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7 WHEREAS, women continue to confront a lack of political parity, workplace 1 discrimination, health care inequities, disparate rates of poverty, rape and domestic violence 2 assaults; and 3 4 WHEREAS, the United States Constitution fails to guarantee explicitly that all rights 5 that it purports to protect are held equally by all residents without regard to sex; and 6 7 WHEREAS, the equal protection clause of the 14th Amendment never has been 8 interpreted to guarantee equal rights for women; and 9 10 WHEREAS, the Equal Rights Amendment [ERA] was drafted to help correct systemic 11 discrimination based on sex, i.e., by situating sex as a suspect category invoking strict judicial 12 scrutiny, as with race, national origin and religion; and 13 14 WHEREAS, the ERA was passed by Congress in 1972 and ratified by 35 of the 38 15 states necessary to put it into the Constitution, yet was assumed to have expired in 1982; and 16 17 WHEREAS, Congress can alter time limits in the proposing clauses of amendments, 18 and the deadline for the ERA appeared only in the preamble as opposed to the actual 19 legislation; and 20 21 WHEREAS, the State of Nevada became the 36th state to approve the ERA in 2017; 22 and 23 24 WHEREAS, Senator Floyd B. McKissick, Jr. and Representative Carla Cunningham 25 introduced ERA ratification bills in the NC General Assembly in the 2017 long session, with 26 Senator Mike Woodard co-sponsoring the Senate bill and Representative Henry M. Michaux 27 co-sponsoring the House bill; and 28 29 WHEREAS, US Representative David Price, Representative Alma Adams, and 30 Representative G.K. Butterfield have previously co-sponsored bills in Congress to adopt an 31 ERA, and to lift the time limits on states for ratifying the ERA; and 32 33 WHEREAS, the Board of County Commissioners adopted a resolution regarding the 34 Equal Rights Amendment on November 15, 2016 with language similar to that appearing 35 below; 36 37 NOW THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED, that the Orange County Board of County 38 Commissioners calls on the US Congress to pass into law a bill to adopt an Equal Rights 39 Amendment, or to remove the time limit for ratification of the ERA so that ratification shall be 40 achieved upon the affirmative vote of 38 states, of which 36 already have ratified; and 41 42 BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that the Orange County Board of County 43 Commissioners calls on the NC General Assembly to pass into law a bill to ratify the Equal 44 Rights Amendment to the United States Constitution as proposed by Congress on March 22, 45 1972. 46 47 48 This the 20th day of March 2018. 49 50