Florida Democrats Again Seek Ratification of Equal Rights Amendment

Senate Democratic Leader Nan Rich, D-Weston, and Rep. Lori Berman, D-Delray Beach, announcedTuesday that theyhave once again filed legislation -- SCR 180 and HCR 8003 -- asking Florida's Republican-dominated Legislature to ratify the Equal Rights Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.

A bill seeking ratification has been filed each of the past 10 years, but the proposal has yet to be reviewed in committee, Rich said during a rally supporting the amendment held inside the Capitol.

The amendment, first written in 1923 to declare equal rights shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any state on account of sex, was approved by both houses of the U.S. Congress in 1972 but failed to be ratified by enough states before a June 30, 1982, deadline.

Floridas House approved the amendment on four occasions before the deadline, but the measure never survived in the Senate.