The Arizona Capitol Times, June 15, 2017, Opinion: GOP and the ERA
Excerpt:
Equal Rights Amendment seems to be very frightening to the Arizona Republican Party. On April 27, the sponsor of the Arizona ERA (HCR2012), Rep. Pamela Powers Hannley, D-Tucson, moved for it to be heard on the full House floor because it had been buried in committee without a hearing. To avoid a public vote, the speaker of the House quickly held a recess vote that was passed along party lines and scurried out.
On May 1, it was moved by Senate Minority Leader Katie Hobbs, D-Phoenix, to suspend the rules and vote on the Senate version (SCR1003), but that procedural move was also defeated along party lines. Ironically, the Republican Party was the first to adopt the ERA on its party platform in 1940. The Democrats did not adopt it until 1944. Unfortunately the Republican Party removed the ERA from its platform in 1980. Retired Supreme Court justice Sandra Day O’Connor was the first legislator to introduce the ERA in Arizona. A ratification resolution has been introduced in the Arizona House or Senate or both every year since before1982. Yet it has not been heard… read more