Maryland 2024 Regular Session

Maryland House Bill HJ1 Compare Versions

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55 HOUSE JOINT RESOLUTION 1
66 P5, D5 4lr1101
77 CF 4lr2163
88 By: Delegates Patterson, Lopez, Addison, Allen, Alston, Attar, Atterbeary, Bagnall,
99 Bartlett, Boafo, Boyce, Cardin, Chang, Charkoudian, Crosby, Crutchfield,
1010 Cullison, Davis, Ebersole, Embry, Fair, Feldmark, Fennell, Foley, Forbes,
1111 Fraser–Hidalgo, Grossman, Guyton, Guzzone, Harris, Harrison, Healey,
1212 Henson, Hill, Holmes, Ivey, D. Jones, Kaiser, Kerr, Lehman, J. Long, Love,
1313 Martinez, Mireku–North, Palakovich Carr, Pasteur, Pena–Melnyk, Pruski,
1414 Qi, Queen, Roberson, Rosenberg, Ruth, Shetty, Simmons, Smith, Solomon,
1515 Stein, Stewart, Taveras, Terrasa, Toles, Turner, Valderrama, Vogel, Watson,
1616 Wells, White Holland, Wilkins, Williams, Wilson, Wims, Woods, and Wu
1717 Introduced and read first time: January 17, 2024
1818 Assigned to: Rules and Executive Nominations
1919
2020 HOUSE JOINT RESOLUTION
2121
2222 A House Joint Resolution concerning 1
2323
2424 Affirming the Federal Equal Rights Amendment 2
2525
2626 FOR the purpose of urging the Administration of President Joseph R. Biden to publish, 3
2727 without delay, the federal Equal Rights Amendment as the Twenty–eighth 4
2828 Amendment to the U.S. Constitution and urging the U.S. Congress to pass a joint 5
2929 resolution affirming the Equal Rights Amendment as the Twenty –eighth 6
3030 Amendment; and generally relating to the federal Equal Rights Amendment. 7
3131
3232 WHEREAS, In 1972, the 92nd Congress of the United States, at its second session, 8
3333 in both houses, by a constitutional majority of two–thirds, adopted the following proposition 9
3434 to amend the U.S. Constitution: 10
3535
3636 “JOINT RESOLUTION RESOLVED BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 11
3737 AND SENATE OF THE UNITED STATE S OF AMERICA IN CONGRESS ASSEMBLED 12
3838 (TWO–THIRDS OF EACH HOUSE CONCURRING THEREIN), That the following article 13
3939 is proposed as an amendment to the Constitution of the United States, which shall be valid 14
4040 to all intents and purposes as a part of the Constitution when ratified by the legislatures 15
4141 of three–fourths of the several States within seven years from the date of its submission by 16
4242 the Congress: 17
4343
4444 ARTICLE ______ 18
4545
4646 Section 1. Equality of rights under the law shall not be denied or abridged by the 19
4747 United States or by any State on account of sex. 20 2 HOUSE JOINT RESOLUTION 1
4848
4949
5050
5151 Section 2. The Congress shall have the power to enforce, by appropriate legislation, 1
5252 the provisions of this article. 2
5353
5454 Section 3. This amendment shall take effect two years after the date of ratification.”; 3
5555 and 4
5656
5757 WHEREAS, Article V of the U.S. Constitution provides a two–step procedure for the 5
5858 adoption of an amendment; and 6
5959
6060 WHEREAS, The first requirement for the adoption of an amendment under Article 7
6161 V is the proposal of an amendment either by a two–thirds vote of both houses of Congress, 8
6262 or by a convention called by application of two–thirds of the states; and 9
6363
6464 WHEREAS, The second requirement for the adoption of an amendment under 10
6565 Article V is ratification of an amendment by three–fourths of the states; and 11
6666
6767 WHEREAS, The U.S. Constitution does not limit the time for states to ratify an 12
6868 amendment and does not grant Congress the authority to unilaterally limit the time by 13
6969 which an amendment may be ratified; and 14
7070
7171 WHEREAS, A time limitation for the ratification of amendments by the states would 15
7272 be a substantive change to the U.S. Constitution; and 16
7373
7474 WHEREAS, To have full force and effect, a substantive change to the U.S. 17
7575 Constitution must be within the text of an amendment so that it may be ratified by the 18
7676 states as part of the requirements of Article V; and 19
7777
7878 WHEREAS, The time limitation on state ratifications was in the preamble section of 20
7979 the resolution by Congress and not within the text of the amendment presented to states 21
8080 for state approval; and 22
8181
8282 WHEREAS, Because of the placement of the time limitation, the states ratified the 23
8383 text of the Equal Rights Amendment but did not ratify the time limit by Congress; and 24
8484
8585 WHEREAS, A time limit was approved in the Equal Rights Amendment by Congress 25
8686 in 1972, but has not been subsequently approved by the states and thus is without force or 26
8787 effect; and 27
8888
8989 WHEREAS, In comparison, in 1978, Congress passed the District of Columbia 28
9090 Voting Rights Amendment, which included a time limitation within the text of the 29
9191 Amendment offered to the states for ratification; and 30
9292
9393 WHEREAS, The time limitation for the District of Columbia Voting Rights 31
9494 Amendment ended before ratification of the amendment by three–fourths of the states; and 32
9595 HOUSE JOINT RESOLUTION 1 3
9696
9797
9898 WHEREAS, Because the time limit was within the text of the District of Columbia 1
9999 Voting Rights Amendment, the time limit had full force and effect and the amendment 2
100100 expired in 1985; and 3
101101
102102 WHEREAS, In comparison, the Twenty–first Amendment and the Twenty–second 4
103103 Amendment include time limitations within the text of each amendment, and the timelines 5
104104 were ratified by three–fourths of the states in accordance with the text of the amendments; 6
105105 and 7
106106
107107 WHEREAS, In 1789, the First Congress proposed, in accordance with Article V, the 8
108108 Madison Amendment relating to compensation of members of Congress; and 9
