{news} Discussion Has Begun on GP-US Proposal: ID 278 - Fund Diversity Waivers from Proxy Registration

[Charlie Pillsbury]

any comments?

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: voting at gpus.org <voting at gpus.org>
Date: 21 May 2007 04:05:01 -0000
Subject: [usgp-nc] Discussion Has Begun on GP-US Proposal: ID 278 - Fund
Diversity Waivers from Proxy Registration
To: natlcomvotes at green.gpus.org

Discussion has begun for the following proposal:

Proposal ID: 278
Proposal: Fund Diversity Waivers from Proxy Registration
Floor Manager: Jody Grage, jody at gp.org
Discussion Dates: 05/21/2007 - 06/03/2007
Voting Dates: 06/04/2007 - 06/10/2007

Voting ends at Midnight Pacific Time

The GP-US strives for consensus, which involves several steps,
taken in order..

Clarifying questions and responses from the group making the proposal.
Airing of concerns and discussion about how to improve the proposal
by taking into consideration those concersn
Call for consensus on the final proposal.

Background: When a member State Party chooses to save their state money, by
not sending a full delegation to the annual national meeting,
everybody loses the value of that participation, and proxies
cannot replace the missing experience, perspective and diversity
which a non-participating Delegate could have provided.
The fixed costs involved in mounting the Annual National
Meeting must be drawn from a smaller pool of paid registrations.

This results in increased registration fees for those who
do attend, and particularly for those states which send a
full delegation.

The savings enjoyed by a state choosing to vote by proxy becomes
a cost borne by the rest of the Party, both in missing wisdom
and in actual dollars.

This National Committee just adopted a proposal authorizing
disbursements from a nearly empty General Fund to meet our
obligations to fund the Diversity Waiver Program authorized
by Resolution #81.  This proposal offers a funding mechanism
which we hope will make a significant contribution to the cost
of funding these authorized and much needed waivers.

Proposal: A resolution to amend the bylaws of the Green Party of the
United States to require that a Delegate be registered for the
Annual National Meeting prior to their vote being exercised
by proxy; to amend the policies and procedures of the Annual
National Meeting Committee to require that registration fees
for non-attending Delegates be defined in the Committee's
annual budget request; to direct the Annual National Meeting
Committee to establish a registration fee applying to the 2007
Reading Pennsylvania meeting for non-attending Delegates whose
vote would be exercised by proxy; and to provide for related
implementation details.

A Resolution of the
Green National Committee of the
Green Party of the United States

SECTION 1.

Resolved, that the bylaws of the Green Party of the United
States are here amended, by striking from Article II, related
to "Membership and the National Committee", Section 2, related
to the "National Committee", the sentence reading:

     A delegate to the National Committee may cast an additional
     vote at a National Conference in place of an absent
     delegate, as long as the total number of votes cast for
     that state does not exceed its total allowed votes on
     the National Committee, or twice the number of voting
     delegates in attendance.

and inserting in its place, the following:

     A delegate to the National Committee may cast a proxy
     vote at a face-to-face meeting of the Green National
     Committee, in place of not more than one absent Delegate
     who is registered to participate in such face-to-face
     meeting, as long as the total number of votes cast for
     that state does not exceed its total allowed votes on
     the National Committee, or twice the number of voting
     delegates in attendance.

SECTION 2.

The charter of the Annual National Meeting Committee, adopted
December 18th, 2005, is here amended at Section 9., related to
"Budget", by replacing the periods at the end of paragraphs b)
and c) with semicolons, by inserting after the semicolon at
the end of paragraph c), the word 'and' and by inserting after
paragraph c., the following new paragraph d., to read:

     d) The Annual National Meeting Committee is directed to
     recommend as a part of its budget request, a registration
     cost structure in which a registration fee will be
     charged for non-attending Delegates whose vote will be
     exercised by proxy. Such registration fee shall be set for
     non-attending Delegates at a level which shall not exceed
     that for a Delegate in attendance.  Revenues raised from
     registration fees charged for non-attending Delegates
     shall be dedicated to repaying the general fund for
     funds advanced for the diversity fee waiver program.
     In recommending a registration fee structure, the Annual
     National Meeting Committee is urged to provide for fees
     which are expected to raise sufficient revenues to meet
     the costs of providing registration fees and meals for
     at least fifteen, but not more than thirty participants
     qualified under the program adopted as Proposal #81, by
     the Green National Committee on May 9th, 2004, related to
     'Diversity at Green Party National Committee meetings'.

SECTION 3.

For purposes of the 2007 Annual National Meeting of the Green
National Committee, the Annual National Meeting Committee
is directed, not later than six weeks after the adoption of
this policy, to set and publish a registration fee to apply to
absent, but registered Delegates whose votes are eligible to
be cast by proxy, and which is expected to raise sufficient
revenues to meet the costs of providing registration fees
and meals for at least fifteen, but not more than thirty
participants qualified under the program adopted as Proposal
#81, by the Green National Committee on May 9th, 2004, related
to 'Diversity at Green Party National Committee meetings'.
Such registration fee for a non-attending Delegate shall not
exceed that charged for a Delegate in attendance.
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