Senate Bill 192: Protecting Religious Freedom

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Historically, government agencies could push aside someone's right to exercise their religion only if the government had a super good reason, and used the least restrictive means possible. But freedom lurched backward in 1990 when a U.S. Supreme Court case treated this foundational right as if it were ordinary--empowering governments to trump your religious freedom for virtually any reason.

When the public demanded change, a federal law was passed to restore the historic level of protection. But in 1997, the U.S. Supreme Court said the new federal law could not be used to hold back individual states from violating the religious freedom of its citizens.

This gave states the green light to give your religious freedom the lowest imaginable level of protection. But the Supreme Court left the door open for states individually to pass laws giving more protection.

That is what SB 192 does. It puts Nevada on record as saying the freedom to practice one's religion must be protected just as it was before 1990.