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[COMMITTEE PRINT]
June 20, 1963
PRINTED FOR THE USE OF THE COMMITTEE ON
COMMERCE
88ru CONGRESS i ak:
ist Session S [ y a 5 pe
@
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
JUNE , 1963
Misys ee introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred
to the Committee on Commerce
A BILL
To eliminate discrimination in public accommodations affecting
interstate Commerce.
1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,
3 That this Act may be cited as the “Interstate Public Accom-
4 modations Act of 1963.”
FINDINGS
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6 Sno. 2. (a) The American people have become increas-
7 ingly mobile durmg the last generation, and millions of
8 American citizens travel each year from State to State by
9 rail, air, bus, automobile, and other means. A substantial
AO number of such travelers are members of minority racial
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and religious groups. These citizens, particularly Negroes,
are subjected in many places to discrimination and segrega-
tion, and they are frequently unable to obtain the goods and
services available to other interstate travelers.
(b) Negroes and members of other minority groups who
travel interstate are frequently unable to obtain adequate
lodging accommodations during their travels, with the result
that they may be compelled to stay at hotels or motels of
poor and inferior quality, travel great distances from their
normal routes to find adequate accommodations, or make
detailed arrangements for lodging far in advance of scheduled
interstate travel.
(c) Negroes and members of other minority groups
who travel interstate are frequently unable to obtain adequate
food service at convenient places along their routes, with
the result that many are dissuaded from traveling interstate,
while others must travel considerable distances from their
intended routes in order to obtain adequate food service.
(d) Goods, services, and persons in the amusement and
entertainment industries commonly move in interstate com-
merce, and the entire American people benefit from the in-
creased cultural and recreational opportunities afforded
thereby. Practices of audience discrimination and segrega-
tion artificially restrict the number of persons to whom the
interstate amusement and entertainment industries may offer
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their goods and services. The burdens imposed on inter-
state commerce by such practices and the obstructions to the
free flow of commerce which result therefrom are serious
and substantial.
(e) Retail establishments in all States of the Union
purchase a wide variety and a large volume of goods from
business concerns located in other States and in foreign
nations. Discriminatory practices in such establishments,
which in some instances have led to the withholding of
patronage by those affected by such practices, inhibit and re-
strict the normal distribution of goods in the interstate
market.
(f) Fraternal, religious, scientific, and other organiza-
tions engaged in interstate operations are frequently dissuaded
from holding conventions in cities which they would other-
wise select because the public facilities in such cities are
either not open to all members of racial or religious minority
groups or are available only on a segregated basis.
(g) Business organizations are frequently hampered m
obtaining the services of skilled workers and persons in the
professions who are likely to encounter discrimination based
on race, ereed, color, or national origin in restaurants, retail
stores, and places of amusement in the area where their
services are needed. Business organizations which seck to
avoid subjecting their employees to such discrimimation and
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to avoid the strife resulting therefrom are restricted in the
choice of location for their offices and plants. Such dis-
crimination thus reduces the mobility of the national labor
force and prevents the most effective allocation of national
resources, including the interstate movement of industries,
particularly in some of the areas of the Nation most in need
of industrial and commercial expansion and development.
(h) The discriminatory practices described above are
in all cases encouraged, fostered, or tolerated in some degree
by the governmental authorities of the States in which they
occur, which license or protect the busimesses involved by
means of laws and ordinances and the activities of their
executive and judicial officers. Such discriminatory prac-
tices, particularly when their cumulative effect throughout
the Nation is considered, take on the character of action by
the States and therefore fall within the ambit of the equal
protection clause of the fourteenth amendment to the Con-
stitution of the United States.
(i) The burdens on and obstructions to commerce which
are deseribed above can best be removed by invoking the
powers of Congress under the fourteenth amendment and the
commerce clause of the Constitution of the United States to
prohibit discrimination based on race, color, religion, or
national origin in certain public establishments,
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RIGHT TO NONDISCRIMINATION IN PLACES OF PUBLIC
ACCOMMODATION
Src. 3. (a) All persons shall be entitled, without dis-
crimination or segregation on account of race, color, religion,
or national origin, to the full and equal enjoyment of the
goods, services, facilities, privileges, advantages, and accom-
modations of the following public establishments:
(1) any hotel, motel, or other public place engaged
in furnishing lodging to transient guests, including guests
from other States or traveling in interstate commerce;
(2) any motion picture house, theater, sports arena,
stadium, exhibition hall, or other public place of amuse-
ment or entertainment which customarily presents mo-
tion pictures, performing groups, athletic teams, exhibi-
tions, or other sources of entertainment which move in
interstate commerce; and
(3) any retail shop, department store, market,
drugstore, gasoline station, or other public place which
keeps goods for sale, any restaurant, lunchroom, lunch
counter, soda fountain, or other public place engaged in
selling food for consumption on the premises, and any
other establishment where goods, services, facilities,
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privileges, advantages, or accommodations are held out
to the public for sale, use, rent, or hire, if—
(i) the goods, services, facilities, privileges,
advantages, or accommodations offered by any such
place or establishment are provided to a substantial
degree to interstate travelers,
(ii) a substantial portion of any goods held out
to the public by any such place or establishment
for sale, use, rent, or hire has moved in interstate
commerce,
(iii) the activities or operations of such place
or establishment otherwise substantially affect in-
terstate travel or the interstate movement of goods
in commerce, or
(iv) such place or establishment is an integral
part of an establishment included under this sub-
section.
