Bylaw change for term limits

[Guest Crystal Mann]

We modified our bylaws for a booster organization in Feb 2019. The new bylaws has term limits of 2 years (elections are in June)
 

When the bylaws changed our current President was halfway through her first term. Then in June 2019 she was reflected for a second term.  
 

She now is planning to run for President for a third term and says that since the bylaws changed during her first term that her first year doesn’t count. 
 

I’ve been reading Roberts Rules of Order but I can’t find info on how this works. 

[Josh Martin]

19 minutes ago, Guest Crystal Mann said:

We modified our bylaws for a booster organization in Feb 2019. The new bylaws has term limits of 2 years (elections are in June)
 

When the bylaws changed our current President was halfway through her first term. Then in June 2019 she was reflected for a second term.  
 

She now is planning to run for President for a third term and says that since the bylaws changed during her first term that her first year doesn’t count. 
 

I’ve been reading Roberts Rules of Order but I can’t find info on how this works. 

The President is mistaken. There is no "grandfather clause" in RONR. The organization certainly could have adopted a proviso exempting terms which had already been served or were currently being served from the new term limits, but if it did not do so, the term limits apply to her as well.

"An amendment to the bylaws goes into effect immediately upon its adoption unless the motion to adopt specifies another time for its becoming effective, or the assembly has set such a time by a previously adopted motion. 

...

Amendments to the article on officers may raise difficulties in relation to the time at which adopted changes take effect, unless special care is taken. A society can, for example, amend its bylaws so as to affect the emoluments and duties of the officers already elected, or even to abolish an office; and if it is desired that the amendment should not affect officers already elected, a motion so specifying should be adopted before voting on the amendment, or the motion to amend can have added to it the proviso that it shall not affect officers already elected. There is virtually a contract between a society and its officers, and while to some extent action can be taken by either party to modify or even terminate the contract, such action must be taken with reasonable consideration for the other party." (RONR, 11th ed., pgs. 597-598)

Edited May 8, 2020 at 09:25 PM by Josh Martin

[Bruce Lages]

I'm somewhat confused as to whether you're referring to term limits - which typically define the number of terms which can be served, either consecutively or in total, or to the length of each term. When you say "term limits of 2 years", that seems to be referring to the length of a single term. But your question then has to do with the president wanting to run for a 3rd term. Do you mean that your new bylaw amendment restricts the president to serving no more than two consecutive terms?