DRAFT Agenda, GPLAC County Council meeting, August 2, 2020

DRAFT Green Party of Los Angeles County, County Council Meeting Agenda, Sunday, August 2, 2020
Teleconference information shared via County Council email list
Check in/socializing: 2:30pm to 3pm
Business meeting: 3pm to 5pm

Facilitators: Timeka Drew, Ajay Rai
Minutes: Mike Feinstein
Time Keeper:  Linda Piera-Avila
Vibes Watcher: Cordula Ohman

1. Welcome and Introductions - All attendees (ten minutes)
Very brief introductions, including role w/GPLAC County Council or otherwise with Green Party, or as outside observer

2. Reviewing our process (two minutes)

Presenter: Facilitators
• Relevant Bylaw: Section 9.3 Participation
9.3.1 Open Meetings: With the consent of the Council, all members of the Green Party of Los Angeles County may participate in the 'Consensus-seeking Process' but only Council members may hold any 'unresolved concerns' and participate in any vote, should one become necessary.
9.3.2 County Council members shall receive priority in discussions, to ensure that they have time to a) seek clarifications. b) express their concerns and affirmations, and c) take a vote, if necessary. At the discretion of the facilitation

3. Decision: Opportunity to amend agenda and/or add emergency items (five minutes)
Presenter: Facilitators

• Relevant By-Law 7.5.2.3
The agenda may be amended by a 3/5 vote of County Councilmember present. Emergency and/or late items may be added to the agenda by a 2/3 vote of County Councilmembers (in the interest of time, suggested amendments and their rationale should be offered on-line before the meeting)

Proposal (Feinstein): Approve the addition of the items marked with an asterik * below as late items, 2/3 vote required.

4. Decision: Bylaws Amendment - Ten Key Values, County Council vacancies (ten minutes)*
Presenter: Feinstein

Background:  The text for this bylaws amendment was discussed on the County Council's July 19 teleconference, with the idea that it would be put to an on-line vote on the GPLAC's voting page and the vote completed in time to be in effect for the August 2 County Council meeting.  However that vote was not posted as planned by the GPLAC Secretary Mike Feinstein. For that reason, even though GPLAC Bylaws require that Bylaw amendments are made via the voting page, on a one-time basis - in recognition of the instabilty brought to GPLAC organizing by the COVID-19 the vote is being brought before the County Council for a vote on the teleconference.

Proposal:

Part 1: That the GPLAC make a one time bylaws interpretation that states that even though GPLAC Bylaws require that Bylaw amendments are made via the voting page, on a one-time basis - in recognition of the instabilty brought to GPLAC organizing by the COVID-19, and that the Council discussed the proposed changes and informally agreed to them by consensus on its July 19 teleconference, with the idea they be implemented in time for the County Council's August 2nd meeting - the vote is being brought before the County Council for a vote on the teleconference.

Part 2:  That GPLAC Bylaws 2-7 be amended from "Post-Patriarchal Values" to "Post-Patriarchy, Feminism and Gender-Equality"

Part 3:  That GPLAC Bylaws 9-3.1 be amended so that August 2020 be replaced with September 2020 in this text:  "The following sentence shall be in the bylaws through August 2020 and then shall be removed) Additionally on a one time basis, for the period of April through August 2020, an applicant who has attended at last one County Council meeting in the last six months, may gather five signatures of registered Greens in the district on a nomination petition as defined in 8.4. After which they must receive an 80% vote of the County Council to be appointed"

Part 4: That GPLAC Bylaws be amended to add 8-5 At-Large Members with this text:  "If a County Council member who was elected or appointed to the County Council moves within Los Angeles County, such that they no longer live within the County Council State Senate District in which they were elected or appointed, and if the State Senate District into which they move has no open, unfilled County Council seats, the County Council may appoint that person to the County Council as an 'at-large member' of the County Council according to the same procedues in place to appoint County Councilmembers to vacant State Senate District seats, such that the nomination signatures gathered must be from registered Green Party members in the State Senate District into which the person moved."  (This bylaw 8-5 shall be in effect for the duration of the 2020-2024 County Council term and shall sunset at the end of that term.)

5. Decision: Appointment of County Councilmember to fill at-large County Council seat: Timeka Drew (five minutes)*
Sponsor: Rai

Background: Article IX of GPLAC Bylaws provides for the County Council to make appointments to fill vacancies on the County Council https://losangeles.cagreens.org/bylaws/2020-04-24#ARTICLE-9-COUNTY-COUNC....  GPLAC Bylaws 9-3  https://losangeles.cagreens.org/bylaws/2020-04-24#Section-9-4-Voting-upon-Nominees provides that for a given period of time, fewer nomination signatures are required to be appointed, if the applicant is able to receive a super-majority of the vote, compared to the regular simple majority:

      9-3.1 Any person seeking to be appointed to fill a County Council vacancy must be registered Green within the District they wish to represent, and must gather as many signatures of registered Greens in the district on a nomination petition as defined in 8.4, as would be normally required by the County Registrar to appear on the ballot in that district. After which they must receive a majority vote of the County Council to be appointed.

