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+ Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act

What it is:
From http://www.law.com/regionals/ca/stories/edt0215b.shtml
The federal Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act, a 2000 law that gives religious groups legal recourse if they feel unduly burdened by local land-use laws.

Congress crafted the 2-year-old act (its acronym, RLUIPA, is pronounced "RAY-lupa") to give religious entities a legal recourse against restrictive local building rules.

From http://writ.news.findlaw.com/hamilton/20010510.html
The Act prohibits local governments from applying generally applicable land use laws to buildings used for religious purposes, unless the government can prove a compelling interest justifies the law, and the law is the least restrictive means of achieving that purpose.

What it means:
From http://www.law.com/regionals/ca/stories/edt0215b.shtml
Redwood Christian Schools says county officials violated their rights under the new act and the U.S. Constitution by refusing to let it build a 650-student campus in an undeveloped area near Interstate 580. The school has hired the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty, a Washington, D.C.-based firm that handles cases involving clashes over religious rights.

"Is our inability to build and operate a school a substantial burden to our religious exercise?" asked Gaither, the elder half of the San Ramon team. " We think it is," he said.

The RLUIPA would allow Redwood Christian to build simply because it's a religious organization, Winnie later explained. Such a rule would discriminate against secular private schools, he said.

From http://writ.news.findlaw.com/hamilton/20010510.html [Three cases discussed:]
The first involved Massachusetts' rule exempting buildings used for religious purposes from zoning restrictions, especially location restrictions. The second raised the question of whether a church school could receive special treatment under Maryland land use laws. The third addressed California's law giving churches full discretion to decide whether to abide by historic preservation rules.

Land use and religious buildings will be one of the next big issues, political and legal, for the country. If you're not yet convinced, consider the numerous other, similar laws on the books — ones that would exempt church child day care centers from state oversight requirements, and others that allow tax exemption for properties not used for worship. Consider also that well-heeled organizations have mobilized to pay for churches to litigate land use determinations that impede their ability to take full and daily use of their buildings.

History of similar laws:
From http://www.law.com/regionals/ca/stories/edt0215b.shtml
The U.S. Supreme Court found a similar, more sweeping 1993 law, the Religious Freedom Restoration Act, was unconstitutional in City of Boerne v. Flores, 521 U.S. 507.