Res 0360-2026

Whereas, The Equal Rights Amendment (ERA) is a proposed amendment to the United States Constitution intended to guarantee equal rights regardless of sex; and Whereas, The ERA was first introduced in 1923 and passed by both houses of Congress in 1972 after which it was sent to the states for ratification; and Whereas, The ERA required ratification by three-fourths of states or 38 states in order to be adopted; and Whereas, Congress set an initial seven-year deadline for ratification and later extended it to 1982, but by 1982 only 35 states had ratified the amendment; and Whereas, Since then, additional states have voted to ratify the ERA, and in 2020 the ERA reached the 38-state threshold; and Whereas, Issues have been raised about the unique ratification process, and the Archivist of the United States has not yet taken the final step of publishing the ERA in the Federal Register with certification of its ratification as the 28th Amendment; and Whereas, In March 2025, Senator Lisa Murkowski, Senator Mazie Hirono, and Congresswoman Ayanna Pressly reintroduced a bipartisan, bicameral resolution to eliminate the deadline set by Congress in 1972, intending to pave the way for the ERA to become the 28th Amendment of the United States Constitution; and Whereas, As women and people across the gender spectrum in New York City and around the country are increasingly facing mounting attacks on their rights and autonomy, the ERA is an important tool in establishing gender equality; and Whereas, It has been argued by legal scholars that the ERA could provide the foundation to implement gender equity principles through legislation and help create a social framework to formally acknowledge systemic biases that permeate and often limit women's daily experiences; and Whereas, Scholars also argued it would create consistency to address the patchwork ways gender and economic inequity are often addressed in our current laws; now, therefore, be it; Resolved, That the Council of the City of New York calls on the United States Congress to pass, and the President to sign, H.J.Res.80/S.J.Res.38, establishing the ratification of the Equal Rights Amendment. KS LS 21337 2/25/2026 10:10am