Rules & Procedures of the Green Party of Los Angeles County - October 22, 2009

Minutes Taking for GPLAC Meetings

1) Formal minutes of GPLAC meetings shall include only a record of decisions taken on a particular proposal or motion, as well who voted for, against or stood aside, and a record of all outstanding concerns.  

2) An official audiotape be made of every meeting, which would be used to settle questions about the minutes or anything else of the meeting's proceedings. Taping of the meeting shall be the responsibility of the Co-Coordinators and the Secretary.

County Councilmember Intent in Voting

For GPLAC officers like Co-Coordinator, Secretary and Treasurer, and for Regional Representative to the Coordinating Committee of the Green Party of California (or other such elections), the election shall be conducted so as disclose the intentions of the voter.
 
To accomplish this, County Councilmembers would rank their choices on a written ballot, using the Single Transferable Vote, and would indentify themselves on the ballot.

SECTION 2: FILLING COUNTY COUNCIL VACANCIES

1) Any person appointed to the County Council at a face-to-face meeting, can participate at the next face-to-face meeting or as part of post-meeting on-line or conference call votes, as soon as their Nomination Petition signatures are validated.

2) Nomination Petition signatures shall be validated within seven business days of their delivery to either of the GPLAC co-coordinators. Nomination Petitions may be delivered before a County Council meeting or at a County Council meeting.

3) The Co-Coordinators and the Secretary shall have the responsibility to ensure that the Green registration status of the petition signers is validated. Validation must occur within seven business days of signatures being handed in to the Co-Coordinators. Validation will include comparing the signatures to those at the County Registrar's Office.

4) A person may also be appointed to the County Council by virtue of an on-line vote of the County Council, as long as their signatures have been validated before the vote occurs. They may then participate as a full voting member at the next face-to-face meeting, if they are appointed by the deadline for the release of the agenda for that meeting.

5) A person appointed in an on-line vote may also participate in on-line votes, but not before the next face-to-face meeting occurs, or after 30 days if no face-to-face meeting occurs in that time.

6) If there is a dispute over the Green registration status of petition signers, an appeal may be made to the County Council and agendized at its next meeting. The Co-coordinators shall make a written report of their findings available for inclusion with the agenda for that item.

SECTION 3: ALTERNATE REGIONAL REPRESENTATIVES TO GPCA STATE COORDINATING COMMITTEE

The County Council may appoint Alternates for each of the GPLAC State Coordinating Committee Regional Representatives.

• Eligibility

Any GPLAC member is eligible to be an Alternate GPLAC Regional Representative. A Coordinating Committee member may not also be a County Co-Coordinator, but an Alternate may be. In a case where an Co-Coordinator is an Alternate, should the Representative leave the seat (through resignation, recall or other cause), and should such an Alternate assume the seat in his/her place, then that Alternate shall be considered to have immediately resigned their Co-Coordinator position.

• Length of Term

The GPLAC seeks to retain flexilibity in its selection of Alternates, in order to be able to appoint Alternates for periods of specified duration.
Current GPCA Bylaws state that the term of an Alternate shall be concurrent with the term of the Representative. If the GPCA Bylaws change to allow for the option of flexibility on behalf of counties, this clause shall establish that flexibility for the GPLAC.

If that occurs, an Alternate may be appointed for the same term as the Representative, or for a period of lesser duration.

• Appointment

The voting procedure for each seat shall be by Instant Run-Off Voting, using a simple majority threshold, as referenced in the GPCA Bylaws (Section 7).

• Gender Balance

To ensure that at least one Alternate is male and one female, Alternates shall be chosen first for the male and female Representatives. If at this point, there are at least two of each gender, out of the five selected (three Representatives, two Alternates), then the last Alternate may be from either gender. If not, then the final Alternate shall be chosen to ensure that there are at least two of each gender.

• Timing

Alternates may not be chosen at the same meeting as Representatives for the same seat, but rather may be selected at any subsequent meeting, as long as there is the same notice for the selection of the Alternate, as there would be for the Representative for that seat.

Notwithstanding this, the County Council may make an appointment upon shorter notice ' if at least one meeting has passed after the initial meeting at which Representatives were chosen -- if it also first approves 'findings' explaining why such an abbreviated decision-making schedule was necessary. This may not be used for more than one seat at a time.

SECTION 4: BEGINNING AND ENDING DATES OF GPCA STATE COORDINATING COMMITTEES REGIONAL REPRESENTATIVE TERMS

The length of the term for GPLAC Regional Representatives to the GPCA State Coordinating Commitee is set by the GPCA at two years.

The beginning and ending of the GPLAC term shall run from the fourth Sunday of March, in even numbered years, to the day preceding the fourth Sunday of March, in even numbered years.

If an election for the seat is held on the fourth Sunday, the Representative is considered seated upon election.

SECTION 5: DATA BASE

Database Coordinator

There shall be a Database Coordinator that is responsible for managing the Database according to the direction set by the County.

