Title: Rapid Response Protocol

Proposal Shepherd: Daphne Stevens, Worcester

Co-Sponsors: Wes Nickerson, Elie Yarden, Danny Factor

Vetting Committees: Adcom

Revised: January 7, 2015

Background: In the fast-paced news cycle of contemporary politics, events and issues change rapidly. In order for the Green-Rainbow Party to improve its visibility and relevance, it needs to respond rapidly to current events. The Green-Rainbow Party many times misses out on opportunities to endorse and participate in events such as marches, rallies, conferences, and festivals, because of a slow decision-making process, that often involves going through one or more committees, that only meet once every two weeks or even less often. This proposal would empower the Co-Chairs of the Party, at their discretion, to take action if needed between meetings of Adcom or other committees, if an event is in keeping with GRP values and previous GRP participation or endorsement of similar events. This proposal would also require both co-chairs as well as the treasurer to all three agree before any money is spent which is not budgeted or approved by the rest of Adcom, in order to safeguard Party funds from unsound spending.

Proposal Text: Amend the GRP Bylaws by adding the following two sentences to Article 9.11 under Duties of the co-chairs shall be to: 

- Exercise discretion in expediting, endorsing, participating in, and promote important, urgent events, such as marches, rallies, conferences, and festivals, in the name of the Green-Rainbow Party, in keeping with GRP values, and previous GRP endorsed events. 

- Delegate responsibilities as necessary for the sake of punctuality.

The full text of Article 9.11 as amended would read:

Duties of the co-chairs shall be to:

• Act as official spokes people for the Green-Rainbow Party;
• Set the agenda for administrative committee meetings;
• Arrange for the facilitation of all state conventions, state committee and administrative committee meetings;
• Notify other administrative committee members and directors of meetings;
• Ensure that other administrative committee members and directors are performing their duties.
• Exercise discretion in expediting, endorsing, participating in, and promote important, urgent events, in the name of the Green-Rainbow Party, such as marches, rallies, conferences, and festivals, in keeping with GRP values, and previous GRP endorsed events.
• Delegate responsibilities as necessary for the sake of punctuality.

Amend Article 9.10 by replacing the words, "if two of the three agree" with the words, "if the co-chairs and treasurer agree" 

The full text of Article 9.10 as amended would read:

"All administrative committee members shall be able to oversee the work of all Green-Rainbow Party staff. The co-chairs and treasurer may authorize financial expenditure that are not in the budget and have not been approved by the rest of the administrative committee if the co-chairs and treasurer agree, provided such expenditures are ratified at next AdCom meeting."

Implementation: N/A

Budget Impact: No cost to modify the Bylaws themselves. There is an unknown potential cost of participation in more events. Any potential cost is covered by Article 9.10.