Legislature(2011 - 2012)CAPITOL 106
04/12/2012 08:00 AM House STATE AFFAIRS
Audio | Topic |
---|---|
Start | |
SB53 | |
SCR24 | |
SB179 | |
SJR11 | |
Adjourn |
* first hearing in first committee of referral
+ teleconferenced
= bill was previously heard/scheduled
+ teleconferenced
= bill was previously heard/scheduled
+ | SB 179 | TELECONFERENCED | |
+ | SCR 24 | TELECONFERENCED | |
+ | SJR 11 | TELECONFERENCED | |
+= | SB 53 | TELECONFERENCED | |
+ | TELECONFERENCED |
SJR 11-NATIONAL WOMEN'S HISTORY MUSEUM 9:03:40 AM VICE CHAIR KELLER announced that the final order of business was SENATE JOINT RESOLUTION NO. 11 am, Urging members of the Alaska delegation in Congress to support efforts by the National Women's History Museum to secure property in Washington, D.C., near the National Mall, as a permanent location for the National Women's History Museum. 9:03:49 AM SENATOR BETTYE DAVIS, Alaska State Legislature, as sponsor, introduced SJR 11. She noted that the late Senator Ted Stevens, while serving in U.S. Congress, worked to bring a bust out of storage and have it displayed. She deferred to her staff to present an overview of the proposed joint resolution. 9:05:16 AM CELESTE HODGE, Staff, Senator Bettye Davis, Alaska State Legislature, paraphrased from the first four paragraphs of the sponsor statement, which read as follows [original punctuation provided]: Senate Joint Resolution No. 11 urges members of the Alaska delegation in Congress to support efforts by the National Women's History Museum to secure property in Washington DC near the National Mall as a permanent location for the National Women's History Museum. Women played and continue to play essential roles in many movements that helped shape the society we value so highly today. Such movements include the Labor Movement, the Women's Suffrage Movement, the Civil Rights Movement, the Women's Rights Movement, and the Environmental Movement. Women have long struggled to gain ground in a society largely dominated by men. Unfortunately, women achievements were marginalized and credit for their work and discoveries went to their male colleagues. Too often women were unsung heroes and their contributions went unnoticed. The displacement of women's history from the consciousness of the general public is indicated by the absence of women's history from K-12 curriculum. The achievements, leadership, courage, strength and love of the women who built America was and is as vital as that of the men whose names we know so well. In the 1970's, that began to change as a movement to celebrate women's history gained momentum - a momentum we now feel each March during Women's History Month as we pay tribute to the millions of women who sacrificed so much to help create a better society and world. Since its founding in 1996, the National Women's History Museum Institution, with the support of the National Foundation for women legislators, has been working toward obtaining a permanent site near the National Mall for its building. The construction of a museum that exhibits the rich history of women and their many contributions to society is long overdue. Furthermore, a location among the prestigious museums in and around the National Mall is fitting for an institution that would depict such an integral and transformative aspect of our nation's history which has for too long been obscured. MS. HODGE noted: Of the 210 statues in the Capitol Building, only nine are of women; of the 2,400 National Historical Landmarks in the country, only 5 percent document women's accomplishments. She indicated that there are national museums dedicated to airplanes, buildings, and postage stamps, but no single building dedicated to celebrating the accomplishments of women, who comprise over half the country's population. She urged the committee to pass SJR 11. 9:08:23 AM REPRESENTATIVE JOHANSEN directed attention to mention of a National Women's History Museum on page 2, line 4. SENATOR DAVIS said it is an institute. REPRESENTATIVE JOHANSEN offered his understanding that that means if he took his girls to Washington, D.C., [that museum] would not exist. He then asked if SJR 11 is a coordinated effort with other states. SENATOR DAVIS answered yes. She said the National Foundation for Women Legislators (NFWL) is a national foundation of state legislators, which works closely with all the states and is cosponsoring an effort to get the money for the building. 9:09:24 AM ROBIN REED, President/CEO, National Foundation for Women Legislators (NFWL); member, National Women's History Museum board, said there are museums honoring Native Americans, African Americans, Latin Americans, buildings, slides, textiles, and space, but no museum honoring women. She said the National Women's History Museum would not cost U.S. Congress one penny; it is the only museum that is not asking for an appropriation. She said the museum is asking only for permission to buy the property. She said the first bill Alaska passed is women's suffrage, which is a point that could be celebrated in a women's museum. She indicated that the efforts have come close to fruition, but were stopped last year in the U.S. Senate. Ms. Reed relayed that as the closest living relative of Susan B. Anthony, she has a vested interested in this issue. She said Susan B. Anthony is the person depicted in the aforementioned bust, which Senator Stevens tried to have displayed. In response to Representative Gruenberg, she said the bust was in the basement for 20 years before Senator Ted Stevens' efforts got it displayed. She said the spokesperson for the proposed museum is Meryl Streep, who remarked that it is unbelievable that the museum is not asking for money but has to get permission to be built. 9:13:22 AM MS. REED, in response to Representative Johansen, said many sites have been selected and all have been refused. She said the Latin American Museum was given a site in just three weeks. She said one of the buildings the museum requested was a glass building next to the old U.S. Post Office, used for storing snow machines, but the request was not granted. She said the museum has raised several million [dollars] already. She said, "We thought if the state could push state by state by state that they might kind of get the idea that not everybody's a chauvinist." In response to a follow-up question, she clarified that the entities saying no have been alternately the U.S. House of Representatives or the U.S. Senate. She said one time a legislator added the issue to his bill in order to have the overall cost of his bill lower, because the museum is not asking for any money; however, his bill failed. 9:16:31 AM REPRESENTATIVE P. WILSON related that 12 years ago, a then legislator asked her if she had asked her husband how she should vote. She said that upset her, and she said it shows that "we" have to try harder. MS. REED said, "For us to be able to do all these things we just need a few good men, I think, on your committee right now. And when we got the right to vote, it was a man that gave us the right to vote, as you remember." She reiterated that the museum has the wherewithal to pay for itself. REPRESENTATIVE GRUENBERG said, "That testimony is so sad." 9:18:30 AM VICE CHAIR KELLER closed public testimony. 9:18:37 AM REPRESENTATIVE P. WILSON moved to report SJR 11 out of committee with individual recommendations and the accompanying fiscal notes. REPRESENTATIVE GRUENBERG objected to ask that the motion be made with a request for unanimous consent. REPRESENTATIVE JOHANSEN ventured that everyone on the committee supports the proposed legislation. VICE CHAIR KELLER asked Representative Gruenberg, "If you would withdraw your objection I would appreciate it, and I think that it'll go just fine." REPRESENTATIVE GRUENBERG responded, "That's fine." VICE CHAIR KELLER announced that Representative Gruenberg's objection was withdrawn and [there being no further objection] SJR 11am was reported out of the House State Affairs Standing Committee.