BILL NUMBER: AJR 18	INTRODUCED
	BILL TEXT


INTRODUCED BY   Assembly Member Skinner

                        APRIL 16, 2013

   Relative to equal rights.


	LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST


   AJR 18, as introduced, Skinner. Equality of rights for men and
women.
   This measure would urge the Congress of the United States to pass
Senate Joint Resolution No. 10, an amendment to the Constitution of
the United States that is subject to ratification by the legislatures
of 3/4 of the states, to ensure that equality of rights under the
law shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any
state on account of sex.
   Fiscal committee: no.



   WHEREAS, The traditional Equal Rights Amendment (ERA) ratification
bill has been introduced as Senate Joint Resolution No. 10 in the
113th Congress of the United States with 10 cosponsors from the
United States Senate on March 5, 2013; and
   WHEREAS, The ERA was first written by Alice Paul, the head of the
National Woman's Party, and has been introduced in every Congress of
the United States since 1923 in order to guarantee that the rights
affirmed by the United States Constitution are held equally by all
citizens without regard to sex; and
   WHEREAS, The ERA would provide a fundamental legal remedy against
sex discrimination for both women and men; and
   WHEREAS, The ERA would clarify the legal status of sex
discrimination for the courts, where decisions still deal
inconsistently with such claims; and
   WHEREAS, The ERA would make "sex" a suspect classification, as
race currently is, so that governmental actions that treat males and
females differently as a class would have to bear a necessary
relation to a compelling state interest in order to be upheld as
constitutional; and
   WHEREAS, The ERA was first passed by Congress in 1972 and was sent
to the states for ratification, but was three votes shy of the
38-state requirement for ratification by the June 30, 1982, deadline;
and
   WHEREAS, The ERA has been reintroduced in Congress each year since
1982 and has seen legislative activity in 8 of the 15 unratified
states; and
   WHEREAS, The first, and still the only, right that the United
States Constitution specifically affirms to be equal for women and
men is the right to vote under the 19th Amendment, and it was
ratified by the states in 1920; and
   WHEREAS, The 14th Amendment's equal protection clause has never
been interpreted to protect against sex discrimination in the same
way that the ERA would; and
   WHEREAS, In September 2010, Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia
said he does not believe that the United States Constitution,
specifically the 14th Amendment, protects against sex discrimination;
and
   WHEREAS, In the cases of Craig v. Boren (1976) and United States
v. Virginia (1996), the United States Supreme Court declined to
elevate sex discrimination claims to the strict scrutiny standard of
review that the 14th Amendment requires for certain suspect
classifications such as race, religion, and national origin; and
   WHEREAS, The ERA has not been ratified in 15 states including
Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Louisiana,
Mississippi, Missouri, Nevada, North Carolina, Oklahoma, South
Carolina, Utah, and Virginia; and
   WHEREAS, The state constitutions of Alaska, California, Colorado,
Connecticut, Florida, Hawaii, Illinois, Iowa, Louisiana, Maryland,
Massachusetts, Montana, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico,
Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Texas, Utah, Virginia, Washington, and
Wyoming all provide guarantees of equal rights on the basis of sex;
and
   WHEREAS, Without the addition of the ERA to the United States
Constitution, legislation and case law that has resulted in
extraordinary progress for women has the potential to be ignored,
weakened, or reversed. By a simple majority in the Congress of the
United States, legislation can be amended or repealed, the
presidential administration can weakly enforce these laws, and the
United States Supreme Court can continue to use intermediate scrutiny
when reviewing cases concerning gender; and
   WHEREAS, It is vital that we have a declaration of gender equality
outlined in the United States Constitution; now, therefore, be it
   Resolved by the Assembly and the Senate of the State of
California, jointly, That the Legislature requests the Congress of
the United States to pass Senate Joint Resolution No. 10, an
amendment to the Constitution of the United States that is subject to
ratification by the legislatures of three-fourths of the states, to
ensure that equality of rights under the law shall not be denied or
abridged by the United States or by any state on account of sex; and
be it further
   Resolved, That the Chief Clerk of the Assembly transmit copies of
this resolution to the President and Vice President of the United
States, and to the Members of the United States Congress.