For the purpose of this subsection, the term “integral part”
means physically located on the premises occupied by an
establishment, or located contiguous to such premises and
owned, operated, or controlled, directly or indirectly, by
or for the benefit of, or leased from the persons or business
entities which own, operate or control an establishment.
(b) The provisions of this Act shall not apply to a
bona fide private club or other establishment not open to
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the public, except to the extent that the facilities of such
establishment are made available to the customers or patrons
of an establishment within the scope of subsection (a).
PROHIBITION AGAINST DENIAL OF OR INTERFERENCE WITH
THE RIGHT TO NONDISCRIMINATION
Sec. 4. No person, whether acting under color of law
or otherwise. shall (a) withhold, deny. or attempt to with-
hold or deny, or deprive or attempt to deprive, any person
of any right or privilege secured by section 3, or (b) inter-
fere or attempt to interfere with any night or privilege
secured by section 3, or (c) intimidate, threaten, or coerce
any person with a purpose of interfermg with any right or
privilege secured by section 3, or (d) punish or attempt to
punish any person for exercising or attempting to exercise
any right or privilege secured by section 3, or (e) incite or
aid or abet any person to do any of the foregoing.
CIVIL ACTION FOR PREVENTIVE RELIEF
Sec. 5. (a) Whenever any person has engaged or
there are reasonable grounds to believe that any person is
about to engage in any act or practice prohibited by section
4, a civil action for preventive relief, includmg an application
for a permanent or temporary injunction, restraining order,
or other order, may be instituted (1) by the person
aggrieved, or (2) by the Attorney General for or in the
name of the United States if he certifies that he has received
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a written complaint from the person aggrieved and that in
his judgment (i) the person aggrieved is unable to initiate
and maintain appropriate legal proceedings and (ii) the
purposes of this Act will be materially furthered by the
filmg of an action.
(b) In any action commenced pursuant to this Act by
the person aggrieved, he shall if he prevails, be allowed a
reasonable attorney’s fee as part of the costs.
(c) A person shall be deemed unable to initiate and
maintain appropriate legal proceedings within the meaning of
subsection (a) of this section when such person is unable,
either directly or through other interested persons or organi-
zations, to bear the expense of the litigation or to obtain
effective legal representation; or when there is reason to be-
lieve that the institution of such litigation by him would
jeopardize the employment or economic standing of, or might
result in injury or economic damage to, such person, his
family, or his property.
(d) In case of any complaint received by the Attorney
General alleging a violation of section 4 in any jurisdiction
where State or local laws or regulations appear to him to
forbid the act or practice involved, the Attorney General
shall notify the appropriate State and local officials and,
upon request, afford them a reasonable time to act under
such State or local laws or regulations before he institutes an
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action. Compliance with the foregoing sentence shall not
be required if the Attorney General shall file with the court
a certificate that the delay consequent upon such compliance
in the particular case would adversely affect the interests of
the United States, or that, in the particular case, compliance
would be fruitless.
(e) In any case of a complaint received by the Attor-
ney General, including a case within the scope of subsection
(d) , the Attorney General shall, before instituting an action,
utilize the services of any Federal agency or instrumentality
which may be available to attempt to secure compliance with
section 4 by voluntary procedures, if in his judgment such
procedures are likely to be effective in the circumstances.
JURISDICTION
Sec. 6. (a) The district courts of the United States
shall have jurisdiction of proceedings instituted pursuant to
this Act and shall exercise the same without regard to
whether the aggrieved party shall have exhausted any ad-
ministrative or other remedies that may be provided by law.
(b) This Act shall not preclude any individual or any
State or local agency from pursuing any remedy that may
he available under any Federal or State law, including any
State statute or ordinance requiring nondiscrimination in
public establishments or accommodations.