New regulations for the Combined Federal Campaign have now been officially proposed in a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking, and comments can be submitted through June 7, 2013.

As noted in a story in the Feb. 5 eNews for Faith-Based Organizations, the proposed changes include a revision of the section on “prohibited discrimination.” Currently, discrimination on the following grounds is prohibited: “race, color, religion, sex, national origin, age, handicap, or political affiliation.” The new language would add, among others, the following additional prohibited grounds: gender identity, sexual orientation, pregnancy, genetic information, and “any other non-merit-based factor.”

The current and proposed rules apply the nondiscrimination requirement specifically to “all aspects of the management and the execution of the CFC”–to government officials and private entities that operate this federal program that provides a way for federal employees to donate some of their income to the charities that appear on the CFC list.

Notwithstanding that clear language about the scope of the requirement, the second half of the current and proposed anti-discrimination provision appears to apply the prohibitions also to the private charities that desire to participate in this giving campaign-except that the obscure language of this second part is couched as exempting various kinds of charities from the prohibitions! And, in practice, faith-based organizations, including those that hire based on religion, do take part in the CFC, notwithstanding the current “prohibited discrimination” language-suggesting that, whatever it means, it is not intended to exclude religious organizations.

But clearly the proposed revised regulations intend to take a sharper look at allegedly discriminatory practices-the justification is to bring the antidiscrimination rules up to “current legal standards” (although current legal standards do not actually forbid that long list of additional prohibited actions). Might the provision be interpreted in the future to exclude some or many or all religious charities? At the least the language needs to be clarified.

The NPRM can be seen, and comments be made, at the federal regulations portal:www.regulations.gov. Type “RIN 3206-AM68” into the search box.