BILL ANALYSIS Ó
-----------------------------------------------------------------
|SENATE RULES COMMITTEE | AJR 18|
|Office of Senate Floor Analyses | |
|1020 N Street, Suite 524 | |
|(916) 651-1520 Fax: (916) | |
|327-4478 | |
-----------------------------------------------------------------
THIRD READING
Bill No: AJR 18
Author: Skinner (D)
Amended: As introduced
Vote: 21
SENATE JUDICIARY COMMITTEE : 5-0, 6/18/13
AYES: Evans, Corbett, Jackson, Leno, Monning
NO VOTE RECORDED: Walters, Anderson
ASSEMBLY FLOOR : 56-10, 5/28/13 - See last page for vote
SUBJECT : Equality of rights for men and women
SOURCE : Author
DIGEST : This resolution urges the Congress of the United
States to pass Senate Joint Resolution No. 10, an amendment to
the Constitution of the U.S. that is subject to ratification by
the legislatures of three-fourths of the states, to ensure that
equality of rights under the law is not denied or abridged by
the U.S. or by any state on account of sex.
ANALYSIS : This resolution makes the following legislative
findings:
1. The traditional Equal Rights Amendment (ERA) ratification
bill has been introduced as Senate Joint Resolution No. 10 in
the 113th Congress of the U.S. with 10 cosponsors from the
U.S. Senate on March 5, 2013.
CONTINUED
AJR 18
Page
2
2. The ERA was first written by Alice Paul, the head of the
National Woman's Party, and has been introduced in every U.S.
Congress since 1923 in order to guarantee that the rights
affirmed by the U.S. Constitution are held equally by all
citizens without regard to sex.
3. The ERA would provide a fundamental legal remedy against sex
discrimination for both women and men.
4. The ERA would clarify the legal status of sex discrimination
for the courts, where decisions still deal inconsistently
with such claims.
5. 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.
6. Without the addition of the ERA to the U.S. 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 U.S. Congress,
legislation can be amended or repealed, the presidential
administration can weakly enforce these laws, and the U.S.
Supreme Court can continue to use intermediate scrutiny when
reviewing cases concerning gender.
This resolution requests the U.S. Congress to pass Senate Joint
Resolution No. 10, an amendment to the U.S. Constitution 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 U.S. or by any state on
account of sex.
FISCAL EFFECT : Fiscal Com.: No
ASSEMBLY FLOOR : 56-10, 5/28/13
AYES: Alejo, Ammiano, Atkins, Bloom, Blumenfield, Bocanegra,
Bonilla, Bonta, Bradford, Brown, Buchanan, Ian Calderon,
Campos, Chau, Chávez, Chesbro, Cooley, Daly, Dickinson,
Eggman, Fong, Fox, Frazier, Garcia, Gatto, Gomez, Gonzalez,
Gordon, Gray, Hall, Roger Hernández, Jones-Sawyer, Levine,
Lowenthal, Maienschein, Medina, Mitchell, Mullin, Muratsuchi,
Nazarian, Pan, Perea, V. Manuel Pérez, Quirk, Quirk-Silva,
AJR 18
Page
3
Rendon, Salas, Skinner, Stone, Ting, Weber, Wieckowski, Wilk,
Williams, Yamada, John A. Pérez
NOES: Allen, Dahle, Donnelly, Beth Gaines, Harkey, Jones,
Mansoor, Morrell, Wagner, Waldron
NO VOTE RECORDED: Achadjian, Bigelow, Conway, Gorell, Grove,
Hagman, Holden, Linder, Logue, Melendez, Nestande, Olsen,
Patterson, Vacancy
AL:k 6/19/13 Senate Floor Analyses
SUPPORT/OPPOSITION: NONE RECEIVED
**** END ****