2024 -- H 7394

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LC003591

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     STATE OF RHODE ISLAND

IN GENERAL ASSEMBLY

JANUARY SESSION, A.D. 2024

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H O U S E   R E S O L U T I O N

RESPECTFULLY CALLING FOR PUBLICATION AND AFFIRMATION OF THE EQUAL

RIGHTS AMENDMENT

     Introduced By: Representatives McGaw, Boylan, Casimiro, Shallcross Smith, Carson,
Tanzi, Ackerman, Fellela, Stewart, and Kazarian

     Date Introduced: January 31, 2024

     Referred To: House State Government & Elections

     WHEREAS, In 1972, the 92nd United States Congress, at its Second Session, in both

houses, by a constitutional majority of two-thirds, adopted the following proposition to amend the

Constitution of the United States of America;

     JOINT RESOLUTION RESOLVED BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES AND

SENATE 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 a 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, Article V of the Constitution of the United States sets forth a two-step

amending procedure; and

     WHEREAS, The first step of the Article V amending procedure is proposal of an

amendment either by two-thirds vote of both houses of Congress or by a convention called by

application of two-thirds of the States; and

     WHEREAS, The second and final step of the Article V amending procedure is

ratification of an amendment by three-fourths of the States; and

     WHEREAS, The Constitution of the United States does not limit the time for States to

ratify an amendment; and

     WHEREAS, The Constitution of the United States does not grant Congress the unilateral

authority to limit the time for States to ratify amendments; and

     WHEREAS, A time limit on State ratifications of amendments is a substantive change to

the Constitution of the United States; and

     WHEREAS, To have full force and effect, any substantive change to the Constitution of

the United States such as a time limit on ratification must be within the text of an amendment,

where it can also be approved by states as part of each of the two steps of the Article V amending

procedure– a proposal step and a ratification step; and

     WHEREAS, In the proposal step for the Equal Rights Amendment, the time limit on

State ratifications was only in the preamble section of the resolution by Congress and not within

the text of the amendment presented to States for State approval; and

     WHEREAS, In the ratification step, the States ratified only the text of the Equal Rights

Amendment; and

     WHEREAS, A time limit was only approved by Congress in 1972, but not subsequently

approved by the States and is thus, without force or effect; and

     WHEREAS, In comparison, in 1978, a two-thirds vote of both houses of Congress passed

the District of Columbia Voting Rights Amendment, and included a timeline within the text of the

Amendment offered to States for ratification; and

     WHEREAS, The time limit for the District of Columbia Voting Rights Amendment

ended before completion of the second and final step of ratification of the amendment by three-

fourths of the States; and

     WHEREAS, Because the time limit was within the text of the District of Columbia

Voting Rights Amendment, that time limit had full force and effect and that amendment expired

in 1985; and

     WHEREAS, In comparison, the text of the 21st and 22nd Amendments both include a

timeline within the text of each amendment, and such timelines were ratified by three-fourths of

the States within the agreed timeline; and

     WHEREAS, In 1789, by two-thirds vote of each house of our First Congress, the so-

called Madison Amendment relating to compensation of members of Congress completed the

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proposal step of Article V; and

     WHEREAS, Approximately 203 years later, the Madison Amendment completed the

ratification step of Article V through ratification by three-fourths of the States; and

     WHEREAS, In 1992, having met the strict two-step requirements of Article V, the

Madison Amendment was published by the Archivist during the Administration of President

George H.W. Bush as our 27th Amendment to the Constitution of the United States; and

     WHEREAS, Following publication of the Madison Amendment, Congress affirmed the

Madison Amendment as our 27th Amendment to the Constitution of the United States; and

     WHEREAS, As of January 27, 2020, three-fourths of the States have ratified the Equal

Rights Amendment; and

     WHEREAS, Unlike the District of Columbia Voting Rights Amendment, the Equal

Rights Amendment does not have a time limit in its text where it would be of full force and

effect; and

     WHEREAS, In contrast to the Madison Amendment, which took 203 years to ratify, the

Equal Rights Amendment took a mere 48 years to ratify; and

     WHEREAS, The text of Article V of the Constitution gives the States the power of

ratification, not rescission; and

     WHEREAS, Samuel Johnson's dictionary of 1755 defines ratify as "to confirm; to settle";

and

     WHEREAS, Bouvier's Law Dictionary of 1856, considered to be the first American legal

dictionary, states that a ratification once done, "cannot be revoked or recalled"; and

     WHEREAS, James Madison wrote in a July 20, 1788, letter to Alexander Hamilton that

ratification is "in toto and for ever"; and

     WHEREAS, The various attempts throughout history to rescind the ratifications of the

Constitution of the United States or its amendments, including the 14th, 15th, and 19th

Amendments, have never been honored; and

     WHEREAS, The Equal Rights Amendment now meets the strict requirements of Article

V of our Constitution of the United States to be added as our 28th Amendment; now, therefore be

it

     RESOLVED, That this House of Representatives of the State of Rhode Island hereby

urges the Administration of President Joseph R. Biden, Jr. to publish without delay the Equal

Rights Amendment as our Twenty-Eighth Amendment to the Constitution of the United States;

and be it further

     RESOLVED, That this House hereby urges the Congress of the United States to pass a

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joint resolution affirming the Equal Rights Amendment as our Twenty-Eighth Amendment to the

Constitution of the United States; and be it further

     RESOLVED, That this House hereby calls on other States to join in this action by

passing the same or similar resolutions; and be it further

     RESOLVED, That the Secretary of State be and hereby is authorized and directed to

transmit duly certified copies of this resolution be transmitted to the President and Vice President

of the United States, to the Rhode Island delegation to the United States Congress, and to the

Archivist of the United States.

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LC003591

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