Agenda - 01-24-2017 - 6-a - Minutes

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7 1 2 ORANGE COUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS 3 RESOLUTION IN SUPPORT OF THE EQUAL RIGHTS AMENDMENT 4 5 WHEREAS, Orange County forthrightly supports equal rights for all residents of Orange 6 County; and 7 8 WHEREAS, women continue to confront a lack of political parity, workplace discrimination, 9 healthcare inequities, disparate rates of poverty, rape and domestic violence assaults; and 10 11 WHEREAS, the United States Constitution fails to guarantee explicitly that all rights that it 12 purports to protect are held equally by all residents without regard to sex; and 13 14 WHEREAS, the equal protection clause of the 14th Amendment never has been interpreted 15 to guarantee equal rights for women; and 16 17 WHEREAS, the Equal Rights Amendment [ERA] was drafted to help correct systemic 18 discrimination based on sex, i.e., by situating sex as a suspect category invoking strict judicial 19 scrutiny, as with race, national origin and religion; and 20 21 WHEREAS, the ERA was passed by Congress in 1972 and ratified by 35 of the 38 states 22 necessary to put it into the Constitution, yet was assumed to have expired in 1982; and 23 24 WHEREAS, Congress can alter time limits in the proposing clauses of amendments, and the 25 deadline for the ERA appeared only in the preamble as opposed to the actual legislation; and 26 27 WHEREAS, Senator Floyd B. McKissick, Jr. and Representative Carla Cunningham 28 introduced ERA ratification bills in the NC General Assembly in the 2015 long session, with 29 Senator Mike Woodard co-sponsoring the Senate bill and Representative Henry M. Michaux 30 co-sponsoring the House bill; and 31 32 WHEREAS, these legislators have indicated that they will introduce similar bills in 2017; and 33 34 WHEREAS, US Representative David Price, Representative Alma Adams, and 35 Representative G.K. Butterfield co-sponsored bills in the 114th Congress to adopt an ERA, 36 and to lift the time limits on states for ratifying the ERA; 37 38 NOW THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED, that the Orange County Board of County 39 Commissioners calls on the US Congress to pass into law a bill to adopt an Equal Rights 40 Amendment, or to remove the time limit for ratification of the ERA so that ratification shall be 41 achieved upon the affirmative vote of 38 states, of which 35 already have ratified; and 42 43 BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that the Orange County Board of County Commissioners calls 44 on the NC General Assembly to pass into law a bill to ratify the Equal Rights Amendment to 45 the United States Constitution as proposed by Congress on March 22, 1972. 46 47 This, the 15th day of November 2016. 48 49 A motion was made by Commissioner Rich, seconded by Commissioner Jacobs to 50 approve the Resolution in support of the Equal Rights Amendment.