Ecoaction Committee Rules

From GPWiki
April 19, 2012

1. Committee Structure

1-1 Mission
The Mission of the Committee shall be to promote ecological wisdom, environmental justice, sustainability and responsible governmental stewardship of the Earth and its inhabitants.

1-2 Duties and Authority

1-2.1 Inform and advise Green Party candidates on ecological issues.

1-2.2 Develop resolutions and official position statements on ecological issues, consistent with the GPUS Platform, for consideration by the National Committee.

1-2.3 Develop amendments to the GPUS Platform on matters consistent with the Mission of the Committee, for consideration by the National Committee.

1-2.4 Propose endorsement of marches, demonstrations and similar actions of national significance, as well as legislation of national significance, consistent with the Mission of the Committee and the GPUS Platform, for consideration by the National Committee.

2. Leadership

2-1 Co-Chairs

2-1.1 The co-chairs and secretary shall be elected by the membership of the committee yearly or when a vacancy occurs either at an in person meeting of the committee at the yearly meeting of the GPUS NC or in an online election to be conducted using Ranked Voting.

2-1.2 When possible the co-chairs shall be of different genders and from different states. The job of the co-chairs is to keep the committee on task and provide leadership to the various sub groups of the committee working on specific tasks. Co-chairs of the committee may not assume the task of list administrator.

2-2 Secretary

2-2.1 The Secretary shall conduct all correspondence, agenda requirements and other clerical requests of the committee.

3. Decisions

3-1 Regular Proposals

3-1.1 Before making a formal decision, the EcoAction Committee shall publish the resolution on its email list noting that a decision will be made. The committee shall then attempt to achieve consensus on the resolution. Following a minimum of five days, if no consensus is achieved, the committee shall
Ecoaction Committee Rules

be empowered to vote, and a 2/3 vote of the voting active members shall be required for passage. Each member of the committee shall have one vote. All votes will be conducted by open ballot. The co-chairs shall conduct, certify and record the tally of the votes. When the committee makes a decision by consensus, a shorter decision-making process is allowed as long as sufficient time for comments and concerns, at least 5 days, is given.

3-1.2 All decisions that must be forwarded to the GPUS NC for a further decision, shall include in the EcoAction Committee resolution, a clause to that effect.

3-1.3 Minority reports may be submitted as part of a resolution when requested by EcoAction committee members.

3-2 Fast Track Proposals

3-2.1 A request by a member of the Eco-action Committee to sign a time-sensitive petition be posted to the Eco-action listserv making it clear that the sign-on requires the fast-track process.

3-2.2 The request must be deemed important enough that two other committee members post their support to the listserv. Upon receiving such support, the committee secretary or one of its co-chairs shall immediately post a notice to the Eco-action listserv informing committee members that they have three days, (ending time to be clearly specified), to review the petition, discuss it, and either join in consensus to sign the petition or state any blocking concerns they may have. Notice of a fast-track decision process shall have FAST-TRACK PROPOSAL posted in all caps at the beginning of the subject line to alert committee members that their attention is needed.

3-2.3 Consensus shall depend on no blocking objections being raised within the three-day discussion period, and will not be subject to quorum requirements. If consensus is reached during the three-day time period, the committee secretary or one of the co-chairs shall immediately send a request to the Steering Committee of the Green Party of the United States asking for their approval to sign GPUS to the petition, and notifying the SC that this is a time-sensitive decision that requires fast action.

3-2.4 If there are any unresolved blocking concerns at the end of the three-day time period, however, the request to sign the petition is dropped and no further action is taken. Petitions being considered need to address ecological issues consistent with the Eco-action Committee’s mission, and petitions signed onto need to be consistent with existing platform language of the GPUS.

3-2.5 The monthly report of the Eco-action Committee to the National Committee will include specific references to the petitions being signed onto and their sponsors.

4. Quorums and Active Members

4-1.1 An active member of the EcoAction Committee shall be defined as a duly-selected member who has been active within the last three months, taking part in discussion, decisions, or subgroup work within that period. The co-chairs shall be responsible for keeping a roster of active members, though they may ask other committee members to actually keep the list. One half of the active membership shall constitute a quorum for formal decision making. There shall be no quorum requirements for the committee to take on projects, designate people to work on projects, or other informal work that moves the committees operations and projects along.

5. Teleconferences and In-Person Meetings

5.1 A quorum for a vote on the co-chair, is one half of the active membership. All formal decisions made at a teleconference or in-person meeting shall be reviewed online using the list of active committee members and the normal decision making process. A one week notice of meetings must be provided.

5.2 Minutes shall be kept of all meetings and teleconferences, and these shall be sent by e-mail to members within one week.

6. Reports

The EcoAction Committee shall make monthly reports to the GPUS NC on its work. The co-chairs shall lead that process.

7. Committee Members Rights and Responsibilities

7-1.1 All members will work to improve their communication skills, their ability to tolerate genuine differences, their willingness to take the time to build relationships and genuinely listen and resolve conflicts, their commitment to integrity, openness and transparency, their natural curiosity about different cultures, their respect for multiple ways of being effective and their celebration of difference and the unknown, and to lower their distrust and insecurities that lead to controlling, manipulative and intolerant behavior.

7-1.2 The committee will work to be tolerant, and to work with each member to identify the underlying causes of behavior that others experience as disruptive or obstructionist and change the committee process so as to meet those needs to that behavior experienced as disruptive or obstructionist dissipates.

7-1.3 Any member who consistently cannot follow agreed upon processes, acts in a disrespectful or offensive manner, engages in illegal activities within the committee or that, in the opinion of the EcoAction Committee, are inconsistent with Green Party activism or values, will be sent written notice from the co-chairs by agreement of the EcoAction Committee according to formal decision making procedures. A written notice will also be sent to the member’s state party or caucus. Mediation may be offered (see section C) except in cases where delayed action might have serious legal or financial consequences. In that case, the state party or caucus will be asked to remove the member and designate a replacement.

7-1.4 EcoAction Committee members who feel a member is not following e-mail list rules make their concerns known to co-chairs and list administrator. The co-chairs and list administrator will contact the member. If the problem persists, the list administrator and co-chairs will issue a formal warning on the list. After a second formal warning, the member’s postings will be moderated for two months and a second notice will be sent by the list administrator, who will at once document the offenses to the EcoAction Committee co-chairs and notify the list.

7-1.5 Mediation will be offered at this time by a process agreed upon by the EcoAction Committee. Also at this time, the state party will be notified of the second warning. Whenever possible, supporting documentation (e-mail posts; missed deadlines; incomplete or sub-standard assignments) should be provided to the state. Once the member is returned to the list, if there is a third warning, the EcoAction Committee votes on sending a formal complaint to the member’s state party or caucus.

7.2 Ethical Standards

7-2.1 The rights of a Green in the GPUS EcoAction Committee shall not be curtailed without first meeting the following due process rules.

7-2.2 The Green whose rights are being curtailed has:

a. the right to know one’s accusers;

b. the right to know the charges one is being accused of;

c. the right to question, with expectation of redress, matters of bias, unnecessary delays, and other tactics which are entered into in an attempt to make the process less than a fair consideration of merit;

d. the right to respond fully and to all affected audiences and stakeholders on one’s own behalf;

e. the right to present evidence on one’s behalf;

f. the right to call witnesses on one’s behalf;

g. the implicit promise that both the accusers and defendants will be held to the truth in their presentations;

h. the implicit promise that the cases of both the accusers and the defendants will be equally presented in terms of time and attention, if requested by either;

i. the implicit promise that those entrusted with the dispatch of the process will conduct it in as even-handed a manner as possible.

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