Title: Simple GRP bylaw changes

Shepherd: Merelice, Norfolk County

Co-Sponsor: Danny Factor

Vetting: Administrative Committee

Background:

The bylaws had not been updated since Merelice did the 2012 update, so Merelice updated them in May 2015. Danny Factor has proposed some straightforward edits that do not require approval since they do not change any meaning or purpose, and these are in progress. As Merelice carefully read the bylaws while updating them, she listed potential changes to be considered. Some changes will need deeper consideration; some changes are minor and could likely be accepted without much discussion. This proposal focuses solely on the latter or what might be considered minor changes.

While these changes are being presented as a single proposal, if any are deemed to require more thought, they can be removed from this proposal to be handled separately in future proposals.

Financial impact: None

Proposal text:

The State Committee hereby makes the bylaw changes indicated in bold type as follows:

 6.3 The convention committee shall choose convention facilitators and other officers as needed.The state committee [delete: convention] shall adopt convention [delete: its own] rules provided such rules do not contradict these by-laws and are acceptable to the convention.

6.7 The state committee shall elect the committees and personnel necessary for the conduct of the state convention including but not limited to the following:

•the state convention's agenda,

•the deadlines and process for nominations and elections,

•deadlines for the submission of proposals,

•the promulgation of regulations regarding how proposals are to be submitted for consideration at the state convention,

•handling the credentialing of delegates, and

•drafting any additional rules for the state convention.

The state committee shall have or can delegate to the administrative committee or convention committee final approval of all matters relating to the conduct of the state convention.

6.9 The co-chairs and secretary of the administrative committee shall be the co-chairs and secretary of the convention, until and unless the convention committee or convention chooses other officers.

8.5.7 The first act at any regular State Committee meeting shall be to appoint any and all additional proportional representatives elected at properly accredited regional conventions or nominated between regional conventions.

8.5.8 In 2008 or in any year when the March date of the quadrennial presidential primary is changed, at the organizing state committee meeting as prescribed by state law MGL Chapter 52, Section 1, the only actions that may and must take place in the following order by the newly elected state committee delegates for the Green-Rainbow Party elected at that primary election [delete: the 2008 presidential primaries], are to:

A choose the current Secretary of the party as the Secretary of the party

B choose the currentTreasurer of the party as theTreasurer of the party

C call the regular spring state committee meeting [delete: for a month later onApril 12th 2008] at which there will be an orientation for newly elected regional representatives and whatever other business that may be taken up

D adjourn the meeting

8.7.1 State Committee representatives who are no longer legal residents of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts shall be automatically removed [delete: suspended].

8.7.2 State Committee representatives who have missed three (3) consecutive State Committee meetings, in the absence of a compelling personal reason [delete: emergency] which has been communicated to the State Committee, shall be automatically suspended.

8.7.4 State Committee representatives who have been automatically suspended shall be temporarily consideredAlternate Delegates until the next State Committee meeting, at which the State Committee has the option to formally remove them, assuming the representative does not attend the meeting and thereby automatically reinstate herself/himself.

9.14  Duties of the secretary shall be to:

•Ensure that minutes are recorded at all Green-Rainbow Party meetings;

•Distribute minutes to members in a timely manner;

*Keep the Green-Rainbow Party bylaws up-to-date;

•Receive materials and submit them to AdCom for certifying GRP Chapters (see 7.3).

Regarding the following section: Does anyone understand this section if the need should arise? Should it be dropped? If it is retained, propose it be removed from this section of the bylaws and be added to Addendum A, the consensus process, and the section numbers be adjusted accordingly.

5.3 If consensus cannot be achieved and in order to promote fairness and inclusiveness, a SingleTransferableVote Proportional Representation (STVPR) system shall be used when voting to select one or more proposals or candidates from many.The exact details of this voting system is specified in another document that is made publicly available.

The number of desired selections is referred to as the number of Selections.

A voter must rank her choices with her top choice ranked first, the second choice ranked second, and so on.A voter may choose to rank as many or as few of the proposals as she desires.

Eachproposal must receive a threshold number of votes to be selected. In the case when one proposal or candidate is to be chosen, the threshold number of votes shall be 2/3 of the votes cast. In the case when more than one proposal or candidate is to be chosen, the threshold number of votes is equal to the following formula: ((the number of voters) / (the number of Selections + 1)) + 1, rounded down to the nearest whole number.

Votes are apportioned among their top-ranked choice.The choices that receive more than the threshold number of votes shall be deemed to be Selected and any votes they receive beyond the threshold shall be reallocated among their next-highest-ranked eligible choices in an equitable manner.

This process is repeated until there are no more Selected choices who have more votes than the threshold.When this happens, the choice that received the fewest votes is deemed Defeated and the ballots for it are apportioned among their next-highest-ranked Eligible choices.The process of Selection, then Defeat, is repeated until all choices have either been Selected or Defeated.

Choicesare Eligible to receive reallocated votes if they have not been Selected or Defeated.