Panel votes down Equal Rights Amendment in Virginia

Source: Associated Press


Ben Finley, Associated Press
Updated 1:02 pm CST, Tuesday, January 22, 2019

Efforts to make Virginia the 38th state to ratify the Equal Rights Amendment encountered a setback Tuesday following a subcommittee vote in the state's Republican-controlled Legislature.

The nation's supporters of the gender-equality amendment have been hoping this increasingly blue state will approve the ERA at a critical moment in their campaign to revive the measure, which is nearly half a century old.

ERA proponents say ratification by 38 states would meet the U.S. Constitution's threshold for approval. But it would also likely spark battles in the courts and Congress over a long-passed 1982 deadline and various other legal issues.

Measures to ratify the ERA in Virginia were voted down in a subcommittee for the House of Delegates' Privileges and Elections Committee. Proponents say there still may be a chance the measure can be voted out of the full committee Friday.

Read more: https://www.chron.com/news/us/article/Panel-vote-dims-hopes-for-Equal-Rights-Amendment-13551652.php