109109
110110 WHEREAS, Over 202 years later, the Madison Amendment was ratified by 10
111111 three–fourths of the states; and 11
112112
113113 WHEREAS, In 1992, having finally met the requirements of Article V, the Madison 12
114114 Amendment was published as the 27th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution by the 13
115115 Archivist of the United States during the Administration of President George H.W. Bush; 14
116116 and 15
117117
118118 WHEREAS, Following publication of the Madison Amendment by the Archivist of 16
119119 the United States, Congress affirmed the Madison Amendment as the Twenty–seventh 17
120120 Amendment to the U.S. Constitution; and 18
121121
122122 WHEREAS, As of January 27, 2020, three–fourths of the states have ratified the 19
123123 Equal Rights Amendment; and 20
124124
125125 WHEREAS, Unlike the District of Columbia Voting Rights Amendment, the Equal 21
126126 Rights Amendment does not contain a time limit in its text where it would be of full force 22
127127 and effect; and 23
128128
129129 WHEREAS, In contrast to the Madison Amendment, which took 203 years to ratify, 24
130130 the Equal Rights Amendment took only 48 years to ratify; and 25
131131
132132 WHEREAS, The text of Article V of the U.S. Constitution grants the states the power 26
133133 of ratification, not rescission; and 27
134134
135135 WHEREAS, Samuel Johnson’s dictionary of 1755 defines “ratify” as “to confirm; to 28
136136 settle”; and 29
137137
138138 WHEREAS, Bouvier’s Law Dictionary of 1856, considered to be the first American 30
139139 legal dictionary, states that a ratification once done, “cannot be revoked or recalled”; and 31
140140
141141 WHEREAS, James Madison wrote in a July 20, 1788, letter to Alexander Hamilton 32
142142 that ratification is “in toto and for ever”; and 33
143143 4 HOUSE JOINT RESOLUTION 1
144144
145145
146146 WHEREAS, Various attempts to rescind ratifications of provisions of the U.S. 1
147147 Constitution or its amendments, including the Fourteenth, Fifteenth, and Nineteenth 2
148148 Amendments, have never been honored; and 3
149149
150150 WHEREAS, The General Assembly of Maryland set a precedent for this resolution 4
151151 in 1961 by passing House Joint Resolution 14 urging Congress to pass the Equal Rights 5
152152 Amendment; and 6
153153
154154 WHEREAS, Maryland was one of th e early states to ratify the Equal Rights 7
155155 Amendment in May 1972, two months after Congress proposed it for ratification; and 8
156156
157157 WHEREAS, Maryland adopted the Maryland Equal Rights Amendment to the 9
158158 Maryland Constitution in 1972; and 10
159159
160160 WHEREAS, The Maryland E qual Rights Amendment is only effective to the degree 11
161161 that it does not conflict with federal law; and 12
162162
163163 WHEREAS, The Maryland Attorney General filed an amicus brief in 2022 in support 13
164164 of a lawsuit brought by three ratifying states to require the Archivist of the United States 14
165165 to certify and publish the Equal Rights Amendment as an amendment to the U.S. 15
166166 Constitution; and 16
167167
168168 WHEREAS, Over several decades, the General Assembly of Maryland has passed 17
169169 laws and created protections attempting to guarantee equal rights under the law for all 18
170170 Marylanders, regardless of race, color, ethnicity, national origin, age, disability, creed, 19
171171 religion, or sex – which includes legal equality and protection from discrimination on the 20
172172 basis of sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, pregnancy, pregnancy 21
173173 outcomes, and decisions regarding reproductive healthcare or other aspects of an 22
174174 individual’s bodily autonomy; now, therefore, be it 23
175175
176176 RESOLVED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF MARYLAND, That it is the 24
177177 opinion of the General Assembly of Maryland that the Equal Rights Amendment meets the 25
178178 requirements of Article V of the U.S. Constitution and should be recognized as the 28th 26
179179 Amendment; and be it further 27
180180
181181 RESOLVED, That the General Assembly of Maryland urges the Administration of 28
182182 President Joseph R. Biden to publish, without delay, the Equal Rights Amendment as the 29
183183 28th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution; and be it further 30
184184
185185 RESOLVED, That the General Assembly of Maryland urges the Congress of the 31
186186 United States to pass a joint resolution affirming the Equal Rights Amendment as the 28th 32
187187 Amendment to the U.S. Constitution; and be it further 33
188188
189189 RESOLVED, That the General Assembly of Maryland calls on other states to join in 34
190190 this action by passing similar resolutions; and be it further 35
191191 HOUSE JOINT RESOLUTION 1 5
192192
193193
194194 RESOLVED, That a copy of this Resolution be forwarded by the Department of 1
195195 Legislative Services to the Honorable Joseph R. Biden, President of the United States of 2
196196 America, 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW, Washington, D.C. 20500; the Honorable Kamala 3
197197 Harris, Vice President of the United States, President of the United States Senate, Senate 4
198198 Office Building, Washington, D.C. 20510; the Honorable Colleen Joy Shogan, Archivist of 5
199199 the United States, National Archives and Records Administration, 700 Pennsylvania 6
200200 Avenue NW, Washington, D.C. 20408; the Maryland Congressional Delegation; and the 7
201201 presiding officer of each House of the legislature of each state of the United States, with 8
202202 the request that it be circulated among leadership of the legislative branch of the state 9
203203 governments. 10