FIRST REGULAR SESSION
House Concurrent Resolution No. 40
96TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY
INTRODUCED BY REPRESENTATIVES McNEIL (Sponsor), HOLSMAN, ATKINS, OXFORD, CARLSON, SCHUPP, NEWMAN, KIRKTON, TAYLOR, NICHOLS, LAMPE, SMITH (71), McCANN BEATTY, McDONALD, SPRENG, SIFTON, PACE, McGEOGHEGAN, RIZZO, WEBB, WEBBER, COLONA, TALBOY, JONES (63), ELLINGER AND PIERSON (Co-sponsors).
AN ACT
Relating to the ratification of the Equal Rights Amendment to the United States Constitution.
Be it enacted by the General Assembly of the state of Missouri, as follows:
WHEREAS, three years after women won the right to vote, the Equal Rights Amendment to the United States Constitution, authored by Alice Paul, head of the National Women's Party, was introduced in Congress by Senator Curtis and Representative Anthony, both Republicans; and
WHEREAS, the Equal Rights Amendment to the United States Constitution passed the United States Senate and then the United States House of Representatives, and on March 22, 1972, the proposed Amendment to the United States Constitution was sent to the states for ratification; and
WHEREAS, the Equal Rights Amendment to the United States Constitution states:
"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, Congress placed a deadline of June 30, 1982, on the ratification process and thirty-five states ratified the proposed Amendment before the deadline; and
WHEREAS, Congress may not have the constitutional authority to place a deadline on the ratification process; and
WHEREAS, Article V of the United States Constitution allows the General Assembly of the State of Missouri to ratify this proposed Amendment to the Constitution of the United States; and
WHEREAS, the General Assembly of the State of Missouri finds that the proposed Amendment is meaningful and needed as part of the United States Constitution and that the present political, social and economic conditions are the same as or are even more demanding today than they were when the proposed Amendment was first submitted for adoption:
NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that the members of the House of Representatives of the Ninety-sixth General Assembly, First Regular Session, the Senate concurring therein that the Equal Rights Amendment to the United States Constitution is hereby ratified; and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Chief Clerk of the Missouri House of Representatives be instructed to prepare a properly inscribed copy of this resolution for the Archivist of the United States, Washington, D.C.; the Vice President of the United States; the Speaker of the United States House of Representatives; and each member of the Missouri Congressional Delegation with request that it be printed in the Congressional Record.
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