Maryland 2024 Regular Session

Maryland House Bill HJ1 Compare Versions

Only one version of the bill is available at this time.

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3	3	hj0001
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5	5	HOUSE JOINT RESOLUTION 1
6	6	P5, D5 4lr1101
7	7	CF 4lr2163
8	8	By: Delegates Patterson, Lopez, Addison, Allen, Alston, Attar, Atterbeary, Bagnall,
9	9	Bartlett, Boafo, Boyce, Cardin, Chang, Charkoudian, Crosby, Crutchfield,
10	10	Cullison, Davis, Ebersole, Embry, Fair, Feldmark, Fennell, Foley, Forbes,
11	11	Fraser–Hidalgo, Grossman, Guyton, Guzzone, Harris, Harrison, Healey,
12	12	Henson, Hill, Holmes, Ivey, D. Jones, Kaiser, Kerr, Lehman, J. Long, Love,
13	13	Martinez, Mireku–North, Palakovich Carr, Pasteur, Pena–Melnyk, Pruski,
14	14	Qi, Queen, Roberson, Rosenberg, Ruth, Shetty, Simmons, Smith, Solomon,
15	15	Stein, Stewart, Taveras, Terrasa, Toles, Turner, Valderrama, Vogel, Watson,
16	16	Wells, White Holland, Wilkins, Williams, Wilson, Wims, Woods, and Wu
17	17	Introduced and read first time: January 17, 2024
18	18	Assigned to: Rules and Executive Nominations
19	19
20	20	HOUSE JOINT RESOLUTION
21	21
22	22	A House Joint Resolution concerning 1
23	23
24	24	Affirming the Federal Equal Rights Amendment 2
25	25
26	26	FOR the purpose of urging the Administration of President Joseph R. Biden to publish, 3
27	27	without delay, the federal Equal Rights Amendment as the Twenty–eighth 4
28	28	Amendment to the U.S. Constitution and urging the U.S. Congress to pass a joint 5
29	29	resolution affirming the Equal Rights Amendment as the Twenty –eighth 6
30	30	Amendment; and generally relating to the federal Equal Rights Amendment. 7
31	31
32	32	WHEREAS, In 1972, the 92nd Congress of the United States, at its second session, 8
33	33	in both houses, by a constitutional majority of two–thirds, adopted the following proposition 9
34	34	to amend the U.S. Constitution: 10
35	35
36	36	“JOINT RESOLUTION RESOLVED BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 11
37	37	AND SENATE OF THE UNITED STATE S OF AMERICA IN CONGRESS ASSEMBLED 12
38	38	(TWO–THIRDS OF EACH HOUSE CONCURRING THEREIN), That the following article 13
39	39	is proposed as an amendment to the Constitution of the United States, which shall be valid 14
40	40	to all intents and purposes as a part of the Constitution when ratified by the legislatures 15
41	41	of three–fourths of the several States within seven years from the date of its submission by 16
42	42	the Congress: 17
43	43
44	44	ARTICLE ______ 18
45	45
46	46	Section 1. Equality of rights under the law shall not be denied or abridged by the 19
47	47	United States or by any State on account of sex. 20 2 HOUSE JOINT RESOLUTION 1
48	48
49	49
50	50
51	51	Section 2. The Congress shall have the power to enforce, by appropriate legislation, 1
52	52	the provisions of this article. 2
53	53
54	54	Section 3. This amendment shall take effect two years after the date of ratification.”; 3
55	55	and 4
56	56
57	57	WHEREAS, Article V of the U.S. Constitution provides a two–step procedure for the 5
58	58	adoption of an amendment; and 6
59	59
60	60	WHEREAS, The first requirement for the adoption of an amendment under Article 7
61	61	V is the proposal of an amendment either by a two–thirds vote of both houses of Congress, 8
62	62	or by a convention called by application of two–thirds of the states; and 9
63	63
64	64	WHEREAS, The second requirement for the adoption of an amendment under 10
65	65	Article V is ratification of an amendment by three–fourths of the states; and 11
66	66
67	67	WHEREAS, The U.S. Constitution does not limit the time for states to ratify an 12
68	68	amendment and does not grant Congress the authority to unilaterally limit the time by 13
69	69	which an amendment may be ratified; and 14
70	70
71	71	WHEREAS, A time limitation for the ratification of amendments by the states would 15
72	72	be a substantive change to the U.S. Constitution; and 16
