Draft of Rep. Vitter's "The Fair Housing Amendments Act of 1999"

Press reports out of New Orleans indicate that Rep. David Vitter (R-LA) intends to introduce legislation this week entitled "The Fair Housing Amendments Act of 1999." We have received a draft of the bill, and it seems to track many of the most troubling provisions of HR 3206, including the so-called First Amendment issues, exhaustion of administrative remedies, redefining "familial status" protections and allowing localities to broadly regulate group homes for people with disabilities through spacing and occupancy restrictions. 

 






106th CONGRESS

1st Session



H.R. _____________









IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES






Mr. Vitter introduced the following bill which was referred to the
Committee on ______________________________________________________






________________________









A BILL






To amend the Fair Housing Act






	Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of
the United States of America in Congress assembled,



SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE



	This Act may be cited as the "Fair Housing Amendments Act
of 1999"



SEC 2. FIRST AMENDMENT PROTECTIONS



	The Fair Housing Act (42 U.S.C. 3601 et seq) is amended by
adding at the end the following.



	"PROTECTION OF FIRST AMENDMENT RIGHTS"



	"SEC 821.(a) Nothing in this Act shall be construed to make
the expression of an opinion or the seeking of redress from public
authority a violation of this Act.



	"(b) A party shall not be held liable or otherwise sanctioned
under this Act for engaging in litigation or administrative proceedings
unless-



		"(1) the party does so for an improper purpose, such as
to harass or cause unnecessary delay or needlessly to increase the cost
of the litigation or proceedings and



		"(2)(A) the claims, defenses and other legal
contentions of the party in the litigation or proceedings are not
warranted by existing law or by a nonfrivolous argument for the
extension, modification, or reversal of existing law or the
establishment of new law, or



	"(B) the allegations and other factual contentions, for which
the party in the litigation or proceedings has the burden of going
forward with the evidence, have no evidentiary support".



SEC. 3 SPECIFICITY OF COMPLAINT



	Section 810(a)(1)(B)(ii) of the Fair Housing Act (42 U.S.C.
3610 (a)(1)(B)(ii) is amended by inserting "in sufficient detail to
allow the respondent to prepare a response and make any available
defenses" after "practice".



SEC 4 EXHAUSTION OF STATE REMEDIES



	Section 815 of the Fair Housing Act (42 U.S.C. 8615) is
amended-



		(1) by inserting "(a)" before "Nothing in "; and



		(2) by adding at the end the following,



	(B) A provision of a State or local law shall not be construed
to violate this title if the party alleging such violation has not first
sought appropriate relief through available administrative procedures
provided by the state or local government regarding the application of
that provision of law".



SEC 5 CLARIFICATION OF FAMILIAL STATUS PROTECTION



	Section 802(k) of the Fair Housing Act (42 U.S.C. 8602(k)) is
amended-



	(1) in paragraph (1), by striking "person" and inserting
"individual" and



	(2) by adding at the end the following: "With respect to a State
or local law, the protections afforded against discrimination on the
basis of familial status apply only with respect to groups of persons
related by blood, marriage, or adoption, and with respect to a child
under the age of 18 years living in a foster care arrangement with
persons who are so related".



SEC 6 LOCAL CONTROL OF RESIDENTIAL USES



	Section 807 of the Fair Housing Act (42 U.S.C. 3607) is
amended by adding at the end the following:



	"(c) Nothing in this title prevents-



		"(1) State or local government regulation of facilities
for residential services for persons with handicaps, if such regulation
reasonable requires the dispersal of such facilities;



		"(2) State or local government restriction on the
maximum number of unrelated persons permitted to occupy a
dwelling in an area restricted to single family dwellings; or



		"(3) State or local government restriction on the
occupancy of facilities for residential services for persons with
handicaps, by persons convicted of a crime for which a term of
imprisonment greater than one year may be imposed, or juveniles
adjudicated delinquents or the basis of conduct that would constitute
such a crime if committed by an adult."






Main Provisions of Vitter Fair Housing Legislation:



Section I: Title - "Fair Housing Amendments Acts of 1999"



Section II: Protections under the First Amendment:



Protects the rights of residents (from liability and other sanctions) should they choose to petition
their local government in opposition to the siting of a group home.  The provision would also
protect the rights of local officials when they respond to complaints from constituents.  Currently,
local officials can be investigated and prosecuted for discrimination by the DOJ Civil Rights
Division for simply responding to what the DOJ considers discriminatory complaints by local
residents.  Furthermore, the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) has
investigated, and the Department of Justice (DoJ) has sued for discrimination, local residents
who peacefully protested local governments opposing the siting of group homes.



Section III: Specificity of Complaint



Requires that any fair housing complaints be filed in sufficient detail to allow a local authority to
prepare an informed response defense to complaints.



Section IV: Exhaustion of State Remedies



Will require a group home operator-IE Groome Resources-to exhaust all local existing zoning
laws and administrative remedies.  Thus, the locality - in this case Jefferson Parish would have
the opportunity to make reasonable accommodations before a fair housing complaint would be
filed.



Section V: Clarification of Familial Status Protection



Currently familial status is defined as one or more individuals (under 18 years of age) being
domiciled with:



A) parent or guardian with legal custody;



B) designee of parent or guardian with written permission of parent of guardian






Section Four will add to the familial status definition to clarify familial status protection to apply
only to groups of people related by blood, marriage, or adoption and with children under 18
living in a foster home.  Reasoning for foster care specificity: Courts have ruled that a group of
children under 18 who are wards of the state, constitute a family.  Hence, juvenile delinquents- 
who are wards of the state-have been placed in group homes in residential neighborhoods while
they serve out their sentences.



Section VI: Local Control of Residential issues:



Allow the cities or localities to regulate the proximity of one group home to another to prevent a
concentration of homes in a particular neighborhood.






Allows the locality to regulate citing a group home in a neighborhood, if the group home would
house persons with handicaps - Alzheimer's-disabled persons who have been convicted of a
crime "for which a prison sentence of greater than on year" may be imposed.






Definition of Handicap:



A) a physical or mental impairment which substantially limits one or more person's major life
activities.



B) a record of having such impairments



C) being regarded as having such an impairment, but such term does not include the illegal use or
addiction to controlled substances.

Back to CPFHA home page