Collected Actions for the ERA Amendment in Florida.

90 Years later, Is  Florida doing enough?

 Before you read the following collection of the Federal Equal Rights Amendment information, to pass it in March and April, YOU need to consider coming to the Florida Legislature for at least a week, or two if you can swing it. You can be part of the movement of women and men supporters of the ERA passage in 2011. We will need hundreds of ERA proponents, wearing ERA shirts, buttons and with a printed message to give to legislators about the need to pass this simple resolution in 2011. This will be a must, a real live lobbying effort to  get it to the House and Senate committee and to the House and Senate floors for final passage.  This lobbying effort may take two, three to four weeks to get the resolution out of committee. Committees then shut down. The session is 60 days long.

If you can't come, you can help someone from your community come. This means funding for motel/hotel, gas to get back and forth. It means printing the buttons and shirts locally. You can phone, e-mail and mail legislators.  If you want to get involved e-mail me at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .  My resume is on this web site. I know what must happen to pass the ERA resolution.  You can get Commissions, organizations to endorse this ERA Amendment and urge legislators to pass it in 2011. We can publish this list of endorsements on this section of the web site. I can teach you and lobby this issue, but I need a small army of people helping.

In November, County Legislative Delegations are holding hearings. Go tell them to pass the ERA in 2011.

Each County needs an ERA Campaign and representatives coming up into the halls of the legislature, visiting legislators and just staying in their face. In the coming weeks your County Delegation will be meeting. Be there. And let them know you want the ERA passed in 2011--Denny Wood

INTRODUCTION:

For 7 consecutive years the Federal Equal Rights Amendment has been bottled up in the Florida Senate and House of Representatives by the republican leadership. Several members of this leadership are still in the running for higher office or re-election. And they do not want women and men ERA proponents to know how they prevented the ERA resolution to be heard in any committee for seven consecutive years. They knew that Florida is one of 15 states NOT to have ratified this simple amendment to the American Constitution. And that 3 more states are needed. Florida's constitution includes women. And the State did not crumble.

If you can come to the legislature and help lobby this amendment sign up at my e-mail address: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .It is going to take hundreds of ERA proponents weekly at the legislature to get this bill heard in a committee in the Senate and the House.

What I have found dissappointing is Florida women are basically unaware of the Federal ERA Amendment. As a lobbyist in 2004, 2005 and 2006 I did not have a clue it was a bill at these sessions. I witnessed no ERA proponents, no shirts with ERA, no Buttons regarding the ERA. We need to be in force at the 2011 legislative session that begins in March.

The following are some interventions I tried in 2010, the ERA resolution and related ERA information. More will be added.

 1. 2010 ACTION (FAILED)

Dear Governor Crist:

In the event there is a special session called, I urge you to include taking up the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA) and getting it "off the table". It has been introduced every year since 2003.
It is now an election issue with the supporters of the ERA. Ms. Morilla has explained it much better than I could and is as following.....Denny Wood, www.dignity4disabled.com, www.dennywood.net CC: SUPPORTERS, MEDIA, LEGISLATURE, OTHERS.

From: Morilla, Laura C. (Advocacy)
Sent: Friday, May 07, 2010 1:30 PM
Subject: ERA info

Good afternoon Mr. Wood. Per our earlier phone conversation, here is some information about the ERA "Three State Strategy."

In 1972, Congress finally passed the ERA and sent it to the states for ratification, but with a ratification deadline of 1979. In 1978, when only 35 of the necessary 38 states had ratified the ERA, Congress extended the deadline to 1982. The ratification deadline expired on June 30, 1982, still with only 35 states. On May 7, 1992, the "Madison Amendment," which deals with Congressional pay raises, became the 27th amendment to the Constitution when Michigan became the 38th state to ratify it. Congress submitted the Madison Amendment to the states as part of the original Bill of Rights on September 25, 1789, but it was not ratified until 203 years later in 1992.

