The following shall be the system of bylaws observed by the Tallahassee Green Party and its members. There shall be ten (10) articles, each dealing with related and similar topics, each composed of a number of alphabetically designated sections and numerically designated related sub-sections, and each consistent with the mission and purpose of the Tallahassee Green Party. Article I – Name Article II – Purpose of the Tallahassee Green Party Article III – Membership Article IV – Officers Article V – Executive Board Article VI – Committees Article VII – Meetings Article VIII – Amendatory Process Article IX – Parliamentary Authority Article X – Severability ARTICLE I - NAME The name of the organization described and in compliance with these regulations is the Tallahassee Green Party, hereinafter referred to as “the Party". ARTICLE II –
PURPOSE AND MISSION 1. GRASSROOTS DEMOCRACY For democracy to work, governments must be accountable to the citizens who elect them, rather than corporate entities and business interests. Government should be by the people and truly for the people. The Green Party works to increase public participation at every level of government. 2. SOCIAL JUSTICE AND EQUAL OPPORTUNITY Government must broaden and enforce equal employment opportunity standards. This includes elimination of all forms of social injustice regarding race, class, sexual preference, gender, religion, disability, and age. 3. ECOLOGICAL WISDOM The Green Party advocates maintaining an ecological balance and living within the natural resource limits of our communities and our planet. We all have a right to clean air, water and food. 4. NON-VIOLENCE We must develop effective alternatives to existing patterns of violence between individuals, groups and nations around the world. The Green Party promotes a value system in which our current culture of violence is unacceptable. This includes seriously reducing cold war military budgets and the elimination of global nuclear weapons stockpiles. 5. DECENTRALIZATION Decentralization pertaining to wealth and power are the focus of this particular value. Power and responsibility must be restored to local communities, within an overall framework of ecologically sound, socially just values and ways of living. 6. COMMUNITY-BASED ECONOMICS AND ECONOMIC JUSTICE We believe a living wage, not a minimum wage, is essential for establishing true economic justice. We support local, independently owned and operated businesses, demand responsible corporate citizenship, and are opposed to corporate welfare and privatization of community resources. 7. GENDER EQUITY Women should receive equal pay for equal work. Proportional representation in our Boardrooms and government leadership would create a more balanced and equitable society. 8.RESPECT FOR DIVERSITY We must honor cultural, ethnic, racial, sexual, religious and spiritual diversity within the context of individual responsibility to all. We must reclaim America’s finest shared ideals of liberty and justice for all. 9. PERSONAL AND GLOBAL RESPONSIBILITY The Green Party urges individuals to better understand our interdependence with local and global ecosystems. Our very existence depends on a clean and healthy environment. Individuals, governments and corporations are responsible for making choices that will protect our planet. 10. FUTURE FOCUS We must all consider the long-range impact of personal choices and public policy on generations to come. Our society must shift away from the sole pursuit of unsustainable economic growth towards a more holistic, long-term vision of quality of life.
Warning: fopen(/home/motolagg/public_html/tallahasseegreenparty.org/cache/lastclean.txt) [function.fopen]: failed to open stream: No such file or directory in /home/motolagg/public_html/tallahasseegreenparty.org/exchange/ex_func.php on line 41 Warning: fwrite(): supplied argument is not a valid stream resource in /home/motolagg/public_html/tallahasseegreenparty.org/exchange/ex_func.php on line 42 Warning: fclose(): supplied argument is not a valid stream resource in /home/motolagg/public_html/tallahasseegreenparty.org/exchange/ex_func.php on line 43 Warning: fopen(/home/motolagg/public_html/tallahasseegreenparty.org/cache/09efaa7693b58c90082aa2b58ec4a719) [function.fopen]: failed to open stream: No such file or directory in /home/motolagg/public_html/tallahasseegreenparty.org/exchange/ex_func.php on line 128 Warning: fwrite(): supplied argument is not a valid stream resource in /home/motolagg/public_html/tallahasseegreenparty.org/exchange/ex_func.php on line 129 Warning: fclose(): supplied argument is not a valid stream resource in /home/motolagg/public_html/tallahasseegreenparty.org/exchange/ex_func.php on line 130 ARTICLE III – MEMBERSHIP A. Non-Discrimination Membership in the Tallahassee Green Party is open to anyone, regardless of age, race, color, national origin, spiritual belief, gender, sexual orientation, or physical challenge, subject to the conditions below. B. The Tallahassee Green Party formally recognizes two types of membership, “voting membership” and “non-voting membership”. C. Individuals seeking the classification of “voting membership” shall satisfy the following requirements: 1. Individuals shall publicly pledge to recognize honor and practice the Ten Key Values described in Article II. 2. Individuals shall have attended at least 3 consecutive regular meetings (as defined in Article VII) and had such attendance recorded by the secretary in the official minutes. 