Exec board to review bylaw changes

[Guest Beth]

Bylaws chair has made revisions to the bylaws but before taking to general membership for a vote, the president and exec board would like to meet 1st to review. Is it appropriate for the President to call for this meeting? If yes and the Exec Board doesn’t not agree on the bylaw changes, what happens? 

[puzzling]

On 4/14/2023 at 4:25 AM, Guest Beth said:

Bylaws chair has made revisions to the bylaws but before taking to general membership for a vote, the president and exec board would like to meet 1st to review. Is it appropriate for the President to call for this meeting? If yes and the Exec Board doesn’t not agree on the bylaw changes, what happens? 

Not sure what happened here.

I cannot imagine that the bylaws chair has the authority to revision the bylaws. Normally committees only repost and suggest bylaw revisions, really changing the  bylaws can only be done according to the rules the bylaws give for it.

I think the exec board may discuss the report of a committee and form their own recommendations about the revision but they cannot change the report (as it is not their report)

Depending again on what the bylaws say that procedure needs to be followed. 

 

[Richard Brown]

On 4/13/2023 at 10:25 PM, Guest Beth said:

Bylaws chair has made revisions to the bylaws

When you say the bylaws chair has made revisions to the bylaws, do you mean the chair alone has proposed revisions or that the committee has proposed the revisions? I am assuming that the entire bylaws committee will first agree on the proposed amendments before they are presented to the membership. However, depending upon the wording of your bylaws, any member of the organization might be able to propose bylaw amendments. Any proposals would not be proposals of the committee unless the committee agrees upon them.

There is nothing wrong with proposed bylaw amendments being reviewed by the executive board prior to being submitted to the membership, but the executive board has no right to insist upon such review and has no right to make changes in the proposals unless the bylaws give it at Power.  It is up to the member or committee that is proposing bylaw amendments to decide whether to permit the executive board to review them before being submitted to the membership.

[Josh Martin]

On 4/13/2023 at 10:25 PM, Guest Beth said:

Bylaws chair has made revisions to the bylaws but before taking to general membership for a vote, the president and exec board would like to meet 1st to review.

Please clarify. I think you mean to say that the bylaws chair has proposed revisions to the bylaws, not that the chair has "made" revisions, which would seem to suggest that the bylaws chair has single-handedly amended the bylaws. I also assume that, in fact, these proposals are from the bylaws committee as a whole, and not the chair acting alone.

On 4/13/2023 at 10:25 PM, Guest Beth said:

Is it appropriate for the President to call for this meeting?

I see nothing preventing the President from requesting such a meeting. It will be up to the bylaws chair whether to accept this invitation.

On 4/13/2023 at 10:25 PM, Guest Beth said:

If yes and the Exec Board doesn’t not agree on the bylaw changes, what happens? 

I don't think I can say with any certainty without knowing what your bylaws say in regard to amending the bylaws.

Edited April 14, 2023 at 03:32 PM by Josh Martin

[Rob Elsman]

Does this executive board have authority to review and pass judgment on proposals to amend the bylaws?  Do you all understand what is the source of that authority, if it exists at all?

[Gary Novosielski]

On 4/13/2023 at 11:25 PM, Guest Beth said:

Bylaws chair has made revisions to the bylaws but before taking to general membership for a vote, the president and exec board would like to meet 1st to review. Is it appropriate for the President to call for this meeting? If yes and the Exec Board doesn’t not agree on the bylaw changes, what happens? 

Does the bylaws committee have more than one member?  If not, majority agreement in the committee would be required before any amendments could be proposed.

To which body does the bylaws committee report?  If it reports directly to the membership, which would be typical, then the board has no role in this process, except as the bylaws may provide, so you'll have to check to see what rules are in there.  If the committee reports to the board, then the board would automatically get that report without asking for it.

But if the bylaws committee reports to the membership, andthe  board does not agree on the  proposed changes, then when it is presented to the membership for consideration, they can presumably vote against it as individual members, or take such other options as are open to any member.