SENATE CONCURRENT RESOLUTION 14

(By Senator Romano)

[Introduced January 29, 2020]

 

Urging Congress to declare the Equal Rights Amendment to the Constitution of the United           States.

Whereas, Article V of the Constitution of the United States provides that amendments shall be valid to all intents and purposes, as part of this Constitution, when ratified by the legislatures of three fourths of the several states; and

Whereas, The Ninety-second Congress of the United States of America, at its second session, by a constitutional two-thirds vote in both houses adopted a Joint Resolution proposing an amendment to the Constitution of the United States, which Joint Resolution is in the following words:

JOINT RESOLUTION

Proposing an amendment to the Constitution of the United States relative to equal rights for men and women.

Resolved by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled (two-thirds of each House concurring therein),

That the following article is proposed as an amendment to the Constitution of the United States, which shall be valid to all intents and purposes as part of the Constitution when ratified by the legislatures of three-fourths of the several States within seven years from the date of its submission by the Congress:

ARTICLE. –

Section 1. Equality of rights under the law shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of sex.

Section 2. The Congress shall have the power to enforce, by appropriate legislation, the provisions of this article.

Section 3. This amendment shall take effect two years after the date of ratification; and

Whereas, On January 15, 2020, the Virginia Legislature became the 38th state to ratify the Equal Rights Amendment to the Constitution of the United States; and

Whereas, Three fourths of the states have ratified the Equal Rights Amendment as required by Article V of the Constitution of the United States; therefore, be it

Resolved by the Legislature of West Virginia:

That the Legislature hereby urges Congress to declare the Equal Rights Amendment to the Constitution of the United States; and, be it

Further Resolved, That Congress declare all 38 ratifications to be valid and that the Equal Rights Amendment is now a part of the Constitution of the United States, and it shall be duly promulgated as such by the Secretary of State; and, be it

Further Resolved, That the Clerk of the Senate is hereby directed to forward copies of this resolution to the President and Secretary of the Senate of the United States and to the Speaker, Clerk, and Judiciary Committee Chairman of the House of Representatives of the Congress of the United States; and copies to the members of the Senate and House of Representatives from this state; and to forward copies to the presiding officers of each of the legislative houses in the several states, requesting their cooperation.