Among his/her tasks, the Database Coordinator would be responsible for maintaining the database, including cleaning and updating the email addresses, and entering information as needed that comes from web and phone referrals, the GPCA from its fundraising and volunteer records, and from any Green local or candidate that chooses to share it.

The Database Coordinator will provide quartely reports to the GPLAC.

The Database Coordinator will not provide access to, nor share the contents of the database with any individual or organization, unless specified to do so by the County Council, and the Database Coordinator will sign a document with the County Council to this effect.

Database Committee

There shall be a Database Committee that shall work with the Database Coordinator to help implement County Council direction regarding the Database. The Committee shall include the GPLAC co-coordinators, the Database Coordinator as well as additional members as appointed by the County Council.

The Database Committe shall create options for GPLAC members, so that they could receive by email, the type of information they are interested in.

This would include notice of County Council elections (and filing deadlines), notice of the election of GPLAC Officers and GPLAC reps to the GPCA CC, County Council meetings and agendas, and other items directed by the County Council.

Access to Database/County Councilmembers

County Councilmembers will have no special access to the Database, just because they are County Councilmembers.

Access to Database/Green Locals

The GPLAC Co-coordinators are directed to send an email to Green locals asking them under what circumstances would they be willing to work with the GPLAC in developing the GPLAC data base. The results of this outreach would be reported to the County Council and options provided at a future County Council meeting (the goal would be April, which would give locals time to discuss it first and then have the options reflect those discussions.)

Access to Database/Candidates

Candidates endorsed by the GPLAC County Council may have emails sent on their behalf to registered Greens in the GPLAC database, at the discretion of the County Council. The County Council shall develop a plan for how often this opportunity will be provided.

SECTION 6: FUNDRAISING

Donor and Volunteer Lists from the GPCA

It is the responsibility of the GPLAC co-coordinators to are directed to communicate to the GPCA that the GPLAC would like to obtain the donor and volunteers lists for Los Angeles County in the GPCA's possession.

Fundraising via email

The GPLAC will develop and authorize periodic fundraising appeals directly to its members via email and the PayPayl link on the county's website.

SECTION 7: COMMUNICATIONS

A) Process for Posting/Notification of Election of GPLAC Officers

In order to post/notify when elections for GPLAC officers and for GPLAC representatives to the GPCA-CC will be held, and to inform about the process by which those elections will be conducted: the GPLAC will:

1) post such information on the GPLAC website, at the same time as this information is made available to the County Council

2) send such information via email to all Green locals on the County list and to any others that request it

3) include the opportunity to receive such information among the email options presented to registered Green Party members in LA County, including as part of a GPLAC data base policy

4) send such information via email to all Green locals on the County list and to any others that request it

B) Official Communications by GPLAC Officers

Official Communications on behalf of the GPLAC, either of the GPLAC Co-Coordinators or the GPLAC Secretary shall be copied to the two others. Official communications by the Treasurer shall be copied to the Co-Coordinators and Secretary.

All such communications shall use the following email addresses in copying communications to each other: gplac-cocos@cagreens.org, gplac-secretary@cagreens.org and gplac-treasurer@cagreens.org. These email addresses shall be attached to a web-archive, which will archive GPLAC official communications. 

C) County Green General Discussion/Announcement Email List

(gplac-forum@cagreens.org)

Purpose/Charter: For open discussion by any LA County Green Party member about issues, strategy, trends, organizing and other activities of the Green Party in Los Angeles County. 

1) GPLAC County Council members (and GPLAC state Coordinating Committee regional representatives) are encouraged to subscribe to this list, either in full or digest form.

2) Event Announcements should be limited to those related to the activities of the Green Party and/or Green Party members.

Participants: Read/write participation by any Green Party member in LA County.  Participation subject to the Green eRules attached below. Sign-Up: Sign up will be by submission form on County site. The List Administrator will check all submission against the list of registered Greens in LA County.  By signing up one agrees to abide by the Green eRules. Submission requests will be processed within seven days. Green registration status of participants will be checked each time the GPLAC obtains a new voter registration list.

D) County Council Discussion Email List 

(gplac-cc@careens.org)

Purpose/Charter: For discussion purposes only among County Council members.

Participants: Read/write participation by County Council members; Read-only status for any other Green member in LA County, available either through a web archive or as email.

Individual Greens retain the right to directly email a County Councilmember. That Councilmember could then choose to forward that email to the group. However, County Council members should only repost within reason to make a point, rather than to insert the non-County Council member into the debate in an ongoing manner. 

note: County Council decisions will not be made on this email list. County Council votes will be cast on a separate voting web page. See #3 below.

Sign-Up: The List Administrator will automatically place all County Council members on the email list as full participants. In participating, all County Councilmembers agree to abide by the Green eRules.

E) County Council Pre-Vote Discussion Web Pages

(www.cagreens.org/lacounty/pre-discuss)

Purpose/Charter: For two purposes: pre-vote discussion of agenda items for on-line votes and face-to-face meetings.