The ratification of the Madison Amendment acted as a catalyst for ERA supporters because it called into question the legality of the ratification deadlines imposed on the ERA, and also highlighted Congress ability to accept an amendment long after the fact. ERA supporters developed a "Three State Strategy" for ratification based on the legal theory that the ratification by the previous 35 states is still viable and that the ratification deadline was improper or could be extended again or abolished altogether. Simply put, the idea is to get three more states to ratify the ERA, then throw the matter to Congress and get Congress to lift the deadline, we have at ERA in the Constitution. Sinceand, voila Florida is one of 15 states that has not ratified the ERA, that's why there has been a focus on Florida for the past few years as part of the Three State Strategy.

The following websites have good information on the ERA and the Three State Strategy:

 www.equalrightsamendment.org, www.ERACampaign.net, and www.4ERA.org.

Hope this helps.

Laura Morilla, Executive Director
Miami-Dade County Commission for Women
111 NW 1st Street, Suite 660, Miami, Florida 33128
Phone 305-375-4967 Fax 305-375-5715
http://www.miamidade.gov/cfw

  2. 2010 ACTION (FAILED)

Dear Rep. Cannon:

Did your staff person talk to you about my message to you about the ERA?

I'm asking you to pass the ERA on the last day or days of this session with your powers as the elected 2011 Speaker. This will entail getting assistance from the next President of the Senate.

Don Tucker and Dempsey Baron did this for us in 1974. Both companion bills were buried in committees with no hearings. Tucker waived the rules, and brought it up and passed it and sent it in messages. Baron did the same thing and passed it that last night at the legislature, bringing my total to 13 bills passed that year. That is how Physical Handicap got in the basic rights section of the Florida constitution. And you know how the state voted on the more recent state constitution. Clever of them to change our status to achieve their status too.

This is a small matter. 38 states have done it and Florida is one of 15 that has not passed it.

As your wife about it. Do you need to feel superior to her or just equal ? I actually consider women superior to us men, but let's keep that between us for today.

This simple act will take some pressure off you in the up coming election. It will, in fact probably make you a shoo in. And probably famous. I emerged out of the 1974 legislature famous.

Betty Castor's husband was to be the next speaker. He lost the election. He was one of the finest legislators in the Florida House. Cut down in his district election. Shocked the state too. (Added afterwards 5/9/2010: Sam Bell lost his local election.)

With 450,000 units of oil spilling in the ocean daily, you can use an edge. Who would have thought this oil spill would have happened just before your election. Over 50% of your district are women.

I have already told Amy Mercado today that I am asking you to take the ERA off the table this year.

If elected I will introduce the ERA in 2011. If not elected I will lobby it in 2011. Please, take it off the table this week.

Prior to coming up with this idea and request I started a lot of activity on passing this ERA in 2011. But all those women's groups would be happier if you just took it off the table by shocking everyone.

Attached is a section out of this book I am writing. It is about the ERA amendment and the Physical Handicap in the Constitution. It was just words, and has yet to help people with disabilities.

You and I talked many times in 2004, 2005 and 2006. Two very intelligent people.

I have made a commitment to sponsor the ERA in 2011. If not elected, I will lead an effort to pass it in 2011. We will fill the halls with women and ERA buttons, like we did in 1974 and 1975. What a circus that was.

I would like nothing better to see you become famous rather than me again. Pass it the last day or days of this session. You have everything to gain, and nothing to lose.

Respectfully,
Denny Wood

Attachment with the above:

ERA

The following are excerpts out of a book I am writing about the Florida Civil Rights Movement for people with disabilities. I sent it to Rep. Cannon, his staff and the President of the Senate designee for 2011. I had communications with both staffs, and know they got it.

