Editing bylaws

[jnash]

I am responsible for editing the bylaws for my organization. Can the editing include changing the order of officers, changing/deleting/inserting where new officers were created by amendment and the old office does not exist?

[hmtcastle]

I am responsible for editing the bylaws for my organization. Can the editing include changing the order of officers, changing/deleting/inserting where new officers were created by amendment and the old office does not exist?

Don't confuse a copy of the bylaws with the bylaws themselves (which are recorded in the minutes of the meetings at which they were adopted). Any change to the actual bylaws requires their amendment.

Changes to the copy ("editing") do not. But beware of crossing the line from editing to amending. Changing the order in which the officers are listed crosses that line.

Ideally, the motion to amend the bylaws would have included which words (e.g. officers) would be deleted and which would be added, and where.

[Kim Goldsworthy]

I am responsible for editing the bylaws for my organization.

What do you mean?

You are adding and subtracting words?

You are proof-reading?

Can the editing include

changing the order of officers,

changing/deleting/inserting where new officers were created by amendment and the old office does not exist?

No.

That requires your full amendment process.

Technically, you cannot edit the bylaws at all.

Only the party authorized to amend the bylaws is the party authorized to edit bylaws.

Exception? - Yes. RONR mentions a renumbering of the titles of articles can be done by a clerk.

(excerpt, page 579)

Captions, Headings, and Article

and Section Numbers

It was formerly customary to permit the secretary to fill

in captions, headings, and article, section, or paragraph

numbers or letters, and the like, after the assembly had

adopted bylaws or other long documents. Such designa-

tions were treated as mere marginal notations which could

be clerically modified. It is now the usual practice to include

these subtitles or identifying numbers or letters as an inte-

gral part of what is adopted by action of the assembly.

[Tim Wynn]

I am responsible for editing the bylaws for my organization. Can the editing include changing the order of officers, changing/deleting/inserting where new officers were created by amendment and the old office does not exist?

I'm not clear on what you mean by "editing," since you make a distinction between that and "amending." The bylaws can only be changed by "amendment." If you're talking about compiling the bylaws into one easy to read document, that document should accurately reflect the bylaws, without any changes or adjustments.

[jnash]

You all basically understand what clarity I was seeking. The bylaws were amended by the assembly and I was charged with incorporating the amendments into the bylaws and doing some editing/proofing. For instance, there are grammatical errors, such as subject-vowel agreement, punctuation, numbering, etc. Also, an officer position was created by amendment, but the amendment did not say if the amendment passes, that everywhere in the bylaws, it should be added. There was one position, that split into two. There are places in other sections of the bylaw that mention the offices.

[George Mervosh]

I don't think much, if anything, they asked you to do is proper.

[Kim Goldsworthy]

The bylaws were amended by the assembly and I was charged with incorporating the amendments into the bylaws and doing some editing/proofing.

For instance, there are grammatical errors, such as subject-vowel agreement, punctuation, numbering, etc.

Also, an officer position was created by amendment, but the amendment did not say if the amendment passes, that everywhere in the bylaws, it should be added.

There was one position, that split into two.

There are places in other sections of the bylaw that mention the offices.

Whatever you are doing, you will have to pass your work along to the party who did the charging, since you are indeed changing the wording of a text you cannot change.

That is:

Make all the drafts you want.

Make all the changes you want.

None of them will be official and binding.

You cannot pretend your final product is the bylaws, as that would not be true.

You can only submit a document to the proper body, who will then agree (or disagree) that your "corrections" are indeed just that (or not).

Do not publish your document.

Do not let go of your document without the word "draft" or "committee report" plainly stated, so that the reader is not confused as to whether the document is a true, current copy of the organization's bylaws.

The body who did the amending is the body to judge if your "corrections" are accurate, or over the bounds of reason.

[hmtcastle]

You all basically understand what clarity I was seeking.

And you all (where is Chris H. when we need him?) should disabuse yourself of the notion that any "editing" you're attempting to do has anything to do with being a parliamentarian.

[Guest dan]

You all basically understand what clarity I was seeking. The bylaws were amended by the assembly and I was charged with incorporating the amendments into the bylaws and doing some editing/proofing. For instance, there are grammatical errors, such as subject-vowel agreement, punctuation, numbering, etc. Also, an officer position was created by amendment, but the amendment did not say if the amendment passes, that everywhere in the bylaws, it should be added. There was one position, that split into two. There are places in other sections of the bylaw that mention the offices.

In my opinion, much of what you were tasked to do should have been done BEFORE the bylaw amendments were approved.

[Gary Novosielski]

You all basically understand what clarity I was seeking. The bylaws were amended by the assembly and I was charged with incorporating the amendments into the bylaws and doing some editing/proofing. For instance, there are grammatical errors, such as subject-vowel agreement, punctuation, numbering, etc. Also, an officer position was created by amendment, but the amendment did not say if the amendment passes, that everywhere in the bylaws, it should be added. There was one position, that split into two. There are places in other sections of the bylaw that mention the offices.

It sounds like the assembly did a very sloppy job of amending. You should probably report whatever problems you are having at a meeting, and ask the assembly to amend the bylaws again to fix the problems.

You can't change them yourself. Not even grammatical errors or punctuation. Numbering is possibly okay, such as if paragraph 3 was struck out, the following paragraphs can be renumbed. But I can't even say for sure without looking at your minutes, which would not be appropriate anyway.