Are subcommittee charges charges of the parent commttee?

[Setemu]

If a subcommittee is listed in the by-laws has having a specific charge not otherwise specified in the description of the parent committee, is that charge then also a charge of the parent committee? For example, there are five subcommittees of the same parent committee in a large political organization. Each subcommittee is charged with determining and representing the interests of its assigned caucus within the organization. The parent committee, while carrying out its by-law authorized activity, fails to represent the interests of two of the five caucuses in a section of the organization's platform. Is there a case to be made that the parent committee failed to fulfill its charges by way of charges assigned to its subcommittees? Does the caucus have any recourse against the parent committee?

[Josh Martin]

30 minutes ago, Setemu said:

If a subcommittee is listed in the by-laws has having a specific charge not otherwise specified in the description of the parent committee, is that charge then also a charge of the parent committee? For example, there are five subcommittees of the same parent committee in a large political organization. Each subcommittee is charged with determining and representing the interests of its assigned caucus within the organization. The parent committee, while carrying out its by-law authorized activity, fails to represent the interests of two of the five caucuses in a section of the organization's platform. Is there a case to be made that the parent committee failed to fulfill its charges by way of charges assigned to its subcommittees? Does the caucus have any recourse against the parent committee?

I think this will ultimately be a question of bylaws interpretation, but I think that as a general rule, a committee is responsible for carrying out the charges of its subcommittees. Since all subcommittees report back to their parent committee instead of to the committee’s parent assembly, it would be extremely difficult for subcommittees to accomplish their charges if this were not the case.

So yes, I think there is a case to be made that the committee did not fulfill its charge. I don’t know what the relationship is between this caucus and the committee, so I don’t know what recourse it might have, but the committee’s parent assembly could certainly provide instructions to the committee and/or replace some or all of the committee’s members.

I will say, however, that the organizational structure of this society seems very complicated, and if you really want answers to your questions it would be advisable to hire a professional parliamentarian to review your governing documents in detail. I feel like we are only seeing pieces of a much larger whole, and as a result we can only do so much in interpreting these rules. The National Association of Parliamentarians and the American Institute of Parliamentarians provide referrals.

Edited April 5, 2018 at 02:09 PM by Josh Martin

[Richard Brown]

Setemu, is this large or parent committee more in the nature of a board of directors but is simply called a committee, as is the case with many political organizations which are governed by a State Central Committee or National Committee? Those particular committees are actually in the nature of boards. Examples are the Republican National Committee, Democratic National Committee, Libertarian National Committee, Etc. The state governing entities are usually called a State Central Committee.

If that's the situation, think of the parent committee as a board of directors, not a committee.

[Gary Novosielski]

It sounds to me like the subcommittees were charged by the assembly, and not by their parent committee, as would be the normal procedure.  And if they were charged by their parent committee, why would a parent committee charge subcommittees with tasks that are not within its own responsibility.

If this parent committee is truly some sort of Steering Committee--in the nature of a board of directors, then posing questions in the form of a committee-subcommittee relationship will lead us down a fruitless path.  Instead, call it a board, and call the "sub"committees what they are, committees that report to the board, or possibly to the assembly.  The answers would not be the same in both scenarios.

[Setemu]

Mr. Martin, yes, the organizational structure is complicated, and we may need to an opinion or two from a PRP at some point(s) in the future. I certainly keep that in the back of my mind.

Mr. Brown, it is not like a board or directors or the DNC or RNC, it is more garden variety subordinate committee of an assembly.

To all of you, I think your combined contributions have cleared this up, and I thank you: the committee is accountable to its parent assembly for the charges given directly to said committees subcommittees by the committee's parent assembly.