3. Individuals shall commit to participating/working in at least one (1) of the standing committees (described in Article VI) in a manner defined by the chair of said committee, or agree to serve in any capacity on the Executive Board (defined in Article V). 4. Individuals shall commit to adhering to the bylaws and code of conduct contained herein. D. Membership Contributions - It is recognized that all organizations need to develop sources of income in order to meet overhead costs (including mailings, newsletters, phone and space rental) and to support approved projects. Therefore, the Party urges all members to consider making an annual voluntary membership contribution within their means. However, the Party does not want to discourage the participation of those who are unable to make a financial contribution and will in no way discriminate against those that are not financially able. E. Powers of Voting Members - The voting membership shall have final approval over all local policies, expenditure and collection of funds, election of officers herein described, recall of all officers herein described, and shall be able to amend these by laws. F. Individuals who wish to participate in public meetings and/or activities of the Party, but have yet to satisfy or are unwilling or unable to satisfy the qualifications for voting membership described in these bylaws, shall be considered “non-voting members” providing they agree to adhere to the Rules of Conduct herein described. 1. Non-voting members shall be permitted to participate in all discussions at regular meetings (as defined in Article VII) and may be permitted to participate in public actions. 2. Non-voting members shall not be considered in the modified consensus process herein described and shall not participate in any fall back voting procedures. 3. Non-voting members shall not participate in any voting procedures for the selection and/or retention of officers. G. Code of Conduct for the Tallahassee Green Party: No individual member (voting or nonvoting) shall be permitted to: 1. Commit the Party or any of its affiliated members (other than themselves) to any action, endorsement, or other policy position outside the decision making process described in these by laws. 2. Misrepresent the decisions or policies of the Party or related body in any public forum. 3. Through any act of omission or commission collect, misappropriate or expend Party funds. 4. Knowingly practice or advocate acts of racial, sexual, national, sexual orientation or religious discrimination. 5. Advocate or practice violent political action in any capacity of or connection to the Party. 6. Disparage the work or members of the Party in any public forum including public meetings, members of the media or official gathering of any other organization. 7. Knowingly, and with malicious intent, violate any provision of these by laws. H. Voting and non-voting members of the Party may be subject to sanction for violating one or more of the provisions outlined in Article III Section E of the bylaws, not adhering to the Ten Key Values defined in Article II, or as deemed necessary by the general membership of the Party. I. Procedures for Membership Sanction. 1.The disciplinary/sanction process may be initiated only for alleged violation of the Code of Conduct defined in Article III, Section G. 2. The process shall be initiated upon the submission of a written complaint by one or more voting members of the Party to the Executive Board defined in Article V. a. The written proposal shall include the name of the member requesting disciplinary action or sanction, the name of the member to be disciplined/sanctioned, a detailed description of the rationale for the request including any evidence available, and a description of any requested sanction. b. The written proposal shall be submitted to the Executive Board. c. In order to protect the rights of the disputed member, copies of the written proposal shall not be released to the general membership, except in cases in which the Executive Board requests a sanction from the general membership. 4. Upon receipt of the written complaint, the Executive Board has two weeks to make a recommendation to the general assembly. Such recommendation may include suspension or dissolution of membership from the Party, suspension or revocation of voting privileges, or other sanction allowed by law. 5. Recommendations for sanctions by the Board must be reached through non- modified consensus. 6. The Board must provide a written recommendation for all decisions reached regarding the request to the general membership. a. The written statement must include a justification for the recommended sanction or justification. b. If the Executive Board’s recommendation is that no further action is necessary, a justification for that decision must be included in the written statement. 7. If a sanction is recommended, the matter is voted on by the general membership at a regular meeting not less than one week or more than three weeks from the time the recommendation is issued. 8. At the meeting the vote is taken the accused is permitted to make a statement of defense. If the sanction is less than dissolution the vote must be a simple majority. If dissolution is recommended the vote must be 2/3. Abstentions will not be considered part of the vote total. Voting shall be by secret ballot. 