BRPP Home | Members | RP&P | Special Rules | Documents | Mission Statements | Contact
(adopted 12/07/03 | amended 5/27/09)
ARTICLE I Committee on Bylaws, Rules, Policies and Procedures
Section 1-1 Mission
Section 1-2 Duties and Responsibilities
ARTICLE II Structure
Section 2-1 Membership
Section 2-2 Advisers and Observers
Section 2-3 Co-Chairs
Section 2-4 Elections
Section 2-5 Vacancies
ARTICLE III Official Communication
Section 3-1 Methods of Communication
Section 3-2 Non-Decision Making Meetings
Section 3-3 Committee Schedule
ARTICLE IV Decision-Making
Section 4-1 Consensus Seeking
Section 4-2 Quorum
Section 4-3 Approval Threshold
Section 4-4 Process for New Proposals
Section 4-5 Process for Amending Proposals before the National Committee
Section 4-6 Recording the Results of Decision-Making
ARTICLE I Committee on Bylaws, Rules, Policies and Procedures
Section 1-1 Mission
The mission of the Committee shall be to support the development of bylaws, rules, policies and procedures which serve the growth and development of the Green Party of the United States (GPUS), and which do not conflict with the Ten Key Values.
Section 1-2 Duties and Responsibilities
The Committee on Bylaws, Rules, Policies and Procedures shall have the power, duty and responsibility to:
1-2.1 Compile, document and archive, in a form accessible to the membership of the GPUS and the public, the governing documents of the GPUS as they have existed over time, subject to the actions of the National Committee to amend them.
1-2.2 Compile, document and archive, in a form accessible to the membership of the GPUS and the public, the governing documents of each committee and caucus of the Party as they have existed over time, subject to the actions of the National Committee to amend them.
1-2.3 On its own initiative or in response to a requests by a committee, caucus or member state party, review the governing documents of the GPUS and its committees and recommend amendments to such documents to the National Committee.
1-2.4 Conduct periodic reviews and recommend amendments to the structure of the GPUS in order to make the organization more effective.
1-2.5 Assist in the development and documentation of the structure and functioning of all committees.
1-2.6 Develop model rules for committees and caucuses.
1-2.7 Create sub-committees as needed to complete its work.
1-2.8 Adopt such special rules as it deems advisable to govern the conduct of internal Committee business which are not inconsistent with this Policy, or the Bylaws or Rules and Procedures of the GPUS.
1-2.9 Adopt special rules governing any recess proposed as part of a schedule for committee business.
ARTICLE II STRUCTURE
Section 2-1 Membership
2-1.1 The Committee shall consist of Green Party members appointed according to the process for Committee Membership defined in GPUS Bylaws and Rules and Procedures.
2-1.2 No member state party shall have more than three members on the Committee.
2-1.3 Experience
The following criteria are recommended to be taken into account by state parties and caucuses when selecting members:
2-1.3(a) Familiarity with the governing documents of the GPUS and its committees and caucuses
2-1.3(b) Familiarity with the governing documents of the state party and/or caucus of which one is a member
2-1.3(c) General experience with organizational bylaws, rules and procedures
2-1.3(d) Commitment to Green process
2-1.4 Terms
2-1.4(a) The term of membership shall commence once reported to the Co-Chairs and the GPUS Secretary.
2-1.5 Biography
2-1.5(a) A short biography along with contact information shall be provided for each new member by the member, or by state party or caucus from which the member comes.
2-1.6 Duties and Responsibilities
2-1.6(a) Monitor and participate in the Committee email list
2-1.6(b) Participate in Committee conference calls and in-person meetings
2-1.6(c) Volunteer for Committee tasks
2-1.6(d) Join and participate in a Committee sub-committee
2-1.6(e) Participate in Committee decision-making as defined in Section 2-3.2 and Article IV, including voicing any outstanding concerns with proposals before they come to a vote.
2-1.7 Inactive Status
2-1.7(a) Members shall be considered inactive and not counted towards a quorum, who have in the previous three months not participated in committee or subcommittee deliberations as evidenced by their voting history, postings to the listserv or wiki of the committee, or participation in teleconferences or in-person meetings of the committee.
2-1.7(b) Members who have taken no steps to correct their inactive status within three months of being reported as inactive to the National Committee shall no longer be considered members of the Committee.
Section 2.2 Advisers and Observers
2-2.1 The Committee may select advisers according to the process described in GPUS Bylaws and Rules and Procedures.
2-2.2 Advisers shall be selected on the basis that their experience and expertise may aid the Committee in its work.
Section 2-3 Co-Chairs
2-3.1 Two Co-Chairs, preferably gender balanced, shall be elected to staggered two years terms. Terms begin on January 1st and end on December 31st.
