Equal Rights Amendment – It Happened!

Advocacy –Equal Rights Amendment: Part 1. “Equality of rights under the law shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or any State on account of sex.”

2.  Give Congress the power tie force the ERA through legislation.

3.   The amendment takes effect two years after its ratified.

I am placing the 3 statements in my article as #2 stands as the next step with insuring the ERA as our 28th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.

During the past two months the ERA Coalition has been meeting every2 weeks. I am thankful for their leadership and work as we move forward. I wish to give them credit for theinformation that is always current as many women across the nation join these sessions.

The discussions always begin with the work that is being done in the respective states. We have learned the following:

• North Carolina: Bills to ratify the federal Equal Rights Amendment were introduced in the House (H.B. 500) and Senate (S.B. 438) on March 24. The ERA-NC Alliance is planning the Equality Matters legal clinic in August at the Campbell School of Law in Raleigh. The Clinic will center on developing a strategy to remove sexist/sex biased language from the North Carolina code, which was the focus of earlier research conducted by the NC Alliance with assistance from attorneys at Winston & Strawn, LLP. For more, contact Audrey Muck, co-president of the ERA-NC Alliance at fanninmm@gmail.com

• Minnesota: The bill to add an inclusive Equal Rights Amendment to the state’s Constitution is moving forward and the Amendment was the subject of a hearing on April 3 in the House. Betty Folliard of MN ERA testified at the hearing. From the Minnesota Star Tribune article, we need an equal rights amendment more than ever. For more, contact Betty at betty.folliard@gmail.com

• Kindle: The Equal Rights Amendment has been published with the 28th Amendment by Kindle as the Unabridged U.S. Constitution and is free to download at https://tinyurl.com/US-Constitution- 202.

• Equality Now: Hot of the press is the report entitled, “The ERA and the path forward: What happens after Biden’s declaration?”, which recaps the panel discussion, co-hosted with the ERA Coalition, during the 69th Session of the UN Commission of the Status of Women (CSW). For more       contact Mel    Baileyat mbailey@equalitynow.org

• League of Women Voters-US: On April 1st, along with several groups, LWV-US filed the case, League of Women Voters v. Trump in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia as a response to the anti-voting rights Executive Order 14248, Preserving  and  Protecting  the Integrity ofAmerican Elections. This order closely mirrors the SAVE (Safeguard American Voter Eligibility) Act that is currently being considered in Congress.

• National ERA Public Education Campaign: The ERA Coalition is ready to launch a national education and public awareness campaign designed to raise the profile of the Equal Rights Amendment as the “law of the land.” The ERA has met the requirements needed in Article 5 for amending the Constitution. It was voted out of the House and Senate and two-thirds vote and ratified by three-fourths of the states. The campaign name has met with some opposition. It was to be “Correct the Constitution” but with some sponsor opposition, we will most likely read, “Claim the 28th.” They are also looking at the pocket sized Constitution booklets and creating a stamp to be placed in these handbooks with this title.

• Congressional Updates: The Equal Rights Amendments were introduced in the House and Senate during Women’s History Month. Representative Pressley’s bill HJ Resolution 80 dropped on March 24 and now has 138 co- sponsors. Her cosponsors are: Madeleine Dean, Sylvia Garcia, Sidney Kamiager-Dove and Jennifer McClellan. We need to help to add more Democats as well as Republicans with their sponsorships.

• Senator Murkowski’s bill SJ Resolution 38 dropped March 25th on Equal Pay Day. Senator Mazie Hirono is the co-lead. The ERA Congressional Caucus is renewing its work and leadership. Jennifer McClellan is co-chairing with Pressley.

The work continues to bring the Equal Rights Amendment to the minds of the American people. We all will be busy discussing and refocusing the importance of this 28th Amendment. There will much more to come.

Nancy Werner
Advocacy Team ERA Lead
(2022-2026)