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.