AZ Reps. Grijalva and Barber Back Extension of ERA Ratification Deadline

Rep. Raul Grijalva

Ratification of the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA) has received bipartisan support in the Arizona Legislature, but Arizona’s Congressional delegation appears to be lagging behind. Of Arizona’s 11 Senators and Representatives, only two–  Southern Arizona Reps. Raul Grijalva (D- CD3) and Ron Barber (D- CD2)– have signed on to co-sponsor legislation to remove the ERA’s ratification deadline.

There are two Congressional bills to remove the ratification deadline. In the House, HJ Res 43 has 104 cosponsors (including Grijalva and Barber), and in the Senate, SJ Res 15 has 34 cosponsors.

Rep. Ron Barber

The ERA was introduced during every Congressional session between 1923 (when it was originally proposed) and 1972. It finally passed Congress nearly 70 years after it was originally introduced. In the 1970s, there was a ground war at the state level to get 38 state legislatures to ratify the ERA in order for it to become a Constitutional Amendment. The ERA fell 3 states short of ratification; Arizona is one of a handful of states that never ratified the ERA.

To become an amendment to the US Constitution, the ERA deadline must be extended by the Congress, and three state legislatures have to ratify it. Currently, six states have ratification proposals in 2013: Florida, Illinois, Louisana, Missouri, Virginia, and Arizona; North Carolina and Nevada have ERA proposals for 2014.

Passage of the ERA is a civil rights issue. It’s time for pay equity for American women. It’s time to end wage discrimination based upon gender.

You Have the Power

If you back the ERA and economic equality, please contact your Congressional representatives and tell them to co-sponsor and vote for extension of the ERA deadline. Below is the Arizona Congressional delegation. Click on their names to see their websites and contact information. Click on their names to Tweet about the ERA and their involvement. Suggested hastags: #ERA, #RatifyERA, #Equality4All, #RiseUp, and, of course, tag (#) or direct message (@) your Senator or Representative. There are sample Tweets here. Personally, I like this one: @RepSinema support #equality & #women? Prove it by signing #HJRES43 2 remove #ERA Ratification deadline. #RatifyERA#IMAH#RiseUp.

If you live in another state and want to know its status on extension of the ERA deadline, check out this interactive map from Progressive Democrats of America. The map also shows which state legislatures didn’t ratify the ERA in the 1970s.