9. The accused is not permitted to vote on the matter. J. There shall be an appeal process for any decision made which leads to a sanction of a member of the Party. The appeal process shall proceed as described below: 1. Any voting member, other than the member sanctioned, may initiate the appeal process. 2. Only one (1) appeal shall be permitted for each decision that led to a sanction. 3. The appeal process shall be conducted in a manner identical to that described above for the initiation of a sanction, and shall observe the same time limits. ARTICLE IV – OFFICERS A. The Party shall maintain the following officers elected by the voting membership. 1. 2 Co-chairs a. The co-chairs of the Party shall be gender balanced. 2. Scrivener 3. Treasurer 4. Parliamentarian B. The Party shall have an official archivist appointed by the Executive Board. C. Officers shall be voting members of the Party D. Powers and duties of the Co-chairs: 1. The co-chairs shall call, facilitate, and set agenda for meetings of the Executive Board. 2. The co-chairs shall facilitate meetings of the General Membership. 3. The chair facilitating any meeting may temporarily delegate this responsibility to any voting member as outlined in the parliamentary authority defined in Article IX. 4. Co-chairs may not vote on Board decisions, except in case of a tie. 5. The co-chairs shall serve as authorized signatories for all official Party financial accounts. 6. The co-chairs shall serve as the primary spokespersons and correspondents for the Party. 7. The co-chairs may call special meetings of the Executive Board with the concurrence of one (1) other member of the Executive Board. E. Powers and duties of the Scrivener: 1. The scrivener shall record minutes of general meetings and Board meetings and publishes them electronically. If unable to attend a meeting it is the Scrivener’s responsibility to appoint a note taker for that meeting and to see that the notes are published. 2. The scrivener shall maintain all active documents including membership lists, petitions, etc. 3. The scrivener shall create and maintain all records of meeting attendance by voting and non-voting members. 4. The scrivener shall process and maintain all public correspondence. 5. The scrivener shall serve as an authorized signatory for the Party’s financial accounts. F. Powers and duties of the Treasurer: 1. The treasurer shall be responsible for maintaining and managing all official Party financial accounts. 2. The treasurer shall file any and all appropriate financial documents required by law or deemed necessary by the part membership. 3. The treasurer shall process all reimbursements and cash advances for Party business and keep a record of such transactions. a. Financial reimbursements totaling less than one hundred (100) dollars shall not require approval from the Executive Board or membership. A receipt reflecting the cost of the goods and/or services being reimbursed must be collected and maintained by the treasurer. b. Financial reimbursements totaling more than one hundred (100) dollars must be approved by the Executive Board A receipt reflecting the cost of the goods/services must be collected and maintained by the treasurer. 4. The treasurer shall serve as the primary signatory for all official Party financial accounts. 5. The treasurer shall report the status of all official Party financial accounts to the general membership at each regular meeting and may be required to submit additional reports by the Executive Board. G. Powers and duties of the parliamentarian: 1. The parliamentarian shall keep and maintain any and all records of the Party’s parliamentary authority defined in Article IX. 2. The parliamentarian shall be charged with ensuring that all meetings of the Party conform to the guidelines specified in the parliamentary authority defined in Article IX. 3. The parliamentarian shall advise the presiding officer of any meeting on the requirements of the parliamentary authority defined in Article IX. 4. The parliamentarian shall be charged with enforcing any and all time limits for debate, discussion or voting specified by the parliamentary authority and/or the membership. 5. The parliamentarian shall plan and execute all elections within the Party and shall enforce any and all election rules and procedures adopted by the Party. H. Archivist 1. The archivist shall be responsible for establishing and maintaining the official Party library and archive, and for ensuring the safety of these materials. ARTICLE V – THE EXECUTIVE BOARD A. Composition: The Executive Board shall consist of the officers, plus the Standing Committee Chairs (see Article VI). B. Powers and duties of the Executive Board 1. Serves the will of the membership with all major decisions subject to the approval of the voting membership. 2. Generates an agenda for any meeting of the general membership. 3. Acts as the primary investigative and judicial body that makes final recommendations to the general membership. 4. Serves as a liaison to local, regional, and national public interest groups. 5. Serves as the final legal Board and mediates all internal legal proceedings. 6. Calling, with proper notice, general membership meetings when required by these bylaws or when deemed necessary by any of the Board members. 7. Makes/receives recommendations to/from the membership for the amendment of the by-laws. 8. Appoints temporary or ad hoc committees. 9. Coordinates the work of the various committees and other working groups so as to assure the goals of each committee are mutually supportive. 