73	73
74	74	WHEREAS, To have full force and effect, a substantive change to the U.S. 17
75	75	Constitution must be within the text of an amendment so that it may be ratified by the 18
76	76	states as part of the requirements of Article V; and 19
77	77
78	78	WHEREAS, The time limitation on state ratifications was in the preamble section of 20
79	79	the resolution by Congress and not within the text of the amendment presented to states 21
80	80	for state approval; and 22
81	81
82	82	WHEREAS, Because of the placement of the time limitation, the states ratified the 23
83	83	text of the Equal Rights Amendment but did not ratify the time limit by Congress; and 24
84	84
85	85	WHEREAS, A time limit was approved in the Equal Rights Amendment by Congress 25
86	86	in 1972, but has not been subsequently approved by the states and thus is without force or 26
87	87	effect; and 27
88	88
89	89	WHEREAS, In comparison, in 1978, Congress passed the District of Columbia 28
90	90	Voting Rights Amendment, which included a time limitation within the text of the 29
91	91	Amendment offered to the states for ratification; and 30
92	92
93	93	WHEREAS, The time limitation for the District of Columbia Voting Rights 31
94	94	Amendment ended before ratification of the amendment by three–fourths of the states; and 32
95	95	HOUSE JOINT RESOLUTION 1 3
96	96
97	97
98	98	WHEREAS, Because the time limit was within the text of the District of Columbia 1
99	99	Voting Rights Amendment, the time limit had full force and effect and the amendment 2
100	100	expired in 1985; and 3
101	101
102	102	WHEREAS, In comparison, the Twenty–first Amendment and the Twenty–second 4
103	103	Amendment include time limitations within the text of each amendment, and the timelines 5
104	104	were ratified by three–fourths of the states in accordance with the text of the amendments; 6
105	105	and 7
106	106
107	107	WHEREAS, In 1789, the First Congress proposed, in accordance with Article V, the 8
108	108	Madison Amendment relating to compensation of members of Congress; and 9
109	109
110	110	WHEREAS, Over 202 years later, the Madison Amendment was ratified by 10
111	111	three–fourths of the states; and 11
112	112
113	113	WHEREAS, In 1992, having finally met the requirements of Article V, the Madison 12
114	114	Amendment was published as the 27th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution by the 13
115	115	Archivist of the United States during the Administration of President George H.W. Bush; 14
116	116	and 15
117	117
118	118	WHEREAS, Following publication of the Madison Amendment by the Archivist of 16
119	119	the United States, Congress affirmed the Madison Amendment as the Twenty–seventh 17
120	120	Amendment to the U.S. Constitution; and 18
121	121
122	122	WHEREAS, As of January 27, 2020, three–fourths of the states have ratified the 19
123	123	Equal Rights Amendment; and 20
124	124
125	125	WHEREAS, Unlike the District of Columbia Voting Rights Amendment, the Equal 21
126	126	Rights Amendment does not contain a time limit in its text where it would be of full force 22
127	127	and effect; and 23
128	128
129	129	WHEREAS, In contrast to the Madison Amendment, which took 203 years to ratify, 24
130	130	the Equal Rights Amendment took only 48 years to ratify; and 25
131	131
132	132	WHEREAS, The text of Article V of the U.S. Constitution grants the states the power 26
133	133	of ratification, not rescission; and 27
134	134
135	135	WHEREAS, Samuel Johnson’s dictionary of 1755 defines “ratify” as “to confirm; to 28
136	136	settle”; and 29
137	137
138	138	WHEREAS, Bouvier’s Law Dictionary of 1856, considered to be the first American 30
139	139	legal dictionary, states that a ratification once done, “cannot be revoked or recalled”; and 31
140	140
141	141	WHEREAS, James Madison wrote in a July 20, 1788, letter to Alexander Hamilton 32
142	142	that ratification is “in toto and for ever”; and 33
143	143	4 HOUSE JOINT RESOLUTION 1
144	144
145	145
