Text of MD HJ 1 (2024)

*hj0001* HOUSE JOINT RESOLUTION 1 P5, D5 4lr1101 CF 4lr2163 By: Delegates Patterson, Lopez, Addison, Allen, Alston, Attar, Atterbeary, Bagnall, Bartlett, Boafo, Boyce, Cardin, Chang, Charkoudian, Crosby, Crutchfield, Cullison, Davis, Ebersole, Embry, Fair, Feldmark, Fennell, Foley, Forbes, Fraser–Hidalgo, Grossman, Guyton, Guzzone, Harris, Harrison, Healey, Henson, Hill, Holmes, Ivey, D. Jones, Kaiser, Kerr, Lehman, J. Long, Love, Martinez, Mireku–North, Palakovich Carr, Pasteur, Pena–Melnyk, Pruski, Qi, Queen, Roberson, Rosenberg, Ruth, Shetty, Simmons, Smith, Solomon, Stein, Stewart, Taveras, Terrasa, Toles, Turner, Valderrama, Vogel, Watson, Wells, White Holland, Wilkins, Williams, Wilson, Wims, Woods, and Wu Introduced and read first time: January 17, 2024 Assigned to: Rules and Executive Nominations HOUSE JOINT RESOLUTION A House Joint Resolution concerning 1 Affirming the Federal Equal Rights Amendment 2 FOR the purpose of urging the Administration of President Joseph R. Biden to publish, 3 without delay, the federal Equal Rights Amendment as the Twenty–eighth 4 Amendment to the U.S. Constitution and urging the U.S. Congress to pass a joint 5 resolution affirming the Equal Rights Amendment as the Twenty–eighth 6 Amendment; and generally relating to the federal Equal Rights Amendment. 7 WHEREAS, In 1972, the 92nd Congress of the United States, at its second session, 8 in both houses, by a constitutional majority of two–thirds, adopted the following proposition 9 to amend the U.S. Constitution: 10 “JOINT RESOLUTION RESOLVED BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 11 AND SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA IN CONGRESS ASSEMBLED 12 (TWO–THIRDS OF EACH HOUSE CONCURRING THEREIN), That the following article 13 is proposed as an amendment to the Constitution of the United States, which shall be valid 14 to all intents and purposes as a part of the Constitution when ratified by the legislatures 15 of three–fourths of the several States within seven years from the date of its submission by 16 the Congress: 17 ARTICLE ______ 18 Section 1. Equality of rights under the law shall not be denied or abridged by the 19 United States or by any State on account of sex. 20 2 HOUSE JOINT RESOLUTION 1 Section 2. The Congress shall have the power to enforce, by appropriate legislation, 1 the provisions of this article. 2 Section 3. This amendment shall take effect two years after the date of ratification.”; 3 and 4 WHEREAS, Article V of the U.S. Constitution provides a two–step procedure for the 5 adoption of an amendment; and 6 WHEREAS, The first requirement for the adoption of an amendment under Article 7 V is the proposal of an amendment either by a two–thirds vote of both houses of Congress, 8 or by a convention called by application of two–thirds of the states; and 9 WHEREAS, The second requirement for the adoption of an amendment under 10 Article V is ratification of an amendment by three–fourths of the states; and 11 WHEREAS, The U.S. Constitution does not limit the time for states to ratify an 12 amendment and does not grant Congress the authority to unilaterally limit the time by 13 which an amendment may be ratified; and 14 WHEREAS, A time limitation for the ratification of amendments by the states would 15 be a substantive change to the U.S. Constitution; and 16 WHEREAS, To have full force and effect, a substantive change to the U.S. 17 Constitution must be within the text of an amendment so that it may be ratified by the 18 states as part of the requirements of Article V; and 19 WHEREAS, The time limitation on state ratifications was in the preamble section of 20 the resolution by Congress and not within the text of the amendment presented to states 21 for state approval; and 22 WHEREAS, Because of the placement of the time limitation, the states ratified the 23 text of the Equal Rights Amendment but did not ratify the time limit by Congress; and 24 WHEREAS, A time limit was approved in the Equal Rights Amendment by Congress 25 in 1972, but has not been subsequently approved by the states and thus is without force or 26 effect; and 27 WHEREAS, In comparison, in 1978, Congress passed the District of Columbia 28 Voting Rights Amendment, which included a time limitation within the text of the 29 Amendment offered to the states for ratification; and 30 WHEREAS, The time limitation for the District of Columbia Voting Rights 31 Amendment ended before ratification of the amendment by three–fourths of the states; and 32 HOUSE JOINT RESOLUTION 1 3 WHEREAS, Because the time limit was within the text of the District of Columbia 1 Voting Rights Amendment, the time limit had full force and effect and the amendment 2 expired in 1985; and 3 WHEREAS, In comparison, the Twenty–first Amendment and the Twenty–second 4 Amendment include time limitations within the text of each amendment, and the timelines 5 were ratified by three–fourths of the states in accordance with the text of the amendments; 6 and 7 WHEREAS, In 1789, the First Congress proposed, in accordance with Article V, the 8 Madison