     (The following sentence shall be in the bylaws through August 2020 and then shall be removed) Additionally on a one time basis, for the period of April through August 2020, an applicant who has attended at last one County Council meeting in the last six months, may gather five signatures of registered Greens in the district on a nomination petition as defined in 8.4. After which they must receive an 80% vote of the County Council to be appointed.

Timeka submitted five signatures of registered Greens from State Senate District 26.  They were confirmed as registed Greens by GPLAC Secretary Mike Feinstein.  Because the office of the Los Angeles County Registrar of Voters is closed to the public because of COVID-19, it was not possible to go in person to verify the signatures, as is standard practice under GPLAC Rules and Procedures. However the County Council provided the option for this to be waived:

       9-3.6 Owing to the COVID-19 health crisis, the limitations caused by the closing to the public of the Los Angeles County Registar of Voter's office and the limitations upon in-person signature gathering by the stay-at-home orders in Los Angeles County, the County Council may by a 3/5 vote, amend the procedures herein on a temporary basis during the time of the stay-at-home order in Los Angeles County for submission and validation of nomination petition signatures.

There are five total seats and five vacant County Council seats in District 25  http://losangeles.cagreens.org/county-council/members. 

Proposal: That the in-person validation of nomination petition signatures for Timeka be waived until such time as in-person validation is possible again at the office of the Los Angeles County Registrar of Voters.

Appointment:  Timeka Drew for County Council, At-Large member from State Senate District 26

     9-4.1 The County Council will vote upon each vacancy separately using ranked-choice voting. County Council members may cast votes for qualified nominees and may exercise the 'No Other Candidate' (NOC) option. In the event of a tie, a new election may be held.

6. Decision: Election of GPLAC Co-Coordinators, Female (five minutes)*
Presenters: Rai

Background: Nominations will be taken from the floor. Each nominee will have three minutes to make a candidate statement about how they will carry out the duties and responsibilities of Co-coordinator as described in GPLAC bylaws. The voting procedure is by ranked-choice voting, using a simple majority threshold, and including No Other Candidate as an option.

• Relevant Bylaw: Section 6.1 Co-Coordinators

6-1.1 The Council shall elect two Co-Coordinators, one male and one female. Within each four-year County Council term, there shall be four consecutive one year Co-Coordinator terms. The first one year term shall commence with the first meeting of the newly elected County Council and the last one shall end when the subsequent newly elected County Council holds it first meeting. The voting procedure shall be by Ranked-Choice Voting, using a simple majority threshold, and including aNo Other Candidate option.

6-1.2 The Co-Coordinators shall be responsible for the production of the County Council draft agenda.  This includes the prioritization of and the assigning times to agenda items, as well as the appointment of a meeting facilitator(s)and vibes-watcher. 

6-1.3 The Co-Coordinators shall be responsible for the distribution of the draft County Council agenda.  Distribution shall include Council members via the County Council email list and GPLAC members at-large via the GPLAC Forum email list (or its replacement), and shall be published on the GPLAC County web site. Co-Coordinators may work with and authorize the Secretary to accomplish this task.

6-1.4 The Co-Coordinators shall be responsible for maintaining and updating the GPLAC website and may work with and authorize Secretary to accomplish this task.  The web site shall include the names and official contact information of all County Council members, County Council officers; the official contact information for Active Green Locals in Los Angeles County; GPLAC Bylaws and GPLAC Rules and Procedures, and agendas and minutes of County Council and County Council committee meetings.

6-1.5 The Co-Coordinators shall be responsible for managing the posting of proposals to the GPLAC Voting Page and may work with Secretary to accomplish this task.

6-1.6 The Co-Coordinators shall be responsible for validating nomination petition signatures from applicants seeking appointment to the County Council and may work with Secretary to accomplish this task.

6-1.7 The Co-Coordinators shall serve as Co-Liaisons to the office of the Registrar/Recorder of Los Angeles County and may work with Secretary to accomplish this task.

6-1.8 The Co-Coordinators shall be responsible for official communications on behalf of the GPLAC with the GPCA, the Green Party of the United States (GPUS), other state Green Parties, other national Green Parties, international Green Party federations and the Global Greens. The Co-Coordinators may work with and authorize the Secretary to accomplish this task.

