Section 1: Short Title

This Act may be cited as the “Reaffirming Every Servicemember’s Trust Of Religious Exemptions Act” or the “RESTORE Act”.

Section 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:

• Audit scope of religious accommodation decisions since 2020.
• Assess career impact.
• Adjudicate career restorations.
• Expungement of adverse actions.
• Review process.

Section 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.

Section 4: Definitions

In this Act:

• Averse action includes administrative reprimands, denial or delay of promotions, negative performance evaluations, forced involuntary separation, coerced voluntary separation, and denial of career-enhancing assignments.
• 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.
• Service member means a member of the Armed Forces total force serving on active duty, reserve (to include Individual Ready Reserve), or National Guard status in any branch of the Department of Defense.

Section 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.