Participants: Read/write status for any Green in LA County

Sign-Up: Sign up will be by submission form on County site; the List Administrator will check all submission against the list of registered Greens in LA County. Posting will be password protected, with individual passwords linked to individual e-mail addresses. By signing up one agrees to abide by the Green eRules. Submission requests will be processed within seven days. Green registration status of participants will be checked each time the GPLAC obtains a new voter registration list.

F) County Council On-Line Voting Voting

(www.cagreens.org/lacounty/Ccvote)

Purpose/Charter: For conducting and recording on-line votes of the County Council.

Participants: County Council members. Results will be available to be read by all, with a link from the GPLAC home page and County Council page.

Design: This will be a variation of the GPUS Voting Page at http://gp.org/cgi-bin/vote/index. The code is open source and the GPLAC will incorporate this into a design using the GPLAC's own graphics.

Sign-Up: The List Administrator will automatically place all County Council members on the email list as full participants, and assign each a password.

G) GPLAC eRules

(www.cagreens.org/lacounty/erules)

Participation in GPLAC on-line forums is open to all Green Party members in Los Angeles County.  It is based upon the premise that people participant in order build the Green Party and advance the Ten Key Values. 

Green eRules are meant to help promote a productive, transparent and respectful environment for this to occur.  GPLAC on-line forum participants are encouraged to state their views, inform one another, and discuss issues in depth, in a manner that enables energy to be focused on productive work. Disagreement over issues and ideas should be honored as an expected part this process, and is not to be considered a disruption or impediment.

The full text for 'Expectations and Standards' and Restricting Dispuptive and/or Unethical Behavior' is contained at or www.cagreens.org/lacounty/erules

H) Referrals to Active Green Locals

The GPLAC share forward to Active Green Locals, referrals for those areas of Los Angeles County that those locals are recognized for, that come in through the County web site's - "Interest/Volunteer page", as well as referrals that come in from the Green Party of the California and the Green Party of the United States.

I) County Council candidates (candidate statements, qualification signatures)

1) Providing information to Green voters about County Council candidates

In order to provide information to Green voters about County Council candidates, a URL will be provided on the GPLAC web site, for every ballot qualified County Council candidate.

Such candidates will be free to post as much content as they'd like (including links to other sites) as long as their content (and that of the links) is
- issue and organization-based, and
- does not critically name or single out individuals in the Green Party.

In general, candidate statements should observe the same general decorum outlined as appropriate for Green Party email lists/forum on www.cagreens.org/lacounty/gplac_erules.html

A candidate may post a photo, but is not required to do so.

To qualify, a candidate shall send the html page to the GPLAC Co-Coordinators, and the GPLAC shall be responsible for uploading the page.

2) Signatures for County Council candidate nomination petitions

In order that Green Party members can be made aware that they can sign the nomination petitions for Green County Council candidates in their district, and to aid potential County Council candidates in connecting to Green Party members in their district, contact information for County Council candidates will be provided on the GPLAC web site so that Green Party members who may want to sign for someone in their districts, will have the information to do so. The Los Angeles County Registrar's web page has a link to this information and linking to it from the GPLAC site, along with an explanation of why, can fufilll this requirement.

Section 8: ON-LINE VOTING

Decisions follow the normal consensus process to the extent possible. The decisions made through this process may include those that are routine and/or straightforward in nature, that have had significant preparatory work already done at facetoface meetings, or that are time sensitive. Time sensitive items shall include a 'statments of findings' explaining the need to compacted decisionmaking
schedule. Other items should be saved for face-to-face meetings.

Any GPLAC County Councilmember can make a proposal.

Proposals shall include:
The person or group who initiated the proposal (proposals may originate from a non-County Councilmember but must be sponsored by a GPLAC County Councilmember), and also who will reply to clarifying questions.
Clear statement of the issue being addressed and the action/decision requested (PROPOSAL)
Relevant background information (can be web links) open in browser customize free license pdfcrowd.com

SECTION 9: VOTING ON GPCA POLLING OF THE COUNTIES

When responding to GPCA Polling of the Counties on candidate and ballot measure endorsements, and other such matters, the GPLAC shall cast its full allotment of votes in the following manner:

The County Council shall take a position on the question, and then shall cast its allotment of votes in the same proportions as taken by the County Council.

SECTION 10: ENDORSED CANDIDATES

Any endorsed candidate shall be expected to campaign in a manner that

- accurately represents the decisions of the Green Party of Los Angeles County, the Green Party of California and the Green Party of the United States, including endorsement of other candidates;

- generally supports the principles and policies of the Green Party of California platform and any additional issue and policy positions taken by the Green Party of Los Angeles; and where there is a disagreement between the positions of the endorsed candidate and those of the Green Party of California and/or the Green Party of Los Angeles County, be willing to state how this is so and why;

- does not misrepresent the candidate's own record nor that of others and makes a good faith effort to be factually correct;

- does not use prejudicial, biased, or offensive language, images or graphics with respect to race, gender, ethnicity, physical ability, spirituality, sexuality, or age;

- is in compliance with all applicable laws regarding being a candidate for public ofice