Brief explanations of bylaws amendment proposals

Here are brief explanations of the five bylaws amendment proposals I have put forward. Please ask any questions that you may have, as my trying to predict all of them would likely have overly-long descriptions no one would want to read through. :-)

Change Nominating Committee to Search Committee (http://www.us.mensa.org/referendum?ID=9)
This referendum would change the Nominating Committee into a Search Committee. All candidates for office would be required to submit petitions; there will be no candidates nominated by any committee (as is currently the case). There will be no candidates “recommended” or “endorsed” by any committee. The timeline is adjusted since there would no longer be an initial tier of nominated candidates and then an additional tier of petition candidates. 

New Hearings Committee Procedure (http://www.us.mensa.org/referendum?ID=7)
This referendum would overhaul the current procedure for a Hearings Committee. No member of the AMC would be a member of the Hearings Committee; it would now be composed of essentially-random members of American Mensa. Also, any sanction imposed by the Hearings Committee would require concurrence by the AMC. And if a member were to lapse membership or resign before the start of the hearing, the hearing process would stop, with the option to reinstate it if/when that member rejoins.

Recall Elections (http://www.us.mensa.org/referendum?ID=5)
This referendum would institute a provision allowing a recall election of elected officers. Most local groups have such a provision, but there is currently no provision for the members of American Mensa to recall elected officers on the AMC.

Removal of Past Chairman from AMC (http://www.us.mensa.org/referendum?ID=6)
This referendum would remove the Past Chair and the Past Past Chair of American Mensa from being members of the American Mensa Committee. The AMC would then comprise the five nationally elected officers, 10 regionally elected officers, and 4 appointed officers. (These positions are relics of a time when the institutional memory was not as easily accessible as it is nowadays. For them to also have a vote on the AMC, still, doesn't make much sense, as they are no longer elected, even though they are currently deemed as elective officers in the bylaws.)

RVC Replacement (http://www.us.mensa.org/referendum?ID=8)
This referendum would correct a long-standing problem with the bylaws which don't currently have a legitimate way of replacing a vacancy in the position of Regional Vice-Chairman. (The provision that currently exists has been deemed invalid for over 4 years.) This proposal would institute a special election process whereby the members of the region would be able to elect a replacement RVC if the vacancy occurs during the first 15 months of the term.

Bylaws amendment petitions online

The amendments are finally available for signature. We need to get 250 signatures on any bylaws amendment petition to get it to appear on this Spring's referendum ballot. Please sign ASAP. (The original Nov. 1 deadline has been extended to Nov. 15, but I would still like to meet the original deadline.)

The main page listing all amendments (both being put out via petition and by AMC) is
http://www.us.mensa.org/lead/amc/elections/referendum-petitions/referendum-petition-listing/

The individual URLs for each of my five petitions are:

Recall elections

http://www.us.mensa.org/referendum?ID=5

 

Removal of past chairmen

http://www.us.mensa.org/referendum?ID=6

 

New hearings procedure

http://www.us.mensa.org/referendum?ID=7

 

Replacement of RVCs (Special Elections)

http://www.us.mensa.org/referendum?ID=8

 

Changing the Nominating Committee to a Search Committee

http://www.us.mensa.org/referendum?ID=9

And while you're clicking on links to sign petitions, how about going to one more, my petition to run for AMC Secretary (so I can exceed the minimum by as many as possible): http://www.us.mensa.org/petition?id=46

Bylaws amendments sent in

I just sent in the five bylaws amendment proposals to go through the required vetting process and will hopefully have that finished and URLs for online petitions available in less than a week. Stay tuned for more info.

Change Nominating Committee (and duties) to Search Committee

Amend Article VI by deleting the text in strikethrough and adding the underlined text, retaining the text in black plaintext.

(1) No later than the August 1st preceding each election, the American Mensa Committee shall appoint a Nominating Search Committee consisting of at least seven members, none of whom shall be members of the American Mensa Committee. Members of the NominatingSearch Committee shall be chosen so as to represent a broad spectrum of the membership, with regard to both geography and general trends of viewsgroup size.

