SJ0033 100TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY

SJ0033 LRB100 12458 MST 25571 r

SENATE JOINT RESOLUTION

WHEREAS, The Ninety-second Congress of the United States of America, at its Second Session, adopted a Joint Resolution to amend the Constitution of the United States of America with language commonly referred to as the Equal Rights Amendment with a deadline for ratification by the states of March 22, 1979; and

WHEREAS, In 1978, Congress passed an extension of the ratification of the Equal Rights Amendment from the original deadline of seven years to June 30, 1982; and

WHEREAS, At the time of the extension, only 35 of the necessary 38 states had ratified the Equal Rights Amendment with 24 of those ratifications referring to the original 1979 deadline; and

WHEREAS, The United States District Court ruled on December 23, 1981 in Idaho v. Freeman that the Equal Rights Amendment Time Extension voted by Congress was unconstitutional and that the rescissions of States from the Equal Rights Amendment were constitutional; and

WHEREAS, After the expiration of the June 20, 1982 extended deadline for ratification of the Equal Rights Amendment, in the appeal of Idaho v Freeman (NOW v Idaho), the United States Supreme Court vacated the district's opinion and remanded to the District Court with direction to dismiss the case as moot, thus indicating that the Equal Rights Amendment was no longer before the states for ratification; and

WHEREAS, No additional states ratified the Equal Rights Amendment by the June 30, 1982 extended deadline; and

WHEREAS, Five states rescinded their ratification of the Equal Rights Amendment prior to the expiration of the original 1979 deadline for ratification, thereby reducing the number of states that had ratified the amendment to 30; and

WHEREAS, Congress reintroduced the Equal Rights Amendment in 1983 and failed to receive the two-thirds majority vote required to send the Equal Rights Amendment to the states for ratification; and

Whereas, Only 30 states have ratified the Equal Rights Amendment in its original form; and

WHEREAS, Both the original and extended deadline for the ratification of the Equal Rights Amendment have expired; and

WHEREAS, Congress has not reintroduced the Equal Rights Amendment and any extension of the original deadline would be unconstitutional under Idaho v. Freeman; and

WHEREAS, Any action by Illinois to ratify the Equal Rights Amendment would occur after the March 22, 1979 deadline and the ratification of the current Equal Rights Amendment is no longer an available option to the Illinois Legislature; and

WHEREAS, It would be preferable to start over with a new Equal Rights Amendment that addresses many of the concerns that have been raised about the original Equal Rights Amendment over the intervening years; and

WHEREAS, The Illinois Constitution guarantees that equal protection of the laws shall not be denied or abridged on account of sex by the State or its units of local government and school districts; and

WHEREAS, Language similar to that in the Illinois Constitution is preferable to the original language of the Equal Rights Amendment; and

WHEREAS, The United States Constitution can be amended either by Congress submitting an amendment to the states for ratification or by two-thirds of the states calling for a Constitutional Convention; and

WHEREAS, The Illinois General Assembly supports passage of the Equal Rights Amendment in a modified form to reflect the language of the Illinois Constitution; therefore, be it

RESOLVED, BY THE SENATE OF THE ONE HUNDREDTH GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES CONCURRING HEREIN, that we hereby apply to Congress to call a limited constitutional convention for the purpose of proposing to the states for ratification an amendment to the United States Constitution; and be it further

RESOLVED, That this amendment should be worded as follows, without substantial alteration: "The equal protection of the laws shall not be denied or abridged on account of sex by the United States or any State."; and be it further

RESOLVED, That this application constitutes a continuing application in accordance with Article V of the United States Constitution until at least two-thirds of the legislatures of the several states have made application for a limited constitutional convention; and be it further

RESOLVED, That, if the limited convention called by Congress is not limited to the topics proposed in this resolution, that this resolution calling for a convention shall be considered null and void and legally insufficient to be considered under Article V as one of the two-thirds of the several state resolutions necessary to call a limited constitutional convention; if a limited convention were to consider topics beyond the limited scope of this call for a constitutional convention, delegates, representatives, or participants shall be selected by the citizens of the State of Illinois to participate in the limited convention and shall be permitted to vote only on proposed amendments topically contained within the scope of this call and shall be instructed to vote against any other proposed amendments; and be it further

RESOLVED, That, if two-thirds of the legislatures of the several states make application to Congress to call a limited constitutional convention, the State of Illinois requests that such a convention be called not later than six months after Congress receives the necessary applications from state legislatures; and be it further

RESOLVED, That suitable copies of this resolution be presented to the Speaker and Clerk of the United States House of Representatives, the President Pro Tempore and Secretary of the United States Senate, the members of the Illinois congressional delegation, the presiding officers of each chamber of each state legislature in the United States, and the news media of the State of Illinois.