>>>>>>> NEW TEXT <<<<<<<<


5-4.3 Quorum for decision-making
A quorum for decision making exists when 80% of registered delegates are
present. However, a minimum number of delegates are required to remain
registered in order to establish a valid quorum. That minimum shall be 90% of
the maximum number of delegates registered for that day.

a) Delegates shall register at the beginning of each day of a General Assembly,
identifying their county. Delegates shall notify the facilitators (or other
appropriate officials) and be removed from the delegate registration if they
permanently leave the General Assembly before it is adjourned.
b) [no change]
------------------------------------

5-4.1 Quorum
A quorum exists for the purpose of opening a General Assembly when 2/3 (rounding
to the nearest whole number) of the regions containing active counties are
represented.





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>>>>>>>> ORIGINAL PROPOSAL IN APR 08 AGENDA PACKET <<<<<<<<

Passed by consensus with no amendments.
-----------------------------------------


SPONSOR: Bylaws Standing Committee

PRESENTER/CONTACT:  Jim Stauffer; jims@greens.org;   (408) 432-9148
            ?????????????????


SUBJECT: Modify the General Assembly decision quorum requirement to avoid loss
of quorum on Sunday afternoons; and clarify terminology used in this bylaws
section.


BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE:

Decision quorum at a General Assembly is based on the number of delegates
registered at the beginning of each session (i.e. each day). Some delegates need
to leave early on Sunday afternoon thereby breaking quorum, which means no
decisions can be made.

There are two quorum tests for the General Assembly:

Opening quorum - A one-time event on Saturday morning that ensures broad
geographic representation; and/or prevents an official GA from being convened by
a group in one geographical location.

Decision quorum - A per-decision event that requires 80% of the delegates
registered at the front desk to be present when a decision is made. The delegate
count is incremented as delegates arrive during the day, but is not decremented
if delegates leave early.


The proposed changes keep the requirement that 80% of registered delegates must
participate in the plenary session to make a decision, but allow delegates who
leave early to unregister thereby lowering the quorum threshold. However, we
want to maintain a voting pool large enough to be considered a valid decision-
making body. Therefore, this proposal introduces a maximum allowable attrition
of registered delegates.

Historically, this quorum problem occurs on Sunday afternoon when some delegates
need to leave early. On those occasions, the delegate count dropped below quorum
by only a few delegates. So allowing a small-percent attrition of delegates
should rectify the problem and still maintain a sizeable voting pool.


PROPOSAL:

The current bylaw language is:
----------------
5-4.3 Quorum for decision-making
A quorum for decision making exists when 80% of registered delegates are
present.
a) Delegates shall sign in at the beginning of each session, identifying region
and county.
b) Facilitators shall conduct a roll call to establish a quorum at the beginning
of each plenary session.

Section 5-8.9 further requires the facilitators to verify quorum at each
decision item.
------------------

Proposed changes to section 5-4.3:

1. Add two sentences to the intro paragraph: “However, a minimum number of
delegates are required to remain registered in order to establish a valid
quorum. That minimum shall be 90% of the maximum number of delegates registered
for that day.”

2. Add to item a): “Delegates shall notify the facilitators (or other
appropriate officials), and be removed from the delegate registration, if they
permanently leave the General Assembly before it is adjourned.”


Additional changes to clarify the terminology used in Section 5-4:

5-4.1 Quorum
A quorum exists for the purpose of opening a [ DELETE meeting ADD General
Assembly ] when 2/3 (rounding to the nearest whole number) of the regions
containing active counties are represented.

5-4.3 a) Delegates shall [ DELETE sign in ADD register ] at the beginning of
each [ DELETE session ADD day of a General Assembly ], identifying [ DELETE
region and ADD their ] county.


COMMITTEE DECISION:



TIME LINE:
Implement immediately.


RESOURCES:
Nominal extra work for the Accreditation Group. Agenda scheduling could mitigate
the Sunday quorum problem by avoiding decision items that afternoon, to the
extent practical.