1974 State Legislature; Constitutional Amendment to include :Physical Handicapped in Basic Rights Section.
The Constitution amendment that Larry and I read about in the Law and the Handicapped booklet out of Texas described an amendment proposed to prohibit discrimination due to one's physical or mental handicapped was also introduced. This was followed by Larry. He got his sponsors. After a House committee Larry told me that the word "mental" had been amended out of the bill. After that the bill went no where. In the last week of the session Larry was seeing all of my bills going to the governor. Twelve of them. On the last day of the Legislature Larry finally did some work worth notation. He decided to try and pass the constitutional amendment. The bills were buried in committees in both the Senate and the House. This required several trips to the Senate President designee Senator Dempsey Baron, who did not like amendments to the Florida Constitution, and Don Tucker, the next year and the Designee for the Speaker of the House. Somehow, he convinced Senator Baron to resurrect this bill out of many committees and place it on the Calendar of the Senate. And Rep. Tucker agreed to do the same in the House. This required a commitment from the women legislators that if the bill came up, they would not attempt to amend women into the bill. The bill was pulled out of committees and placed on the Calendar. A motion was made to take up the bill in the first chamber and it passed. The second chamber pulled it out of messages and passed it that last nigh of the legislature. I sat and watched Larry Hawkins finally do some work. Amazingly he was successful. The bill had passed both chambers and would be placed on the ballot that year. In November Florida voted that it be added to the constitution.

What I learned is that anything is possible at the Florida Legislature. This taught me to never give up on an issue until the session was completely over. At future legislatures I would be working the last day into the night trying to get doomed issues passed. Once I would tell a Rules Chairman about the constitutional amendment of 1974. He responded, in writing, by saying the leadership had to be for the issue for this to happen.

1975

This session was not as productive as the 1974 session. Speaker of the House, Don Tucker had made that beginning statement. Secondly, my ERA participation did not help my cause in the Senate. I know Senator Holloway was upset with my ERA button and Senator Barron did not appreciate my position. Since the women of the House of Representatives helped us pass our constitutional amendment that last night of the 1974 Legislature, I was personally committed to helping them with their Constitutional Amendment.

At the past session the women legislators had insured our passage of the constitutional amendment. They had again introduced the ERA issue. They had buttons and offered me one. I put it on indicating that I was a supporter.

And I recall how Senator Vernon Holloway of Dade County corralled me and told me that by wearing the button I was jeopardizing my legislative program. He clearly wanted that button off my shirt. And I remember me telling him that the women helped us pass our constitutional amendment and I was obligated to do the same. I had decided to help and that was that. And Senator Holloway was right; it hurt my legislative program that year. The ERA vote was close, but it failed.

1976

This session began with a surprise. The women decided to drop the ERA issue. Instead, they were just going to seek meaningful laws that helped their issues. Whatever they wanted, I was supporting it as we owed them for the 1974 help with our constitutional amendment. But I was greatly relieved that I would not have the ERA issue going on. And this was an election year.

THE ERA RESOLUTION WAS NOT TAKEN UP THIS LAST WEEK OF THE 2010 LEGISLATURE.

***************************************************************************************************************

Since 2003 the following Equal Rights Amendment (ERA) has been introduced each year. The Republican Speakers of the House, Johnny Byrd, Allen G. Bense, Marco Rubio, Ray Samson and Larry Crutel have all managed to insure that this legislation NEVER would see House chamber action. It would infact, not leave the first committee of reference each of these years, except for one senate committee. I understand that Mario Rubio would not even refer the bill to a committee where it could die. It is noted that Marco Rubio was high in the leadership of the Byrd and Bense Speakership.

In the Senate the President James King, Tom Lee, Ken Pruitt and Jeffery Atwater would also do their part to insure the ERA would not get to the Senate floor. In the Senate, all those years the ERA would only be agended in a single committee chaired by Senator J. Alex Villalobos.

As a pro bono lobbyist, 2004, 2005 and 2006, never did I hear the ERA referred to or spoken about. Unlike the State ERA movement in 1974 and 1975, there were no women proponents with ERA buttons present, and I was there for the full sessions. In 2011 the buttons, the women and men must be visable and forceful if this simple ERA legislation is going to pass.

The 2011 effort to pass the ERA began the day the 2010 legislature ended. Editors and others and organizations who endorsed the ERA must reaffirm their position on the ERA. I have to ask, where are the women journalists and reporters on this issue? Where have they been since 2003? Frankly, they too, should be outraged for the actions of some conservative republican power brokers, who just happen to be men. There are men and women supporting this issue. And I fail to see the outrage. I feel the outrage, enough to commit to attempt to pass the ERA in the 2011 Legislature. And I'd like to see it the first resolution passed. Frankly, it does not even have to be referred to committee. The Speaker and President can send it to the Calendar and quickly set it on the Special Order Calendar.

