01.29.19

KSRM: Murkowski Works To Incorporate The ERA Into The Constitution

U.S. Senator Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) has co-sponsored a resolution that would immediately reopen consideration of the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA).

Senator Murkowski: “In order for the ERA to be incorporated into the Constitution, we need 38 states to ratify the Equal Rights Amendment. As of now, we have 37. The bipartisan legislation I’m leading will resolve any ambiguity over whether states can make the ERA effective by ratifying. We cannot and must not put a time limit on the fight for women’s equality.”

The Cardin-Murkowski resolution would remove the ratification deadline and revive the consideration of the ERA by the states.

Senator Murkowski: “The Equal Rights Amendment is as important in the fight for women’s equality as it was on April 5, 1972, when Alaska ratified. Women’s equality is fundamental to the American way of life and needs to be expressly recognized in the Constitution.”

Thirty-seven states, of the 38 needed, have ratified the amendment, which was first proposed in 1972. Illinois was the last state to ratify the ERA in May 2018. Nevada ratified the ERA in March 2017.

The states that have not ratified the amendment are: Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, North Carolina, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Utah, or Virginia.


By:  Jennifer Williams
Source: KSRM