10. All Executive Board members must report their activities at each Board meeting. 11. Makes recommendations for approval by the general membership for the appointment of additional spokespersons for the Party, with the explicit understanding of those appointed of the duty to use this charge with great responsibility and sensitivity to the consensus of the Party, and for explicitly defined time limits or purpose. 12. Appoints, by consensus, a temporary Elections Supervisor in the absence of a Parliamentarian. C. Terms of office 1. No term limits. Term shall last one year for each elective office. 2. Election for Parliamentarian/Election Supervisor is held at the midpoint of other officer’s terms to ensure the availability of an Election Supervisor. Executive Board supervises the election of the Parliamentarian with voting by the general membership. D. Election to office: 1. All elections of Party officers require minimum advance notice at two meetings prior to the date on which the elections will be held. 2. Nominations will be taken from the floor of the general membership during each of the meetings prior to the election. Members are encouraged to nominate themselves. 3. Election Supervisor/Parliamentarian is responsible for tracking nominations, preparing, collecting and counting ballots, in a timely manner. 4. Voting will take place by secret ballot, in an instant runoff method to be determined by the Election Supervisor/Parliamentarian, subject to the approval of the Executive Board. 5. Committee Chairpersons are selected by the other members of their committee. E. Removal from office: Executive officers of the Board may be removed for malfeasance, misfeasance, or nonfeasance. Process for removal can be initiated by written proposal of one or more members of the general assembly and follows the same procedures governing discipline of general members. ARTICLE VI. COMMITTEES A. The following standing committees are permanent bodies. Additional standing committees may be added by approval of the general membership through the amendatory process. 1. Membership / Outreach – Maintains membership roles and actively pursues growth in the ranks of Party membership. Facilitates the building of coalitions and community awareness and understanding of the Party. Strives to increase membership diversity. 2. Media / Web – Responsible for the production and distribution of press releases, letters to other organizations, brochures, community calendars, television and radio commercials, and other promotional or informative materials as directed by the Party. Responsible for ensuring a constant, quality web presence. Keeps the website current and promotes links with other appropriate sites. 3. Fundraising – Responsible for raising funds for Party activities, including the planning and implementation of fundraising events, campaigns and pursuit of individual contributors. 4. Legal – Ensures Party compliance with local, state and federal laws. 5. Government Watchdog – Monitors local government activities. Attends public hearings and workshops as needed. Proposes alliances, cooperative agreements and actions to the general membership for approval. 6. Student Greens – Serves as liaison to student Greens and addresses ways students can actively contribute to Party actions. Coordinates trans-campus activities. B. Ad Hoc Committees: 1. Ad hoc committees may be formed and dissolved by the Board for short-term needs or projects. 2. Ad hoc committee chairs are elected by their committee members but are not to be considered voting members of the Executive Board. C. Meeting Frequency: All committees will determine the frequency in which they need to meet to fulfill their responsibilities. 1. The meeting frequency of all committees may be prescribed by the Executive Board, if deemed necessary to meet the committee’s responsibilities. D. Powers and Duties of Standing Committee Chairs: Chairs of the defined standing committees shall: 1. Serve as voting members of the Board. 2. Serve as the liaison between standing committees and Executive Board. 3. Responsible for ensuring that the committee is fulfilling its purpose and regularly reporting progress of the committee in fulfilling said purpose. ARTICLE VII. MEETINGS A. Quorum at Official General Membership Meetings 1. Quorum is 50 percent + 1 voting members, including one Co-chair or her/his designee, Parliamentarian or his/her designee, and Scrivener or her/his designee. 2. If a quorum cannot be established or maintained, or if notice was insufficient (as determined by the Board), those present may proceed to consider matters on the agenda but only in an informal and advisory capacity. All matters that require Party action shall be deferred to the next official meeting. B. Quorum of the Executive Board Meetings is 50 percent of the Board members, including one Co-chair. C. Proposals at General Membership Meetings 1. Content: All formal proposals at General Membership meetings shall include: a. Action requested by the Party b. Timetable for the proposal c. Body responsible for reporting progress on the proposal d. Budget requirements 2. Submission: a. Proposals to be considered by the Party may be submitted by any individual member to the Executive Board or appropriate committee for evaluation before submission to the General Membership. b. Alternately, such proposals may be submitted to the general membership directly. In this case, the proposal will require consensus for submission to the agenda. c. Consideration of the proposal may be delayed until the next general membership meeting and may be referred by the Board to the appropriate committee. d. The Board can recommend immediate action for those proposals that are time sensitive and cannot wait for future meetings. For decision making purposes, this recommendation shall be handled in the form of a proposal outline above. D. Frequency of Meetings: 1. The General Membership shall meet no less than bi-monthly. 