North Carolina HB 500: MOUNT HOLLY RECREATION FUNDS

Bill Text

GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF NORTH CAROLINA
SESSION 2025
H 1
HOUSE BILL 500

Short Title: NC Adopt ERA. (Public)
Sponsors: Representatives von Haefen, Cunningham, Price, and Prather (Primary
Sponsors).
For a complete list of sponsors, refer to the North Carolina General Assembly web site.
Referred to: Rules, Calendar, and Operations of the House
March 26, 2025
*H500-v-1*
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED 1
AN ACT TO RATIFY THE EQUAL RIGHTS AMENDMENT TO THE CONSTITUTION OF 2
THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. 3
Whereas, Article V of the Constitution of the United States of America sets forth a 4
two-step amending process; and 5
Whereas, the first step of the Article V amending process is proposal of an amendment 6
by two-thirds vote of both houses of Congress or by a convention called by application of 7
two-thirds of the States; and 8
Whereas, the 92nd Congress of the United States of America, at its second session, in 9
both houses, by a constitutional majority of two-thirds thereof, adopted the following proposition 10
to amend the Constitution of the United States of America in the following words, to wit: 11
"JOINT RESOLUTION 12
"Resolved by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in 13
Congress assembled (two-thirds of each House concurring therein), That the following article is 14
proposed as an amendment to the Constitution of the United States, which shall be valid to all 15
intents and purposes as part of the Constitution when ratified by the legislatures of three-fourths 16
of the several States within seven years from the date of its submission by the Congress: 17
"ARTICLE ______ 18
"Section 1. Equality of rights under the law shall not be denied or abridged by the United 19
States or by any State on account of sex. 20
"Sec. 2. The Congress shall have the power to enforce, by appropriate legislation, the 21
provisions of this article. 22
"Sec. 3. This amendment shall take effect two years after the date of ratification."; and 23
Whereas, next, the second and final step of the Article V amending process is 24
ratification of an amendment by three-fourths of the States; and 25
Whereas, some forty-eight years after the amendment was adopted by Congress, on 26
January 27, 2020, Virginia became the 38th of the 50, or three-fourths, of the States to ratify this 27
federal Equal Rights Amendment; and 28
Whereas, in its distinct role as one of the original thirteen States, North Carolina 29
participated in the 1787 federal Constitutional Convention and helped draft the precise text of 30
the federal Constitution, including Article V which preserves States' rights to amend the 31
document; and 32
Whereas, a demand for amendments to the federal Constitution in order to recognize 33
individual rights is part of the patriotic heritage of the State of North Carolina; and 34

General Assembly Of North Carolina Session 2025
Page 2 House Bill 500-First Edition
Whereas, James Madison and other leaders made clear to the state ratifying 1
conventions for the federal Constitution that ratification cannot be conditioned on amendments 2
and, once made, a ratification is final and cannot be rescinded; and 3
Whereas, at the state ratifying convention for the federal Constitution held in 4
Hillsborough in summer of 1788, North Carolina delegates sought a bill of individual rights to 5
be added to the federal Constitution and voted 184 to 84 to neither ratify nor reject the document; 6
and 7
Whereas, as a consequence, North Carolina was one of only two original States not 8
part of the then United States under the new federal Constitution at the end of 1788; and 9
Whereas, the comments and concerns of North Carolina informed James Madison 10
when he drafted amendments preserving individual and States' rights; and 11
Whereas, those proposed twelve amendments were approved by the new Congress in 12
September of 1789; and 13
Whereas, after those amendments were sent to the States for ratification, North 14
Carolina ratified the federal Constitution at its second state ratifying convention in Fayetteville 15
in November of 1789; and 16
Whereas, in December of 1789, North Carolina ratified all twelve of the amendments 17
proposed by Congress; and 18
Whereas, because of North Carolina's initial refusal to ratify a federal Constitution 19
without a bill of rights, we have our first ten amendments protecting individual rights at the 20
national level; and 21
Whereas, another one of the twelve amendments ratified by North Carolina in 22
December of 1789 was added to the federal Constitution over 200 years later, in 1992, when it 23
became fully-ratified by 38 of the 50, or three-fourths, of the States; and 24
Whereas, that amendment, known as the Congressional Pay Amendment, is our 27th 25
Amendment, because Article V of the federal Constitution does not limit the time for States to 26
ratify an amendment; and 27
Whereas, adding a ratification time limit is itself an amendment to the Constitution 28
and must be included wit