SPONSOR:

Sen. Hansen & Sen. Delcollo

DELAWARE STATE SENATE

149th GENERAL ASSEMBLY

SENATE AMENDMENT NO. 4

TO

HOUSE BILL NO. 399

AMEND House Bill No. 399 by inserting before line 1 the following:

"Section 1. The General Assembly finds and declares all of the following:

(1) In 1972, Delaware was the third state in the United States to ratify the federal Equal Rights Amendment, which was not ratified by the requisite number of states to become an amendment to the United States Constitution.

(2) Delaware is the only state that ratified the federal Equal Rights Amendment, but did not also add such protections to its own Constitution.

(3) The purpose of an equal rights amendment to the Delaware Constitution is to declare that equality of rights shall not be denied or abridged in this State on account of sex.

(4) The equal rights amendment contained in this Act, and its placement within Delaware’s Bill of Rights, means that the amendment applies to the State of Delaware and its political subdivisions, not private entities.

(5) A declaration of rights carries with it the promise that the State of Delaware will not impair a person’s opportunity to exercise those rights; it does not require the State to fund the exercise of those rights.

(6) The equal rights amendment contained in this Act recognizes that there are circumstances when other compelling interests, such as privacy, may inform the State's decision to support permissible single sex services or programming.".

FURTHER AMEND House Bill No. 399 on line 1 by deleting "Section 1." before "Amend" therein and inserting in lieu thereof "Section 2.".

SYNOPSIS

This Amendment adds a new Section 1 to the Act. The new Section 1 makes clear the General Assembly’s intent in proposing this amendment to the Delaware Constitution.

Author: Senator Hansen