6-1.9 The Co-Coordinators shall be responsible for notifying the GPCA of the names of the GPLACs General Assembly and Standing General Assembly delegates, and for doing so within the deadlines set by the GPCA; and may work with and authorize the Secretary to accomplish this task.

6-1.10The Co-Coordinators shall be responsible for communicating to the GPCA that the GPLAC would like to obtain the donor and volunteers lists for Los Angeles County in the GPCA's possession; and may work with and authorize the Secretary to accomplish this task.

6-1.11The Co-Coordinators may speak on behalf of the GPLAC, consistent with GPLAC policy, the Green Party of California state platform, and the Ten Key Values.  No other Council member may speak on behalf of the County Council, without County Council authorization.

7: Discussion: Report on status of GPLAC Green voter registration data base and outreach  (five minutes)*
Sponsors/Presenters: Mike Feinstein

Background: Update on integration of new data in the GPLAC Green voter registration data base and outreach conducted.

8. Discussion: Update on outreach for Greens to fill vacant Los Angeles Neighborhood Council seats (ten minutes)*
Sponsor: Danielle Mead
Presenters: Danielle Mead, David Rockello

Background: At its July 19 meeting, the County Council authorized Danielle Mead and David Rockello to prepare a draft email to send to registered Greens in Los Angeles to apply for the 200 vacant Los Angeles Neighborhood Council seats.

9: Discussion: Nominate delegates for 2020-2021 GPCA Standing General Assembly (ten minutes)*

Sponsor/Presenters: Drew, Rai

Background: GPLAC Bylaws 12-4.2 state:  "Delegates to the GPCA Standing General Assembly shall be chosen on an annual basis, in the month before the beginning of each term.  The County Council shall select delegates by ranked choice voting, using the Droop threshold, and including a No Other Candidate option. Voting shall occur on the GPLAC Voting Page. Where there are vacancies, County Council may conduct additional elections to fill them."

At its June 28 meeting, the County Council set out a timeline to seek applications for GPLAC delegate to the 2020-2021 GPCA Standing General Assembly.  Notice was sent to the gplac-forum list and to the County Council list.  Nominations and applications are open through Saturday, August 8.  Applicants will be posted to the GPLAC voting page on August 10th for one week discussion, followed by a one week vote.  Before the vote occurs, the August 16 County Council meeting will be held and provide an opportunity to hear from applicants.

Thus far 21 people have been nominated for the 27 seats the GPLAC is alloted.

Decision:  Accept any nominations by County Council members.

10. Decision: Planning Fall Endorsements - candidates and ballot measures (twenty minutes)*
Sponsor/Presenters: Feinstein

Background: Discussion of other potential candidate endorsements.  Likely clear positions on Propositions 15 (yes), Proposition 18 (yes), Proposition 21 (yes), Proposition 25 (no).

​https://www.sos.ca.gov/elections/ballot-measures/qualified-ballot-measures/

Proposal:  That the GPLAC make a one time bylaws interpretation that states that even though GPLAC Bylaws require that GPLAC positions on ballot measures are made via the voting page, on a one-time basis - in recognition of the instabilty brought to GPLAC organizing by the COVID-19, and that the Council discussed the proposed positions and informally agreed to them by consensus on its July 19 teleconference, with the idea they be implemented in time to begin publicizing these positions ASAP - the vote is being brought before the County Council for a vote on the teleconference.

Propositions 15 (yes), Proposition 18 (yes), Proposition 21 (yes), Proposition 25 (no).

11. Decision:  Schedule Zoom interview with George Gascon for LA District Attorney (fifteen minutes)*
Sponsor/Presenters: Feinstein

Background: The County Council has previously discussed not supporing incumbent Jackie Lacey for Los Angeles District Attorney, but has not yet decided if it wants to support her opponent George Gascon.  The Gascon campaign is willing to do a Zoom conference with the GPLAC.

Proposal: That the GPLAC schedule a Zoom confernece with Gascon

12. Discussion: Hearing from those seeking future appointment to County Council to fill unfilled seats from March primary election (twenty minutes)*

Background: The County Council has approved outreach to registered Greens to let them known of the duties and responsibilities of the County Council, and to attend a county council meeting to present their interest in apply to the new County Council, and in that process satisfy the attendance requirement of at least one meeting in the last six months. This item is an opportunity for such individuals to present themselves to the County Council and have their questions about it answered.  This should include Mia Bunn, Victor Gonzalez, Melissa Morgan, Carl Peterson and possibly Glenn Bailey.

13. Zoom session with Green Party of the United State Presidential Nominee Howie Hawkins and Vice-Presidential Nominee Angela Walker