SJ0080 98TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY

SJ0080 LRB098 21498 MRW 60026 r

SENATE JOINT RESOLUTION

WHEREAS, The Ninety-second Congress of the United States of America, at its Second Session, adopted a Joint Resolution to amend the Constitution of the United States of America with language commonly referred to as the Equal Rights Amendment; and

WHEREAS, The proposed amendment was sent to the states for ratification, but was not ratified within the time period established by Congress; and

WHEREAS, The Illinois Constitution guarantees that equal protection of the laws shall not be denied or abridged on account of sex by the State or its units of local government and school districts; therefore, be it

RESOLVED, BY THE SENATE OF THE NINETY-EIGHTH GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES CONCURRING HEREIN, that we hereby apply to Congress to call a limited constitutional convention for the purpose of proposing to the states for ratification an amendment to the United States Constitution; and be it further

RESOLVED, That this amendment should be worded as follows, without substantial alteration: "The equal protection of the laws shall not be denied or abridged on account of sex by the United States or any State."; and be it further

RESOLVED, That this application constitutes a continuing application in accordance with Article V of the United States Constitution until at least two-thirds of the legislatures of the several states have made application for a limited constitutional convention; and be it further

RESOLVED, That, if the limited convention called by Congress is not limited to the topics proposed in this resolution, that this resolution calling for a convention shall be considered null and void and legally insufficient to be considered under Article V as one of the two-thirds of the several state resolutions necessary to call a limited constitutional convention; if a limited convention were to consider topics beyond the limited scope of this call for a constitutional convention, delegates, representatives, or participants shall be selected by the citizens of the State of Illinois to participate in the limited convention and shall be permitted to vote only on proposed amendments topically contained within the scope of this call and shall be instructed to vote against any other proposed amendments; and be it further

RESOLVED, That, if two-thirds of the legislatures of the several states make application to Congress to call a limited constitutional convention, the State of Illinois requests that such a convention be called not later than 6 months after Congress receives the necessary applications from state legislatures; and be it further

RESOLVED, That suitable copies of this resolution be presented to the Speaker and Clerk of the United States House of Representatives, the President Pro Tempore and Secretary of the United States Senate, the members of the Illinois congressional delegation, the presiding officers of each chamber of each state legislature in the United States, and the news media of the State of Illinois.