Full Text of SJR0033 100th General Assembly
SJ0033 100TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY |
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| 1 | | SENATE JOINT RESOLUTION
| 2 | | WHEREAS, The Ninety-second Congress of the United States of | 3 | | America, at its Second Session, adopted a Joint Resolution to | 4 | | amend the Constitution of the United States of America with | 5 | | language commonly referred to as the Equal Rights Amendment | 6 | | with a deadline for ratification by the states of March 22, | 7 | | 1979; and | 8 | | WHEREAS, In 1978, Congress passed an extension of the | 9 | | ratification of the Equal Rights Amendment from the original | 10 | | deadline of seven years to June 30, 1982; and | 11 | | WHEREAS, At the time of the extension, only 35 of the | 12 | | necessary 38 states had ratified the Equal Rights Amendment | 13 | | with 24 of those ratifications referring to the original 1979 | 14 | | deadline; and | 15 | | WHEREAS, The United States District Court ruled on December | 16 | | 23, 1981 in Idaho v. Freeman that the Equal Rights Amendment | 17 | | Time Extension voted by Congress was unconstitutional and that | 18 | | the rescissions of States from the Equal Rights Amendment were | 19 | | constitutional; and | 20 | | WHEREAS, After the expiration of the June 20, 1982 extended | 21 | | deadline for ratification of the Equal Rights
Amendment, in the |
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| 1 | | appeal of Idaho v Freeman (NOW v Idaho), the United States | 2 | | Supreme Court vacated the district's opinion and remanded to | 3 | | the
District Court with direction to dismiss the case as moot, | 4 | | thus indicating that the Equal Rights
Amendment was no longer | 5 | | before the states for ratification; and | 6 | | WHEREAS, No additional states ratified the Equal Rights | 7 | | Amendment by the June 30, 1982 extended
deadline; and | 8 | | WHEREAS, Five states rescinded their ratification of the | 9 | | Equal Rights Amendment prior to the expiration
of the original | 10 | | 1979 deadline for ratification, thereby reducing the number of | 11 | | states that had ratified the
amendment to 30; and | 12 | | WHEREAS, Congress reintroduced the Equal Rights Amendment | 13 | | in 1983 and failed to receive the two-thirds majority vote | 14 | | required to send the Equal Rights Amendment to the states for | 15 | | ratification; and | 16 | | Whereas, Only 30 states have ratified the Equal Rights | 17 | | Amendment in its original form; and | 18 | | WHEREAS, Both the original and extended deadline for the | 19 | | ratification of the Equal Rights Amendment have expired; and | 20 | | WHEREAS, Congress has not reintroduced the Equal Rights |
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| 1 | | Amendment and any extension of the original deadline would be | 2 | | unconstitutional under Idaho v. Freeman; and | 3 | | WHEREAS, Any action by Illinois to ratify the Equal Rights | 4 | | Amendment would occur after the March 22, 1979 deadline and the | 5 | | ratification of the current Equal Rights Amendment is no longer | 6 | | an available option to the Illinois Legislature; and | 7 | | WHEREAS, It would be preferable to start over with a new | 8 | | Equal Rights Amendment that addresses many of the concerns that | 9 | | have been raised about the original Equal Rights Amendment over | 10 | | the intervening years; and | 11 | | WHEREAS, The Illinois Constitution guarantees that equal | 12 | | protection of the laws shall not be denied or abridged on | 13 | | account of sex by the State or its units of local government | 14 | | and school districts; and | 15 | | WHEREAS, Language similar to that in the Illinois | 16 | | Constitution is preferable to the original language of the | 17 | | Equal Rights Amendment; and
| 18 | | WHEREAS, The United States Constitution can be amended | 19 | | either by Congress submitting an amendment to the states for | 20 | | ratification or by two-thirds of the states calling for a | 21 | | Constitutional Convention; and
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| 1 | | WHEREAS, The Illinois General Assembly supports passage of | 2 | | the Equal Rights Amendment in a modified form to reflect the | 3 | | language of the Illinois Constitution; therefore, be it
| 4 | | RESOLVED, BY THE SENATE OF THE ONE HUNDREDTH GENERAL | 5 | | ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES | 6 | | CONCURRING HEREIN, that we hereby apply to Congress to call a | 7 | | limited constitutional convention for the purpose of proposing | 8 | | to the states for ratification an amendment to the United | 9 | | States Constitution; and be it further
| 10 | | RESOLVED, That this amendment should be worded as follows, | 11 | | without substantial alteration: "The equal protection of the | 12 | | laws shall not be denied or
abridged on account of sex by the | 13 | | United States or any State."; and be it further | 14 | | RESOLVED, That this application constitutes a continuing | 15 | | application in accordance with Article V of the United States | 16 | | Constitution until at least two-thirds of the legislatures of | 17 | | the several states have made application for a limited | 18 | | constitutional convention; and be it further | 19 | | RESOLVED, That, if the limited convention called by | 20 | | Congress is not limited to the topics proposed in this | 21 | | resolution, that this resolution calling for a convention shall |
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| 1 | | be considered null and void and legally insufficient to be | 2 | | considered under Article V as one of the two-thirds of the | 3 | | several state resolutions necessary to call a limited | 4 | | constitutional convention; if a limited convention were to | 5 | | consider topics beyond the limited scope of this call for a | 6 | | constitutional convention, delegates, representatives, or | 7 | | participants shall be selected by the citizens of the State of | 8 | | Illinois to participate in the limited convention and shall be | 9 | | permitted to vote only on proposed amendments topically | 10 | | contained within the scope of this call and shall be instructed | 11 | | to vote against any other proposed amendments; and be it | 12 | | further | 13 | | RESOLVED, That, if two-thirds of the legislatures of the | 14 | | several states make application to Congress to call a limited | 15 | | constitutional convention, the State of Illinois requests that | 16 | | such a convention be called not later than six months after | 17 | | Congress receives the necessary applications from state | 18 | | legislatures; and be it further | 19 | | RESOLVED, That suitable copies of this resolution be | 20 | | presented to the Speaker and Clerk of the United States House | 21 | | of Representatives, the President Pro Tempore and Secretary of | 22 | | the United States Senate, the members of the Illinois | 23 | | congressional delegation, the presiding officers of each | 24 | | chamber of each state legislature in the United States, and the |
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| 1 | | news media of the State of Illinois.
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