Amended in Senate June 26, 2013

California Legislature—2013–14 Regular Session

Assembly Joint Resolution No. 18

Introduced by Assembly Member Skinner

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(Coauthors: Senators Corbett, Evans, Jackson, and Monning)

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April 16, 2013

Assembly Joint Resolution No. 18—Relative to equal rights.

LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL’S DIGEST

AJR 18, as amended, 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 begin delete 1923 end delete begin insert 1923, except for the
period during which it was sent to the states for ratification, end insert 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

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WHEREAS, California was among the first states to ratify the
ERA in 1972; and

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WHEREAS, The ERA has been reintroduced in Congress each
year since 1982 and has seen legislative activity in 8 of the 15
begin delete unratified end delete begin insert nonratifying end insert 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, begin delete and it end delete begin insert that end insert
was ratified by the states in 1920; and

WHEREAS, The begin delete 14th Amendment’s end delete equal protection clause begin insert of
the 14th Amendment, end insert 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. begin delete By end delete begin insert Congress can amend or repeal
legislation advancing equality with end insert a simple majority begin delete in the
Congress of the United States, legislation can be amended or
repealed, end delete begin insert vote, end insert 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.