Accessibility of the Constitutions, Bylaws, and Special & Standing Rules of Order of Superior Bodies to Subordinate Bodies

[Guest Joshua]

Sorry folks, this question might be a little out of scope, but i'm hoping its close enough that someone can provide some guidance.

I serve on the Bylaws committee of a local council body that is subordinate to a regional council, a state council, and the national council.  We're trying to update our local bylaws, and it seems obvious to me that we should have copies of the constitutions, bylaws, and special & standing rules of all the bodies to which we are subordinate so we can ensure that our bylaws conform to them, but we're having difficulty in obtaining some.  National has provided everything requested, but state has basically brushed us off (though never explicitly advising so in writing), and we were only able to get the regional council's documents because our president is also a delegate to the regional council (official requests for documents were ignored).

Is there any precedent to the effect that subordinate bodies should be provided access to the governing documents of the organizations to which they are subordinate?  Conversely, is there precedent for specifically denying subordinate bodies said documents?

FWIW, the national council's Rules governing local council bodies specifically state that we must maintain affiliation with the regional and state councils in whose territory we're chartered, and that we must "conform [our] activities" regarding the national, state, & regional matters to the policies of the appropriate bodies, but other than that, they're pretty quiet, AFAICT.

[Chris Harrison]

RONR doesn't answer your question.  Have you all tried contacting the National Organization to see if they can put some pressure on the State Organization to supply those documents to you?

[JPStroud]

I did reach out to National stating that I was "having trouble getting traction" with State; I am new enough in the org that i didn't want to blatantly start throwing elbows.  National tried to be helpful, but they referred me to the exact individual that ignored my (several) previous requests

[Atul Kapur]

Any member has the right to examine the bylaws. See RONR p. 459, lines 13-16 and p. 460, lines 13-17.

So the question becomes, are you a member of the state council? Is your local council a member of the state council? If the answer to either question is Yes, then you have the right to examine the bylaws.