Path to Ratification

Do you wonder how our ERA bills will move forward toward ratification here in North Carolina? Here’s a quick primer on the process and where things stand right now:

• Bill Introduced
  • Brief Window for Co-Sponsors Opens
• 1st Reading in each Chamber.
• Sent to Committee. Committee hearings are optional, but we hope the committees will choose to hold hearings and vote the bills out of committee and back to the full chamber. If no action is taken, the bill dies in committee. Click on the committee names below, where the ERA has typically been sent, to see who serves on each committee. While you’re there you can see what other bills have been assigned to the committee and subscribe to get email updates about committee actions.
  • House Judiciary Committee.
  • Senate Rules Committee; historically this is the committee bills have been sent to to die, but we have plenty of ERA friends on this committee, too!
• When a Committee approves a bill, it returns to the full chamber for 2nd Reading & Debate
• 3rd Reading & More Debate in Chamber
• Bill Moves to Other Body (repeat process)
• Other Body Approves Bill
• Bill is Ratified!

When an amendment to the U.S. Constitution is ratified by the NC General Assembly, it doesn’t require the Governor’s signature.

In the case of the Equal Rights Amendment, we also need action at the Federal level to lift the time limit unfortunately written into the preamble back in 1972 by North Carolina’s own Senator Sam Ervin. Currently there are bills in Congress to do just that. You can also read and track those online at Congress.gov; just type “Equal Rights Amendment” in the search box and it will bring up what bills are live in this Congressional session. There are bills to lift the time limit as well as bills to start the amendment process over from the beginning. The U.S. House of Representatives has repeatedly passed bills to lift the time limit, but the U.S. Senate continues to squash the sister bill.

ERA advocates have finally achieved the required ratification by 38 states when Virginia ratified on January 27, 2020. Lawsuits are pending by both pro- and anti-ERA forces. The ERA-NC Alliance has signed on to the ERA Coalition’s amici briefs.

We will continue to post updates and calls to action as events unfold! Sign up for our monthly news and action letter to stay up to date on developments.