146	146	WHEREAS, Various attempts to rescind ratifications of provisions of the U.S. 1
147	147	Constitution or its amendments, including the Fourteenth, Fifteenth, and Nineteenth 2
148	148	Amendments, have never been honored; and 3
149	149
150	150	WHEREAS, The General Assembly of Maryland set a precedent for this resolution 4
151	151	in 1961 by passing House Joint Resolution 14 urging Congress to pass the Equal Rights 5
152	152	Amendment; and 6
153	153
154	154	WHEREAS, Maryland was one of th e early states to ratify the Equal Rights 7
155	155	Amendment in May 1972, two months after Congress proposed it for ratification; and 8
156	156
157	157	WHEREAS, Maryland adopted the Maryland Equal Rights Amendment to the 9
158	158	Maryland Constitution in 1972; and 10
159	159
160	160	WHEREAS, The Maryland E qual Rights Amendment is only effective to the degree 11
161	161	that it does not conflict with federal law; and 12
162	162
163	163	WHEREAS, The Maryland Attorney General filed an amicus brief in 2022 in support 13
164	164	of a lawsuit brought by three ratifying states to require the Archivist of the United States 14
165	165	to certify and publish the Equal Rights Amendment as an amendment to the U.S. 15
166	166	Constitution; and 16
167	167
168	168	WHEREAS, Over several decades, the General Assembly of Maryland has passed 17
169	169	laws and created protections attempting to guarantee equal rights under the law for all 18
170	170	Marylanders, regardless of race, color, ethnicity, national origin, age, disability, creed, 19
171	171	religion, or sex – which includes legal equality and protection from discrimination on the 20
172	172	basis of sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, pregnancy, pregnancy 21
173	173	outcomes, and decisions regarding reproductive healthcare or other aspects of an 22
174	174	individual’s bodily autonomy; now, therefore, be it 23
175	175
176	176	RESOLVED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF MARYLAND, That it is the 24
177	177	opinion of the General Assembly of Maryland that the Equal Rights Amendment meets the 25
178	178	requirements of Article V of the U.S. Constitution and should be recognized as the 28th 26
179	179	Amendment; and be it further 27
180	180
181	181	RESOLVED, That the General Assembly of Maryland urges the Administration of 28
182	182	President Joseph R. Biden to publish, without delay, the Equal Rights Amendment as the 29
183	183	28th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution; and be it further 30
184	184
185	185	RESOLVED, That the General Assembly of Maryland urges the Congress of the 31
186	186	United States to pass a joint resolution affirming the Equal Rights Amendment as the 28th 32
187	187	Amendment to the U.S. Constitution; and be it further 33
188	188
189	189	RESOLVED, That the General Assembly of Maryland calls on other states to join in 34
190	190	this action by passing similar resolutions; and be it further 35
191	191	HOUSE JOINT RESOLUTION 1 5
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193	193
194	194	RESOLVED, That a copy of this Resolution be forwarded by the Department of 1
195	195	Legislative Services to the Honorable Joseph R. Biden, President of the United States of 2
196	196	America, 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW, Washington, D.C. 20500; the Honorable Kamala 3
197	197	Harris, Vice President of the United States, President of the United States Senate, Senate 4
198	198	Office Building, Washington, D.C. 20510; the Honorable Colleen Joy Shogan, Archivist of 5
199	199	the United States, National Archives and Records Administration, 700 Pennsylvania 6
200	200	Avenue NW, Washington, D.C. 20408; the Maryland Congressional Delegation; and the 7
201	201	presiding officer of each House of the legislature of each state of the United States, with 8
202	202	the request that it be circulated among leadership of the legislative branch of the state 9
203	203	governments. 10