TITLE: Telecon Meetings of StateCom

SPONSORS: John Andrews, Roni Beal

VETTING COMMITTEES: All

FLOOR MANAGER: John Andrews

SHEPHERD: Brian Cady (proposed)

SUMMARY: This proposal modifies the Standing Rules of StateCom to specify how telecom meetings will be scheduled and managed.

BACKGROUND:

StateCom has decided to have a telecom meeting in between each regular meeting. However the procedures for holding a telecon meeting have never been clearly defined. It is not advisable and not practical to apply all the procedures that are used for face-to-face meetings. This proposal adds appropriate language to the Standing Rules to ensure that telecom meetings can be properly planned and conducted.

TEXT OF PROPOSAL:

The following text shall be integrated into the Standing Rules of State Committee:

Telecon Meetings

a) At each regular StateCom meeting, a motion will be entertained to schedule a telecom meeting before the next quarterly regular StateCom meeting. The purposes of this telecom meeting shall be to complete business left over from the previous business meeting and to exercise routine StateCom duties such as making appointments to vacancies in officer positions or committees, approving state convention plans, taking final action on proposals discussed at the previous business meeting, and taking legal actions. The co-chairs may approve additional agenda items to be taken up as urgent business or as “advisory discussions”. “Urgent” means that the item cannot be delayed to the next regular business meeting without doing clear harm to the Party. An “advisory discussion” does not make official decisions but allows StateCom to provide guidance regarding a question. New proposals, not discussed at the previous business meeting, shall not be placed on the agenda of the telecom meeting unless they are classified by the facilitators as “urgent business”. There is no “proposal ranking” process such as that associated with proposals to the regular business meetings - the facilitators determine the order in which items are addressed.

b) The facilitators of the preceding regular business meeting will be the facilitators for the telecom meeting unless they withdraw or unless StateCom appoints new facilitators at their regular meeting. The GRP Co-chairs shall make appointments to fill vacancies in the co-facilitator positions, including replacing a co-facilitator who fails to call in to the telecon.

c) A requirement in these Standing Rules that notice be given to StateCom may be satisfied by sending an email to the State Committee business list. However if this list is nonfunctional for some reason, the notice may be mailed directly to all the member email addresses listed in the Secretary’s official list of State Committee members.

d) The facilitators will send out an email notice of the telecom date and time at least one week in advance (Ideally, such notice will go out immediately after the StateCom regular meeting that sets the date). A reminder notice shall be sent out with an agenda prior to the meeting. If both facilitators agree that the planned meeting date is infeasible, they may set a new date providing at least 48 hours notice of the change is sent to StateCom.

e) The sections of the Standing Rules that govern regular business meetings shall also govern telecom meetings with the following special stipulations:
1) The standard agenda need not be followed.
2) All votes shall be by roll call of all members who have declared themselves to be present. At the end of the roll call, the facilitators shall ask “Is there any member present whose name was not called?” Such persons shall then be permitted to vote.
3) The quorum shall be the same as the quorum for the previous business meeting unless the Secretary provides the facilitators with a new quorum number. The existence of a quorum for any vote shall be determined by the total votes cast. To allow a proper tabulation, all members present should vote either “aye”, “nay” or “abstain” during the roll call.
<<Explanation: Since people may join or drop out of telecons at any point, it is difficult to know if a quorum is present at any given moment. Thus the vote total is used to determine quorum at the time of each vote. >>
4) If technical difficulties prevent the meeting from continuing, the facilitators shall adjourn the meeting. After consultation with the co-chairs they shall either reschedule the meeting (providing as much notice as possible) or send out notice that all further business will be postponed to the next regular quarterly meeting.

IMPLEMENTATION:
The approved text shall be integrated into the Standing Rules of State Committee

FINANCIAL IMPLICATIONS:
None.

REFERENCES AND ATTACHMENTS

[1] Standing Rules of State Committee