ST. PAUL, Minn. — On Friday, the Judiciary and Public Safety Committee heard testimony on Senator Sandra Pappas’s bill (SF 47) to ratify the federal Equal Rights Amendment as the 28th amendment to the U.S. Constitution.
“It is well past time to guarantee equal legal rights for all U.S. citizens, regardless of sex,” said Senator Pappas. “Neither the Minnesota nor the U.S. Constitution specifically provide equal legal protection under the law regardless of sex and gender. Fifty years after Minnesota ratified the ERA, we must urge Congress to adopt it as the 28th amendment.”
Minnesota was the 26th state to ratify the ERA in 1973. In 2020, Virginia’s General Assembly passed a ratification resolution for the ERA and became the required 38th state to ratify the amendment.
The committee voted to pass SF 47 to the Rules Committee.
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