What This Bill Does · Plain English
Summary · Congress.gov
Equal Campus Access Act of 2025 This bill prohibits funding made available under the Higher Education Act of 1965 from being provided to any public institution of higher education (IHE) that denies certain campus rights to religious student organizations. Specifically, the bill prohibits a public IHE from receiving these funds if it denies a religious student organization any right, benefit, or privilege that is otherwise afforded to other student organizations at the IHE because of the religious student organization's beliefs, practices, speech, leadership standards, or standards of conduct.
Action Timeline
2026-03-19
Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions. Hearings held.
2025-09-18
Read twice and referred to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions. (Sponsor introductory remarks on measure: CR S6732-6734)
2025-09-18
Introduced in Senate
Frequently Asked Questions
Did S.2859 pass?
S.2859 is still alive. Current stage: COMMITTEE. Pass likelihood: pending.
What does S.2859 do?
Equal Campus Access Act of 2025 This bill prohibits funding made available under the Higher Education Act of 1965 from being provided to any public institution of higher education (IHE) that denies certain campus rights to religious student organizations. Specifically, the bill prohibits a public IHE from receiving these funds if it denies a religious student organization any right, benefit, or privilege that is otherwise afforded to other student organizations at the IHE because of the religious student organization's beliefs, practices, speech, leadership standards, or standards of conduct.
Who sponsored S.2859?
S.2859 was sponsored by James Lankford (R-Oklahoma).
Full Bill Text
119 S2859 IS: Equal Campus Access Act of 2025 U.S. Senate 2025-09-18 text/xml EN Pursuant to Title 17 Section 105 of the United States Code, this file is not subject to copyright protection and is in the public domain. II 119th CONGRESS 1st Session S. 2859 IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES September 18 (legislative day, September 16), 2025 Mr. Lankford (for himself, Mr. Scott of South Carolina , Mr. Cassidy , Mr. Scott of Florida , Mr. Cramer , Mr. Hawley , Mr. Grassley , Ms. Lummis , Mrs. Hyde-Smith , Mr. Cruz , Mr. Cotton , Mr. Budd , Mr. Young , Mrs. Blackburn , Mr. Banks , Mrs. Britt , Mr. Crapo , Mr. Tillis , Mr. Daines , Mr. Risch , Mrs. Capito , Mr. Graham , Mr. Rounds , Mr. Ricketts , Mr. Kennedy , and Mr. Cornyn ) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions A BILL To amend the Higher Education Act of 1965 to ensure campus access at public institutions of higher education for religious groups. 1. Short title This Act may be cited as the Equal Campus Access Act of 2025 . 2. Campus access for religious groups Part B of title I of the Higher Education Act of 1965 ( 20 U.S.C. 1011 et seq. ) is amended by adding at the end the following: 124. Campus access for religious groups None of the funds made available under this Act may be provided to any public institution of higher education that denies to a religious student organization any right, benefit, or privilege that is otherwise afforded to other student organizations at the institution (including full access to the facilities of the institution and official recognition of the organization by the institution) because of the religious beliefs, practices, speech, leadership standards, or standards of conduct of the religious student organization. .
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