ST. PAUL, MINN. – Five chief authors of equal rights amendment legislation (ERA) - Senators Sandy Pappas (DFL-St. Paul), Richard Cohen (DFL-St Paul), and Scott Dibble (DFL-Minneapolis); along with Representatives Phyllis Kahn (DFL-Minneapolis), and Rena Moran (DFL-St Paul) - will hold a press conference championing ERA legislation with ERA Minnesota (ERAMN) activists this Thursday, March 5th on ERA Day at the Capitol in honor of International Women’s Day.
“There are still lots of inequities in the workplace and society,” Senator Pappas remarked, “and the ERA would go a long way toward remedying those inequities.”
ERAMN activists from across the state will hold a press conference at 10:15 AM in Room 181 of the State Office Building. In addition, they will fan out to lobby legislators, then attend a hearing in the Senate Judiciary Committee Room 15 at 1:30 PM for SF113 – a resolution memorializing Congress to remove the deadline on the ERA in order to re-activate the 35 states - including Minnesota - that ratified the amendment statewide before it expired by the 1982 deadline.
There are several efforts by national networks of coalitions in previously un-ratified states to garner the 3 more states needed to reach 38 states – the 2/3 majority needed for an amendment to the U.S. Constitution to pass. States currently in play include VA, NV, NC, FL, and IL.
“As long as women are not specifically recognized in the constitution, women - and even more so, women of color - will continue to encounter double standards in the law; so we still need the ERA,” said Rep. Moran. “Currently the only right named in the Constitution for women is the right to vote - and even that is being constantly eroded: last year 92 bills were offered in states that would make voting more difficult,” she said.
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Who: Sens. Pappas, Cohen, & Dibble; Reps. Moran & Kahn along with ERA Minnesota (ERAMN) activists from around the state and other elected officials
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What: ERA Minnesota Press Conference with legislators
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Where: 181 State Office Building
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When: 10:15 AM on Thursday, March 5th, 2015