(2) No later than the AMC meeting following each Annual Gathering, the American Mensa Committee shall appoint an Election Committee consisting of three to seven members, none of whom shall be a member of the American Mensa Committee or the NominatingSearch Committee. The Election Committee shall be chosen from among members disinterested in the outcome of the election, and selected for their ability to assist in the conduct of elections. The Election Committee shall be responsible for the conduct of the election, including but not limited to the establishment, updating and publication of a detailed Code of Election Procedures, the preparation of ballots and written material, the distribution of ballots, and the selection of the independent agency to record and count the returned ballots, and the publication of election results. The Code of Election Procedures shall specify that the deadline for NominatingSearch Committee receipt of nominations by petition is February 1st preceding the election. The Code of Election Procedures shall not be changed or amended between submission for publication as stated herein and the day following the official announcement of the ballot election results. Each newly appointed Election Committee must affirmatively adopt a Code of Election Procedures for each election. No later than the deadline for the January issue of the journal preceding each election, the Election Committee shall submit the Code of Election Procedures to the journal for publication therein, or shall submit the Code to another national publication which is received by all members for publication therein, or shall send the same by mail to the membership. If the Code is submitted to the journal, it shall be published in the next available issue.

(3) Each candidate seeking office, whether contacted by the Search Committee or not, must submit a petition, accompanied by the signatures of at least 50 members in good standing as of the December 1^st preceding the election, in a format prescribed by the Election Committee, and by a signed acceptance of nomination by the candidate. Said petitions must reach the Search Committee not later than the February 1^st preceding the election. Electronic submission of petitions is also permitted. No later than the October 1st preceding each election, the Nominating Committee shall nominate one or more candidates for each of the elective offices of American Mensa Ltd., of whom the nominees for the position of Chairman shall (unless no individuals with the requisite qualifications are willing to run for that office) be member(s) of the American Mensa Committee then in office, or have served at least one year on a prior American Mensa Committee. The Nominatingthe Search Committee shall verify the accuracy of the information presented within the petitions received to date, endeavor to correct any factual inaccuracies which may appear therein, and shall submit a list of the nominated candidates to the American Mensa Committee and to the Election Committee a list of such candidates who have submitted petitions, the information provided in the petitions having been verified as reasonably accurate. No other criteria shall be used by the Search Committee to determine whether a candidate should be forwarded to the Election Committee for inclusion on the ballot nor shall there be any “recommendation” or “endorsement” of any candidate, or other similar differentiation between candidates for the same office, be made by the Search Committee. No later than the deadline for the December journal preceding each election, the NominatingSearch Committee shall submit thethis initial list of nominated candidates to the journal for publication therein, or shall send the same by mail to the membership. If the list is submitted to the journal, it shall be published in the next available issue.

(4) No later than the December 1st preceding each election, the Election Committee shall publish in the journal a notice to the effect that nominations by petition for the elective offices shall be directed to the ElectionSearch Committee at an address to be given in the notice, accompanied by the signatures of at least 50 members in good standing as of that December 1st, in a format prescribed by the Election Committee, and by a signed acceptance of nomination by the candidates, said petitions to reach the ElectionSearch Committee not later than the February 1st preceding the election. Electronic submission of petitions is also permitted. The Search Committee shall verify the accuracy of all the information presented within the petitions and endeavor to correct any factual inaccuracies which may appear and submit to the American Mensa Committee and to the Election Committee a final, fully-inclusive list of such candidates who have submitted petitions, the information provided in the petitions having been verified as reasonably accurate. No other criteria shall be used by the Search Committee to determine whether a candidate should be forwarded to the Election Committee for inclusion on the ballot nor shall there be any “recommendation” or “endorsement” of any candidate, or other similar differentiation between candidates for the same office, be made by the Search Committee.

