Laws, Regulations, and Guidance

Charitable Choice Statutes

1996 - The Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act, includes a Charitable Choice provision that applies to the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families program (TANF), which was reauthorized in 2006.

1998 - The Community Services Block Grant (CSBG) Act includes a Charitable Choice provision.

2000 - Charitable Choice was applied to federal drug treatment funds administered by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) via the Children's Health Act of 2000 and the Community Renewal Tax Relief Act of 2000.

Charitable Choice Regulations

Regulations to implement the Charitable Choice provisions were adopted for the TANF, CSBG, and SAMHSA programs in 2003.

Equal Treatment Regulations

Equal Treatment principles for federal programs not governed by Charitable Choice were promulgated in Executive Order 13279 (Dec. 12, 2002), Equal Protection of the Laws for Faith-Based and Community Organizations.

The principles were codified into the administrative regulations of the following agencies in 2003-2004: US Agency for International Development; Department of Agriculture; Department of Education; Department of Health and Human Services; Department of Housing and Urban Development; Department of Justice; Department of Labor; Department of Veterans Administration.

Guidance

2002 - US Department of Justice issued a memo, 'Authority of FEMA to Provide Disaster Assistance to Seattle Hebrew Academy.

2003 -  US Department of Justice issued a memo, 'Authority of the Department of the Interior to Provide Historic Preservation Grants to Historic Religious Properties such as the Old North Church.

2005 - The Federal Emergency Management Agency issued clarification of the eligibility of faith-based organizations to be reimbursed by FEMA for hurricane relief services.

2006 - The US Department of Agriculture issued a memo, 'Drug Addiction and Alcoholic Treatment and Rehabilitation Programs, affirming the food-stamp eligibility of faith-based drug treatment programs and stating that faith-based programs that receive food stamps cannot then be required to sideline religious activities.