May 7, 2025
Mr. Cruz (for himself, Mrs. Britt, Mr. Lee, and Mr. Scott of Florida) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Armed Services
To restore fairness to service members who filed religious accommodation requests and ensure their career progression is justly reviewed.
Section 1. Short title
This Act may be cited as the Reaffirming Every Servicemembers' Trust Of Religious Exemptions Act
or the RESTORE Act
.
Sec. 2. Establishment of the special review board for impacted service members
(a) Establishment of review board
The Secretary of Defense shall convene a special review board under the Deputy Under Secretary of Defense for Personnel and Readiness to audit religious accommodation requests and disposition and review the personnel records of each service member who filed a religious accommodation request specifically for the COVID–19 vaccine and remained in service (in this section referred to as the Special Review Board
).
(b) Duties of the review board
The Special Review Board shall perform the following duties:
(1) Audit scope of religious accommodation decisions since 2020
Conduct a Department of Defense-wide audit to assess full number of submissions, approvals, and consistency of compliance with the Religious freedom Restoration Act of 1993 (RFRA) (42 U.S.C. 2000bb et seq.).
(2) Assess career impact
Determine whether the service member’s career progression, promotions, assignments, retention, or professional development opportunities were negatively affected by their religious accommodation request or COVID–19 vaccine refusal.
(3) Adjudicate career restorations
Determine and take corrective action if the service member is eligible for—
(A)
backdated promotion to the rank they would have achieved absent the adverse impact;
(B)
correction of their Date of Rank (DOR) to align with their peer group;
(C)
restoration of lost pay and benefits, including back pay, retirement contributions, and applicable bonuses; and
(D)
reinstatement to service if they left service due to denial of religious accommodation that has since been determined as unlawful.
(4) Expungement of adverse actions
Ensure that all adverse administrative actions related to refusal of the COVID–19 vaccine (or other protected religious accommodation) are expunged from the service member’s record, including—
(A)
administrative reprimands;
(B)
negative or inconsistent evaluations;
(C)
promotion delays or denials;
(D)
issuance of Inactive Duty Training points to reserve component personnel so that if affected they shall receive a satisfactory year for participation; and
(E)
career assignment considerations to improve service-member competitiveness previously impacted solely due to vaccine refusal (or religious accommodation).
(5) Review process
Establish a mechanism for service members to request review of decisions if they previously submitted a religious accommodation and believe their records or career progression were adversely impacted regardless of accommodation request outcome.
(c) Timeline for review and reporting
(1) Review
The Special Review Board shall complete a full review of all affected military personnel not later than one year after the date of the enactment of this Act.
(2) Report
Not later than 60 days after the review is completed, the Deputy Under Secretary of Defense for Personnel and Readiness shall submit to the Committee on Armed Services of the Senate and the Committee on Armed Services of the House of Representatives a report detailing—
(A)
the Special Review Board’s findings;
(B)
the number of cases reviewed; and
(C)
corrective actions taken.
(d) Deadline for compensation
The Secretary of Defense shall ensure that service members determined by the Special Review Board to be eligible for backdated reinstatements, promotions, pay, and benefits receive such compensation not later than 60 days after their case-review under subsection (c)(1) is completed.
Sec. 3. Congressional oversight and accountability
(a) Report of initial findings
Not later than 90 days after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary of Defense shall submit to the Committee on Armed Services of the Senate and the Committee on Armed Services of the House of Representatives a report with initial findings of the audit directed in section 2(a). The report should provide statistical analysis of affected service member population, assess compliance of Department of Defense with RFRA, and provide plans to address identified areas of opportunity.
(b) Quarterly reports
The Secretary of Defense shall provide quarterly reports to the Committee on Armed Services of the Senate and the Committee on Armed Services of the House of Representatives detailing—
(1)
the number of cases reviewed by the Special Review Board;
(2)
the number of service members granted back pay, promotions, or restored benefits;
(3)
the number of adverse actions expunged from military records;
(4)
statistics on the performance of identified service member populations with respect to boards, career progression, and competitive assignment; and
(5)
recommendations for further legislative action to ensure fairness in military personnel policies.
(c) Inspector general audit
Not later than 18 months after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Department of Defense Inspector General shall conduct an independent audit and compliance review of the implementation of this Act. The Inspector General shall review overall data of religious accommodations and determine if RFRA was applied consistently across the Department of Defense.
Sec. 4. Definitions
In this Act:
(1) Adverse action
The term adverse action includes—
(A)
administrative reprimands;
(B)
denial or delay of promotions;
(C)
negative performance evaluations;
(D)
forced involuntary separation;
(E)
coerced voluntary separation; and
(F)
denial of career-enhancing assignments.
(2) Religious accommodation
The term religious accommodation refers to a formally submitted request for exemption from a military order, policy, or directive on religious grounds, in accordance with the respective service branch’s religious accommodation policies.
(3) Service member
The term service member means a member of the Armed Forces total force serving on active duty, reserve (to include Individual Ready Reserve (IRR)), or National Guard status in any branch of the Department of Defense.
Sec. 5. Authorization of appropriations
There is authorized to be appropriated such sums as may be necessary to carry out this Act. The Secretary of Defense shall allocate necessary resources to support the Special Review Board.