Amendment relating to compensation of members of Congress; and 9 WHEREAS, Over 202 years later, the Madison Amendment was ratified by 10 three–fourths of the states; and 11 WHEREAS, In 1992, having finally met the requirements of Article V, the Madison 12 Amendment was published as the 27th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution by the 13 Archivist of the United States during the Administration of President George H.W. Bush; 14 and 15 WHEREAS, Following publication of the Madison Amendment by the Archivist of 16 the United States, Congress affirmed the Madison Amendment as the Twenty–seventh 17 Amendment to the U.S. Constitution; and 18 WHEREAS, As of January 27, 2020, three–fourths of the states have ratified the 19 Equal Rights Amendment; and 20 WHEREAS, Unlike the District of Columbia Voting Rights Amendment, the Equal 21 Rights Amendment does not contain a time limit in its text where it would be of full force 22 and effect; and 23 WHEREAS, In contrast to the Madison Amendment, which took 203 years to ratify, 24 the Equal Rights Amendment took only 48 years to ratify; and 25 WHEREAS, The text of Article V of the U.S. Constitution grants the states the power 26 of ratification, not rescission; and 27 WHEREAS, Samuel Johnson’s dictionary of 1755 defines “ratify” as “to confirm; to 28 settle”; and 29 WHEREAS, Bouvier’s Law Dictionary of 1856, considered to be the first American 30 legal dictionary, states that a ratification once done, “cannot be revoked or recalled”; and 31 WHEREAS, James Madison wrote in a July 20, 1788, letter to Alexander Hamilton 32 that ratification is “in toto and for ever”; and 33 4 HOUSE JOINT RESOLUTION 1 WHEREAS, Various attempts to rescind ratifications of provisions of the U.S. 1 Constitution or its amendments, including the Fourteenth, Fifteenth, and Nineteenth 2 Amendments, have never been honored; and 3 WHEREAS, The General Assembly of Maryland set a precedent for this resolution 4 in 1961 by passing House Joint Resolution 14 urging Congress to pass the Equal Rights 5 Amendment; and 6 WHEREAS, Maryland was one of the early states to ratify the Equal Rights 7 Amendment in May 1972, two months after Congress proposed it for ratification; and 8 WHEREAS, Maryland adopted the Maryland Equal Rights Amendment to the 9 Maryland Constitution in 1972; and 10 WHEREAS, The Maryland Equal Rights Amendment is only effective to the degree 11 that it does not conflict with federal law; and 12 WHEREAS, The Maryland Attorney General filed an amicus brief in 2022 in support 13 of a lawsuit brought by three ratifying states to require the Archivist of the United States 14 to certify and publish the Equal Rights Amendment as an amendment to the U.S. 15 Constitution; and 16 WHEREAS, Over several decades, the General Assembly of Maryland has passed 17 laws and created protections attempting to guarantee equal rights under the law for all 18 Marylanders, regardless of race, color, ethnicity, national origin, age, disability, creed, 19 religion, or sex – which includes legal equality and protection from discrimination on the 20 basis of sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, pregnancy, pregnancy 21 outcomes, and decisions regarding reproductive healthcare or other aspects of an 22 individual’s bodily autonomy; now, therefore, be it 23 RESOLVED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF MARYLAND, That it is the 24 opinion of the General Assembly of Maryland that the Equal Rights Amendment meets the 25 requirements of Article V of the U.S. Constitution and should be recognized as the 28th 26 Amendment; and be it further 27 RESOLVED, That the General Assembly of Maryland urges the Administration of 28 President Joseph R. Biden to publish, without delay, the Equal Rights Amendment as the 29 28th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution; and be it further 30 RESOLVED, That the General Assembly of Maryland urges the Congress of the 31 United States to pass a joint resolution affirming the Equal Rights Amendment as the 28th 32 Amendment to the U.S. Constitution; and be it further 33 RESOLVED, That the General Assembly of Maryland calls on other states to join in 34 this action by passing similar resolutions; and be it further 35 HOUSE JOINT RESOLUTION 1 5 RESOLVED, That a copy of this Resolution be forwarded by the Department of 1 Legislative Services to the Honorable Joseph R. Biden, President of the United States of 2 America, 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW, Washington, D.C. 20500; the Honorable Kamala 3 Harris, Vice President of the United States, President of the United States Senate, Senate 4 Office Building, Washington, D.C. 20510; the Honorable Colleen Joy Shogan, Archivist of 5 the United States, National Archives and Records Administration, 700 Pennsylvania 6 Avenue NW, Washington, D.C. 20408; the Maryland Congressional Delegation; and the 7 presiding officer of each House of the legislature of each state of the United States, with 8 the request that it be circulated among leadership of the legislative branch of the state 9 governments. 10