During the last week of the 2010 Legislature, just after learning there was ERA legislation pending, I contacted the next Speaker of the House and next President of the Senate. I asked them just to pull up the ERA legislation and pass it. I even told them how two other people in their position did this the last night of the 1974 legislature. These two "drill baby, drill future chamber leaders, declined. And again, the ERA died in the first committees of reference.

Since Rep. Dean Cannon, has a democratic candidate taking him on, and with the new Gulf spill erupting I strongly suggested that it might be in his best interest to pull this ERA bill up and pass it. I asked him to talk to his wife about it. I suggested that his re-election just might depend on this ERA bill. I let him know that I was in touch with women's organizations and that I had notified the democratic candidate in his race of the request I was making from him. And I mentioned the Gulf oil spill to him in the e-mails. And that another speaker designee, never made it past his district re-election. (Sam Bell, one of the finest.)

In 2011, I plan to be at that legislature, and I will make the ERA a prime bill that must pass. This must be taken off the table. Florida is one of only 15 states who has not ratified the ERA amendment. In regards to civil rights I do not think we are a backward state. But I live in Miami, Florida and Florida might be different here in South Florida. The 2011 legislature needs to take ERA off the table, and focus on other major issues, like keeping our state running. Both of these designees seem to respond well to a "sledge hammer" to the head in the form of the massive oil spill to change their "drill baby, drill" legislative plans and our 80 billion dollar Tourist industry protection, which means keeping the beaches forever oil spill free.

----Denny Wood.

3. 2010  Last Event: Died in Civil Justice & Courts Policy Committee on Friday, April 30, 2010 6:59 PM

CONTENT OF 2010 HB 8006/SB 1192

2 A concurrent resolution ratifying the proposed
3 amendment to the Constitution of the United States
4 relating to equal rights for men and women.
5. reserved
6 WHEREAS, during the Second Session of the Ninety-second
7 Congress of the United States of America, by a constitutional
8 majority of two-thirds, both houses approved the Equal Rights
9 Amendment, and
10 WHEREAS, on March 22, 1972, this proposed amendment to the
11 Constitution of the United States was sent to the states for
12 ratification, and
13 WHEREAS, Article V of the United States Constitution
14 authorizes the Legislature of Florida to ratify proposed
15 amendments to the Constitution of the United States, and
16 WHEREAS, 35 of the necessary 38 states have already
17 ratified the Equal Rights Amendment, and
18 WHEREAS, constitutional equality for men and women
19 continues to be timely in the United States and worldwide, and
20 many other nations have achieved constitutional equality for
21 their men and women, NOW, THEREFORE,
22
23 Be It Resolved by the Senate of the State of Florida, the House
24 of Representatives Concurring:
25
26 That the proposed amendment to the Constitution of the
27 United States set forth below is ratified by the Legislature of
28 the State of Florida.
29 "Article ____"
Florida Senate - 2010 SCR 1192
18-00004A-10 20101192__
Page 2 of 2
CODING: Words stricken are deletions; words underlined are additions.
30 "SECTION 1. Equality of rights under the law shall not be
31 denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on
32 account of sex."
33 "SECTION 2. The Congress shall have the power to enforce,
34 by appropriate legislation, the provisions of this article."
35 "SECTION 3. This amendment shall take effect two years
36 after the date of ratification."
37 BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that certified copies of the
38 foregoing preamble and resolution be immediately forwarded by
39 the Secretary of State of the State of Florida, under the great
40 seal, to the President of the United States, the Secretary of
41 State of the United States, the President of the Senate of the
42 United States, the Speaker of the House of Representatives of
43 the United States, and the Administrator of General Services of
44 the United States.

RUBIO AS SPEAKER AND THE ERA FROM SANDY AT This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it :

(end)