REFERENCE TITLE: ERA deadline; elimination; urging Congress

State of Arizona

House of Representatives

Fifty-fifth Legislature

Second Regular Session

2022

HCM 2005

Introduced by

Representatives Powers Hannley: Andrade, Blackwater-Nygren, Bolding, Butler, Cano, Dalessandro, DeGrazia, Epstein, Fernandez B, Hernandez D, Jermaine, Liguori, Longdon, Mathis, Pawlik, Quiñonez, Schwiebert, Solorio, Senators Gabaldon, Stahl Hamilton, Terán

A CONCURRENT MEMORIAL

urging the united states congress to remove the deadline for ratification of the equal rights amendment.

(TEXT OF BILL BEGINS ON NEXT PAGE)

To the Congress of the United States of America:

Your memorialist respectfully represents:

Whereas, the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA) is a proposed amendment to the United States Constitution that would enshrine the concept of women's equality and create a national legal standard for the elimination of sex discrimination in the United States Constitution; and

Whereas, originally authored by prominent suffragist and National Woman's Party leader Alice Paul, the ERA was first introduced in Congress in 1923 and again in every congressional session until it passed in 1972; and

Whereas, after it passed by a two-thirds vote of both the House and Senate, the ERA, like every proposed amendment was sent to each state's legislature for ratification. Congress, however, had imposed a seven-year deadline on the ratification process in the preamble of the ERA. Three-fourths of the states, or 38 states, must ratify a proposed amendment for it to become part of the U.S. Constitution. By January 1977, 35 states had ratified the ERA; and

Whereas, with the seven-year deadline approaching, women's rights activists, led by the National Organization for Women (NOW), took to the streets to demand removal of the timeline.  Tens of thousands demonstrated in Washington, D.C. in 1978 as a result of NOW's comprehensive campaign, and thousands more sent telegrams to Congress, shutting down Western Union. Congress eventually granted an extension of the deadline until June 30, 1982, but the ERA opposition managed to hold back ratification in the 15 remaining states; and

Whereas, the 15 states that failed to ratify the ERA are Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Nevada, North Carolina, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Utah and Virginia; and

Whereas, the resolution to remove the deadline for ratification of the ERA would rescind the time limit in the preamble to the 1972 ERA; and

Whereas, the text of the United States Constitution lays out the process for its own amendment, and nothing in the Constitution places a time limit on the ratification process. In fact, the 27th Amendment to the United States Constitution was ratified in May 1992, nearly 203 years after being first submitted to the states in September 1789. In addition, the original time limit placed on ERA ratification was imposed by Congress in the preamble, which states do not vote on in order to ratify the amendment; and

Whereas, ERA activists in unratified states are working to clear a path for the ERA. On March 22, 2017, forty-five years to the day after Congress passed the ERA, Nevada became the 36th state to ratify it. Illinois and Virginia followed suit in 2018 and 2020, respectively; and

Whereas, ERA activists continue to mobilize support for constitutional equality. Over the past several years, grassroots ERA activists have also organized in Florida, Utah and North Carolina to push for ratification of the federal ERA.

Wherefore your memorialist, the House of Representatives of the State of Arizona, the Senate concurring, prays:

1. That the United States Congress take steps to remove the deadline for ratification of the Equal Rights Amendment.

2. That the Secretary of State of the State of Arizona transmit copies of this Memorial to the President of the United States Senate, the Speaker of the United States House of Representatives and each Member of Congress from the State of Arizona.