(5) The Election Committee shall publish the names of theall nominees by petition in a similar manner immediately upon the close of the nominating period.

(6) Between February 1st andBy February 10th of election years, the ElectionSearch Committee shall review theany nominations additional petitions that have been received pursuant to Section (4) above, and notify the Election Committee of the final list of all validly nominated candidates. In order to be validly nominated, candidates must have renewed their membership by the last business day of January for the year in which the election falls. For offices for which there is only one valid nomination, the Election Committee shall declare the nominee elected and shall take office starting July 1st. All other valid nominations shall be placed on the ballot.

(7) The ballot shall contain the names of those nominated by the Nominating Committee as well as those nominated by petition, the order in which the namesThe names of candidates for each office shall appear on the ballot in an order being determined by lot. Candidates shall be designated on the ballot to indicate whether they have been nominated by the Nominating Committee, by petition, or both. If two or more candidates decide to run jointly, the ballot shall so indicate. A person's name may not appear in more than one race on the same ballot.

(8) With each ballot there shall be included:

(a) The necessary voting instruction.

(b) A brief biography of each candidate in a format approved by the Election Committee.

(c) The answers by each candidate to any question which may be propounded to all candidates, or to all candidates for a particular office, by the American Mensa Committee, the number of words permitted to be determined by the American Mensa Committee.

(d) A campaign statement, the maximum length of which shall be specified by the Election Committee. Candidates running jointly may pool their allocations. Materials submitted to the ElectionSearch Committee by candidates for publication in conformance with Election Committee regulations shall be published without editing.

(e) The job description for each contested office on the American Mensa Committee. Such job desription shall include any relevant duties and responsibilities of the respective jobs as mentioned within the bylaws as well as any Actions Still in Effect promulgated by the American Mensa Committee.

(9) No member of the NominatingSearch or Election Committee shall be eligible for any national or regional office at the election concerned. 

Hearing Process amendment proposal

Amend Article IX Sections 5-7 by deleting the current language and replacing it with the following Sections 5-8 (NB: current Section 7 is turning into Section 8 and current language that permits continuing a hearing after someone's resignation from AML would be deleted; the current text after "jurisdiction" would be deleted and replaced with the text that appears below in Section 8 after "jurisdiction"):

(5) A member may be suspended from specific activities, offices, positions or functions, for a specified time, or suspended from membership for a specified time, or expelled from membership, for acts inimical to the society. No member shall be suspended or expelled from American Mensa, Ltd. except following a fair and impartial hearing by the Hearings Committee at which hearing the member shall have the right to present his/her case. A decision by the Hearings Committee to impose sanctions upon a member of American Mensa, Ltd., shall require the concurrence of the American Mensa Committee.

(a) The Hearings Committee shall comprise three members of American Mensa, Ltd. who meet the following criteria:

i) they have indicated their willingness to serve on such hearings committees via the Personal Data Questionnaire or other similar mechanism available to the full membership,

ii) they are not members of the same Local Group as the accused or accuser(s) (the parties), nor family members of any of these parties in question, and

iii) they are not members of the American Mensa Committee.

(b) The following procedure will be undertaken to determine the composition of the Hearings Committee:

i) Within two weeks of the Advocate filing charges, or one or more members filing charges of act inimical, with the Chairman of the American Mensa Committee and sending a copy of those charges to the accused member(s), the Chairman will direct the National Office to generate a randomized list of members who meet the criteria laid out in (5)(a).

ii) Within two weeks after the National Office has been duly notified, the first fifty (50) members on that list will be contacted by the National Office to see if they are still willing to serve on a hearing committee and ask if they feel they need to recuse themselves from the upcoming hearing, providing only the name and cities of the parties in question to assist in their determination. If there are fewer than thirty (30) members from this list who remain eligible for the committee within two weeks after such contact from the National Office, additional members who meet the criteria laid out in (5)(a) will be contacted until there is a list of at least thirty (30) qualifying members.

