Equal Rights Amendment supporters say it's still important that the North Carolina legislature ratify the proposal even as ERA’s future is being weighed by a court. General Assembly lawmakers and state and national ERA activists announced Thursday their redoubled efforts to bring ratification up for debate and votes this year. Republicans in charge of the General Assembly have been cool to acting on these resolutions in the past. The amendment was first sent to the states in the 1970s, and Virginia became the 38th and apparent last state necessary for validation. But what happens next is tied up in litigation.