, reducing the regulatory foundation that currently supports disparate-impact analyses. A “sense of the Senate” statement expresses a policy preference to minimize disparate-impact liability across contexts. In short, if enacted, the bill would primarily limit or eliminate a common basis for challenging policies or practices that unintentionally affect protected groups more than others, while also weakening some existing regulatory guidance used to apply civil rights laws.
Key Points
- 1Prohibits disparate-impact claims in employment: Section 703 of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 would be amended to strike the current disparate-impact provision and replace it with a prohibition on bringing actions based on disparate impact in employment practices; defines disparate impact as a neutral practice that may disproportionately affect protected groups.
- 2Prohibits disparate-impact claims in housing: Section 807 of the Fair Housing Act would be amended to add a prohibition on bringing discriminatory-housing-practice actions based on disparate impact; the definition of disparate impact mirrors the employment provision.
- 3Definition of disparate impact: Across both sectors, a practice is considered disparate impact if it is neutral on its face and not intentional discrimination, but may have a disproportionate effect on certain groups, including protected classes.
- 4Nullifies certain federal regulations: Section 5 cancels specific Presidential approvals of regulatory interpretations related to Title VII and Title VI (as applied to certain CFR provisions), removing those regulatory authorities from force.
- 5Sense of the Senate: Expresses a policy to eliminate disparate-impact liability in as many contexts as possible to align with constitutional and civil-rights principles, though the bill’s actual changes are limited to employment and housing provisions.