iii) The list of qualifying members and their cities will be sent to the parties and the Chairman of the American Mensa Committee. The parties will have two weeks to then send to the Chairman of the American Mensa Committee and the other parties in question any objections they may have related to one or more individuals on the qualifying list of possible Hearings Committee members. The Chairman of the American Mensa Committee will then send a reduced list of qualifying members to the National Office and each of the parties in question.

iv) From this remaining list of qualifying members, the National Office will randomize them and send this list out to the Chairman of the American Mensa Committee, the parties in question, and each of the members on this list of qualifying members. The first three members on this list will make up the Hearings Committee, with the additional remaining qualifying members, in order, being alternates should a seated member of the Hearings Committee be unavailable or need to step down.

v) Within two weeks of the members of the Hearings Committee being determined, the Hearings Committee will select its chairman in a manner of its own choosing from among its number. The Hearings Committee Chairman will notify the Chairman of the American Mensa Committee and the parties in question about their selection as the chairman. Hereafter, all communications with the Hearings Committee for a particular hearing will go through the Hearings Committee Chairman.

c) Within two weeks of the parties in question being notified of who the Hearings Committee Chairman is, the complainant(s) need to send the full complaint to the Hearings Committee Chairman who will disseminate it to the other members of the committee. Within 60 days from receipt of the complaint, the Hearings Committee shall decide if the alleged acts inimical to the society warrant having a hearing, and establish the date and time of the hearing if so warranted. There shall be a minimum of 30 days and a maximum of 120 days between the receipt of the notification for a hearing and the date of the hearing.

(d) Summary reports of Hearing Committee actions shall be available to the membership.

(6) A member whose recurring conduct has been demonstrably harmful to a local group or to individual members, to the extent that it may be considered inimical to the society, may also be suspended from office in that group, or barred from its functions, or suspended from the group itself by the American Mensa Committee upon recommendation of a Regional Hearings Committee. Such recommendations shall be made only after the member has been given a fair and impartial hearing.

(a) If good-faith efforts to end the harmful conduct have failed, officers and/or members of the local group may request their Regional Vice-Chairman to convene a Regional Hearings Committee to consider charges against the member. The request shall be in writing, shall describe fully the conduct deemed harmful, and shall be signed by officers and/or members of the local group numbering no less than 150% of the number of elective officers of the local group.

(b) The Regional Vice-Chairman shall then initiate a process identical to that laid out in (5), above, with the following differences:

i) Members to be chosen for the Regional Hearings Committee must be members from the same region(s) as the parties but may not be members of the same Local Group as any of the parties in question.

ii) Initial communications will be through the Regional Vice-Chairman instead of the Chairman of the American Mensa Committee.

iii) Once the composition of the Regional Hearings Committee has been determined and if a determination that a hearing is warranted has been made, the chairman of the Regional Hearings Committee will notify the parties in question, the Regional Vice-Chairman, and the Local Secretary of the Local Group(s) of the accused member(s) of the date and location of the upcoming hearing.

(c) A member's violation of sanctions imposed by the American Mensa Committee following a regional hearing shall constitute an act inimical to Mensa for which further sanctions may be imposed by the national Hearings Committee.

(7) The accused member or the complainant may file a written protest with the National Ombudsman if either feels that a regional or national Hearings Committee hearing was conducted unfairly or with prejudice. The National Ombudsman shall investigate the protest and report to the American Mensa Committee, and send a copy of his report to the parties to the hearing.

(8) If national or regional charges have been filed against a member in accordance with section (5)

or (6) of this Article, and the member actively resigns or does not renew membership before the hearings process is completed, the body having jurisdiction at that point in time may complete the hearings process if it feels such action is appropriate, according the accused the same due process as if the resignation or non-renewal had not occurred. If the body chooses not to continue the hearings process upon the accused's resignation or failure to renew, and the accused rejoins, the accused shall face the same charges and hearings. shall cease consideration of the charges, with the option to reinstate the charges if/when the member rejoins.