Authority of a Standing Bylaws Committee

[Josh Martin]

20 hours ago, Joshua Katz said:

Does your opinion on the first differ from the second?  I think the second is vague, and the first is clearly not anything "official."  

So can we agree, then, that where amendments can only be proposed via the bylaws committee, the committee is not obligated to report out an idea which is merely mentioned to them, or even one presented by an individual at a committee meeting during an opportunity for public comment, and that the committee is obligated to report out that which is referred to it by the parent assembly?  

A committee is certainly required to report on motions referred to it by the parent assembly in any event.

I would agree that the committee is not required to do anything with amendments which have not been properly submitted.

[Gary Novosielski]

23 hours ago, Joshua Katz said:

 

Does your opinion on the first differ from the second?  I think the second is vague, and the first is clearly not anything "official."  

So can we agree, then, that where amendments can only be proposed via the bylaws committee, the committee is not obligated to report out an idea which is merely mentioned to them, or even one presented by an individual at a committee meeting during an opportunity for public comment, and that the committee is obligated to report out that which is referred to it by the parent assembly?  

I don't think we can agree on the first point without a definition on how "official" this needs to be.   I have seen more than one set of bylaws that provide that individuals can submit proposed amendments to the bylaws committee directly, without moving them first in the general assembly.   I agree that a casual mention in an elevator of a nice idea for a bylaws change would not qualify as a submission, but i think the same idea put into written form and sent to the committee for consideration should be considered and reported out, unless the committee is empowered to ignore submissions it does not favor.

[Joshua Katz]

12 minutes ago, Gary Novosielski said:

I don't think we can agree on the first point without a definition on how "official" this needs to be.   I have seen more than one set of bylaws that provide that individuals can submit proposed amendments to the bylaws committee directly, without moving them first in the general assembly.   I agree that a casual mention in an elevator of a nice idea for a bylaws change would not qualify as a submission, but i think the same idea put into written form and sent to the committee for consideration should be considered and reported out, unless the committee is empowered to ignore submissions it does not favor.

At least we've determined the point of disagreement, then.