2-3.2 Duties and Responsibilities:
2-3.2(a) Facilitate the work of the Committee
2-3.2(b) Maintain and publish to the Committee and the GPUS Secretary, an updated Committeee membership list at least quarterly, as well as upon changes of membership and membership status
2-3.2(c) Conduct votes of the Committee
2-3.2(d) Communicate on behalf of the Committee with GPUS committees, caucuses and the National Committee
2-3.2(e) Submit formal annual reports to the National Committee detailing committee activities.
2-3.2(f) Propose a schedule for the conduct of Committee business including any recess during which Committee business shall not be in order.
2-3.3 The Co-Chairs shall come to explicit agreement and continue to consult with each other about how their joint responsibilities under 2-3.3 are to be shared.
Section 2-4 Elections
2-4.1 Elections shall be conducted so that nominations may be made and elections held and concluded between the second Tuesday in November and the 20th of December. Elections shall be conducted using Instant Runoff Voting (IRV), with No Other Candidate as an option. Members may nominate themselves. Nominations do not need to be seconded.
2-4.2 Each election held by the Committee shall be conducted and tabulated pursuant to The Rules and Procedures of the Green Party of the United States, Article 7., related to “Preference Voting Rules for Steering Committee Elections”, adopted June 18th, 2006, and as such rules may be subsequently amended, except as provided in this Section.
2-4.3 For purposes of this section related to the ‘Conduct on Internal Committee Elections’, the term ‘Election Supervisor’ shall mean that Co-Chair of the Committee whose successor will not be named by the election over which they preside, or in the event that no such Co-Chair exists, by the Co-Chair of the GPUS designated by the Steering Committee to reorganize the Committee in the absence of both its Co-Chairs.
2-4.4 Nominations for candidates for such election shall, upon the call of the Election Supervisor be opened not later than the Friday, following the Second Tuesday of November and shall remain open for not more nor less than seven days.
2-4.5 Upon the close of nominations, each candidate whose name has been placed in nomination will be afforded no less than seventy-two hours to submit a candidate statement for distribution to the Committee.
2-4.6 The polls shall be opened and closed any time after the first Sunday of December, upon the call of the Election Supervisor, with the election conducted by secret ballot and beginning no earlier than the first Monday of December and closing neither earlier nor later than five days following the beginning of balloting and no later than the 16th of December.
2-4.7 In consultation with each candidate, properly nominated to appear on the ballot, the Election Supervisor shall appoint an election tabulation committee to review the ballots and the preliminary tabulation of those ballots produced by the election software and to report its recommendation related to the certification of such preliminary results back to the Committee within forty-eight hours of the close of the polls; and further to file with the Committee within two weeks of the close of the polls, its report on the extent to which these rules and any standing special rule of the Committee anticipated the demands of this election and gave adequate guidance to the election committee on the conduct of its responsibilities.
Section 2-5 Vacancies
2-5.1 A vacancy shall exist upon the resignation or recall of a Co-Chair or thirty days after the finding by a Co-Chair, published to the official organs of the committee, that a member elected as a Co-Chair has been inactive and their membership on the committee is no longer considered in the computation of quorum.
2-5.2 Vacancies shall cause an election for a replacement Co-Chair. Such election would fill the remainder of the term and shall follow the proces in 2-3.2.
2-5.3 A recall election of a Co-Chair may be called, following the procedure for any proposal, except that the approval threshold to approve the recall shall be a majority of all active committee members.
ARTICLE III OFFICIAL COMMUNICATION
Section 3-1 Methods of Communication
3-1.1 The official and primary organ for Committee communication shall be an archived email listserv, accessible to Members, Advisers and Observers of the Committee. The Committee is also authorized to meet by teleconferences and in-person meetings.
3-1.2 The official organ for the markup and development of Committee proposals under 1-2.3 shall be a wiki. Committee members who are not able to access the wiki may communicate their input on such proposals via the email listserve.
3-1.3 The official organ for voting on all proposals before the committee, except calls for Unanimous Consent as defined in 4-6, shall be an on-line voting application. If the on-line voting application is not available, votes may be taken on the email listserve.
3-1.4 The archives of the email listserv, the committee wiki and the voting application shall be internet accessible to authenticated and authorized members, advisers and observers of the Committee; and the voting application shall be accessible to the public.
3-1.5 Notice of all committee business and formal decision-making, including the conduct of voting, the voting applications’ report on the result of votes and any clarification by a Co-Chair to apply the Committee rules to the results reported by the voting application, shall be published to the email listserv of the committee.
Section 3-2 Non-Decision Making Meetings
3-2.1 The Committee may meet by teleconference or in person at the Annual National Meeting for specific non-decision making purposes, including holding hearings on proposals before the Committee and issues pending before the Party. Such meetings may be called at the discretion of either active Co-Chair, or whenever a majority of the Committee publishes to the Committee email list, their support for holding such a meeting or hearing. The Committee may by special rule provide for rules governing the conduct of such.