2. The Executive Board shall meet no less than bi-monthly. E. Meeting agendas for both the general assembly and the Executive Board shall be handled as follows: 1. Co-chairs are responsible for the agenda of Board meetings. 2. The Executive Board is responsible for the agenda of General Membership meetings. 3. Agenda for general meetings should be made available to the voting membership electronically and by public posting 48 hours before the meeting. F. Motions and Voting: All bodies of the Party shall strive to seek consensus in their decision-making. Members shall strive to adhere to the spirit of consensus processes by debating issues respectfully, remaining open to compromise and maintaining awareness of the time they occupy during discussions. 1. Parliamentary Motions/Procedures : Voting will take place based on the rules specified for that motion. 2. Policy/Proposal/Amendment Motions : The following rules of procedure may be waived per parliamentary authority. a. The mover of the motion has opening comments/arguments, not to exceed 5 minutes in length. b. Three rounds of discussion will be permitted. Each round will begin with a call, by the meeting facilitator, for either the presence of objections or a parliamentary motion to go to a vote. The mover may not call for a vote. c. If there are no objections, the motion is passed. d. If there are objections, but the motion to vote is heard, the mover may decide whether to proceed with discussion or to go to a vote. e. Each round shall begin with a call for speakers on the motion. Speakers will identify themselves and their position (pro or con) at this time. The mover may not be a speaker. f. During each round, each identified speaker is allotted 5 minutes to speak on the motion. g. Speakers may yield their time to another identified speaker during the round. h. When all speakers have concluded, the round is considered completed. i. At the conclusion of each round, the mover is entitled to amend his/her own motion and resubmit the amended motion. Amended motions are not new motions and do not begin a new series of three rounds during the same meeting. The mover is, however, allotted five minutes of speech at this time. j. If three rounds have concluded, the facilitator will call for the presence of objections. Hearing none, the motion is passed. Otherwise, the matter will go to a vote. k. A 2/3 vote is necessary for passage of the proposal. ARTICLE VIII. AMENDMENTS Amendments to the by-laws may be introduced by any of the methods listed in Article VII Section C. Once the amendment proposal is placed on the calendar (agenda) it must stay on the calendar for a minimum of four general meetings. This period must be at least 3 weeks but not more than 5 weeks. ARTICLE IX. PARLIAMENTARY AUTHORITY A. The Party will follow a Modified Robert’s Rules for the Tallahassee Green Party for meetings and the handling of business. B. At no time may the parliamentary authority supercede the provisions outlined in the by-laws. C. The parliamentary authority shall be adopted by the Party following the procedure for proposals defined above, and may be amended by the body following the proper amendatory process. D. Copies of the parliamentary authority shall be provided to all members of the Party and all amendments to said authority will be communicated to the members in writing. E. Proposed amendments to the parliamentary authority made by the Executive Board may be handled outside the amendatory process but must be agreed to by the voting membership following the procedures outlined above for proposals. ARTICLE X. SEVERABILITY A. All provisions of the by-laws are deemed severable. B. In cases of conflict between the by laws of other affiliated Green organizations these provisions are deemed primary and shall govern all official actions of the Tallahassee Green Party. | Warning: fopen(/home/motolagg/public_html/tallahasseegreenparty.org/cache/lastclean.txt) [function.fopen]: failed to open stream: No such file or directory in /home/motolagg/public_html/tallahasseegreenparty.org/exchange/ex_func.php on line 41 Warning: fwrite(): supplied argument is not a valid stream resource in /home/motolagg/public_html/tallahasseegreenparty.org/exchange/ex_func.php on line 42 Warning: fclose(): supplied argument is not a valid stream resource in /home/motolagg/public_html/tallahasseegreenparty.org/exchange/ex_func.php on line 43 Warning: fopen(/home/motolagg/public_html/tallahasseegreenparty.org/cache/695cefc98a658ee5ca5bc16ffb7337bd) [function.fopen]: failed to open stream: No such file or directory in /home/motolagg/public_html/tallahasseegreenparty.org/exchange/ex_func.php on line 128 Warning: fwrite(): supplied argument is not a valid stream resource in /home/motolagg/public_html/tallahasseegreenparty.org/exchange/ex_func.php on line 129 Warning: fclose(): supplied argument is not a valid stream resource in /home/motolagg/public_html/tallahasseegreenparty.org/exchange/ex_func.php on line 130 |