3-2.2 Notice shall be published to the e-mail listserv at least three days prior to the convening of such teleconference or twenty-one days prior to any meeting held in conjunction with the Annual National Meeting of the Party. Notice for such meetings shall be republished to the email listserv of the committee not less than twenty-four hours nor more than forty-eight hours prior the teleconference nor less than five days nor more than ten days prior to an in-person meeting. Each such notice shall include the purpose and a proposed agenda.
Section 3-3 Committee Schedule
3-3.1 The Committee is urged to conduct on at least an annual basis, internal discussions on how to best schedule and satisfy its obligations as determined by GPUS Bylaws and Rules and Procedures, these Rules, Policies and Procedures and other requests and directions from the National Committee and the Steering Committee; and to communicate to the Steering Committee the potential timing of any proposals for National Committee consideration it may consider bringing forward during the coming calendar year.
ARTICLE IV DECISION-MAKING
Section 4-1 Consensus Seeking
4-1.1 The author of any proposal before the Committee is urged to make a good faith effort to achieve consensus through addressing concerns and considering amendments; and may substitute or withdraw a proposal, at any time until the question is put.
Section 4-2 Quorum
4-2.1 Quorum shall consist of two-thirds of the active Committee members either voting ‘yes’, ‘no’ or ‘abstain’ as determined by the Co-Chairs. Active membership for the purposes of quorum shall include only those who are members of the Committee at the time a motion is considered recognized by the Co-Chairs.
Section 4-3 Approval Threshold
4-3.1 Any motion to endorse a proposal for National Committee consideration, or to adopta Special Rule of the Committee shall require the support of at least two-thirds of those voting ‘yes’ or ‘no’, so long as such shall constitute at least a majority of the Committee. Abstentions do not count towards the approval threshold.
4-3.2 Any motion other than those considered under 4-3.1 require the support of at least a majority of those voting ‘yes’ or ‘no’ to be approved, except that a recall of a Co-Chair requires a majority of all active committee members. Abstentions do not count towards the approval threshold.
Section 4-4 Process for New Proposals
4-4.1 Publishing a proposal by any member of the Committee on the Committee’s email listserv may initiate an informal discussion of the proposal without starting its formal consideration.
4-4.2 The Co-Chairs shall within seventy-two hours recognize any explicit motion, properly seconded, for the Committee’s consideration of a written proposal published to the listserv and wiki of the Committee. Should the Co-Chairs fail to recogize a motion within seventy-two hours, the motion shall be considered recognized for the purposes of this Article. Any such motion, when published to the listserv, shall use a Subject line prefix: ‘Mtn: << description of motion >>’.
4-4.3 The question on the adoption of any proposal shall be in order when moved by the author, supported by a second when at least five days of discussion have ensued since the recognition of the motion initiating Committee consideration.
4-4.4 On substantive questions, the Co-Chairs may in their discretion schedule a longer period of discussion and/or voting, including opportunities for hearings and mark-up by teleconference or face-to-face meetings of the Committee. However, the author may on a motion properly seconded call the question anytime after the twenty-eighth day following the motion for its formal consideration.
4-4.5 Votes shall be conducted using such online accessible voting application as may from time to time be certified for its use by the National Committee or by Special Rule of the committee. In the event that such a voting application is not available for the committee’s use, votes may also be conducted on the email listserv of the committee.
4-4.6 On all substantive questions, a vote shall be opened for not more nor less than five days. On procedural questions, the vote shall be open for two to five days, at the discretion of the Co-Chairs.
Section 4-5 Process for Amending Proposals before the National Committee
4-5.1 When any proposal endorsed by the Committee is under consideration by the National Committee, a motion, supported by a second, to amend the Committee’s previous position and submit a substitute for the National Committee shall be in order when the explicit form of such amendment had been published to the listserv of the Committee and applied to the document on the Committee’s wiki.
4-5.2 Discussion on any such motion shall be in order for no fewer than three days, and the question shall be put by either or both Co-Chairs in consultation with, but requiring no further motion from the author of the proposed amendment. Any such amendment may be scheduled for a vote to be opened either for two or five days, as time permits for its consideration without causing delays by the National Committee in its resolution of the underlying question.
Section 4-6 Recording the Results of Decision-Making
4-6.1 The results of all Committee decisions, including any special rules passed, shall be accessible through the Committee home page on the GPUS web site.
4-6.2 All special rules passed shall be reported to the National Committee and the Steering Committee.
References
BRPP Policies Procedures, AMENDED (adopted 5/27/09)
http://green.gpus.org/cgi-bin/vote/propdetail?pid=394
Mission, Policies, & Procedures of the Bylaws, Rules, Policies & Procedures Committee (adopted 12/07/03)
http://green.gpus.org/cgi-bin/vote/propdetail?pid=61