DRAFT Green Party of Los Angeles County, County Council Meeting Agenda, Sunday, June 24, 2022

DRAFT: Green Party of Los Angeles County, County Council Meeting Agenda, Sunday, June 24, 2022
Vegetarian Potluck: 1pm to 2pm
Business meeting: 2pm to 5pm
Facilitators: Timeka Drew, Ajay Rai
Minutes: Mike Feinstein
Time Keeper:  Linda Piera-Avila
Vibes Watcher: Ava Kermani

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 (five minutes)
Presenter: Facilitators
• Relevant Bylaw: Section 11-2 Participation
11-2.1 All GPLAC members may participate in the 'Consensus-seeking Process'. Participation is based upon the premise that people participant in order build the Green Party and advance the Ten Key Values. Disagreement over issues and ideas should be honored as an expected part this process, and is not to be considered a disruption or impediment. 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.
11-2.2 Only County Council members can hold 'unresolved concerns' and participate in any vote, should one become necessary.
11-2.3 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 team, non-Council members may also participate in these discussions.
11-2.4 A County Council member, when recognized by the facilitation team, may yield the floor to a non-County Council member rather than speaking themselves, and in do doing, forego his/her turn on the item.

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): Add the late items below with an *, in the order presented below.

4. Discussion: Treasurer's Report (ten minutes)
Sponsor/Presenter: Doug Barnett, GPLAC Treasurer

5. Decision: Election of GPLAC Co-Coordinators (ten minutes)
Presenters: Drew, Rai
Background: Under GPLAC Bylaws 6-1.1 , the County Council Co-coordinators serve one-year terms, without term limits. All GPLAC officers serve until replaced, even if their one year terms have ended.  The term of the current female Co-coordinators expired as of April 2021, but no one has come forward to run.  The term of the current male Co-coordinator expired as of April 2022.   until November 28, when Ajay Rai was elected to serve the remainder of the April 2021 to April 2022 term. That leaves both seats open for election. Until a new person is elected to fill this seat, the current female Co-coordinator Timeka Drew and the current male Co-coordinator .
will remain in place.

Nominations may 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 7-1 Co-Coordinators
7-1.1 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 a No Other Candidate option.
7-1.2 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. The Co-Coordinators shall consider the need for sufficient time for participation and discussion on each item.
7-1.3 The Co-Coordinators shall be responsible for the distribution of the County Council draft 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.
7-1.4 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.
7-1.5 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.
7-1.6 The Co-Coordinators, in conjunction with the Secretary, shall be responsible for posting notice of County Council vacancies as provided for in these bylaws.
7-1.7 The Co-Coordinators shall be responsible for validating nomination petition signatures from applicants seeking appointment to fill County Council vacancies and may work with Secretary to accomplish this task.
7-1.8 The Co-Coordinators shall serve as Co-Liaisons to the Los Angeles County Registrar-Recorder/County Clerk (hereafter referred to as the County Registrar)  and may work with Secretary to accomplish this task.
7-1.9 The Co-Coordinators shall be responsible for notifying the County Registrar and the GPCA Coordinating Committee of any changes to the GPLAC Bylaws to change the method of election and/or the number of Council members, no later than 135 days before the Direct Primary election in presidential election years.
7-1.10 The Co-Coordinators shall be responsible for notifying the County Registrar and the GPCA Coordinating Committee of any changes to the County Council, including the name and official contact information for any County Council appointees.
7-1.11 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.
7-1.12 The Co-Coordinators shall be responsible for notifying the GPCA of the names of the GPLAC’s 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.
7-1.13 The 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.
7-1.14 The 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.

6: Decision: Questionnaire on local electoral reform for November 2022 Los Angeles City Mayor and Council candidates (ten minutes)
Sponsors: Feinstein, Rai

Background:  Previously the GPLAC County Council approved the following questionnaire (https://losangeles.cagreens.org/elections/los-angeles-2022-questionnaire) to be sent to candidates for Los Angeles Mayor and City Council, to post their answers on the GPLAC website and send the responses to Greens in Los Angeles, to use these answers to inform whether the GPLAC will issue statements of support for any of the candidates, that the answers are also sent to the members of the Neighborhood Councils in Los Angeles and that the GPLAC will publish a column about the answers in the local press (which ultimately became this column  )

In three City Council races: District 11 (Erin Darling vs Traci Park),  District 13 (Mitch O'Farrell  vs. Hugo Soto-Martinez) and District 15 (Tim McOsker vs Danielle Sandova),  and the Mayors race (Karen Bass vs. Rick Caruso), there will be a November general election run-off.  None of these candidate replied to the GPLAC questionnaire before the June primary, although Darling was not yet in the race when the GPLAC sent out its questionnaire. 

A parallel question is whether the GPLAC should also send the questionnaire to the contested races for City Attorney and City Controller.  Neither position would have a legislative role if the City would consider a policy change on how its elections are conducted. But the City Attorney's office would presumably advise.

Proposal: That the GPLAC send the questionnaires to all candidates in the November Mayor and City Council run-offs, that the GPLAC post their answers on the GPLAC website and send the responses to Greens in Los Angeles, to use these answers to inform whether the GPLAC will issue statements of support for any of the candidates, that the answers are also sent to the members of the Neighborhood Councils in Los Angeles and that the GPLAC will publish a column about the answers in the local press

7. Decision: Endorse ACA 16 - Elections: Partisan Primaries (ten minutes)

Background: On June 20, California State Assemblymember Kevin Kiley (R-Rocklin) introduced ACA 16 (https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billTextClient.xhtml?bill_id=20...), which would repeal California's top-two electoral system and return to the system in effect from 2000-2010, where each ballot-qualified party held its own primary, its nominee had a guaranteed place on the General Election ballot,  ACA 16 needs two-thirds in each house to pass. If it did pass the legislature, then the voters would vote on it. 

Assemblymember Kiley represents the part of California that is mostly in the State Senate Fourth District. This is the fourth-most Republican Senate district in the state, by registration, and yet this is the district in which voters are barred by the top-two system from voting for any Republican this coming November, because multiple Republicans split the vote in the June primary and two Democrats have advanced to the November general election ballot. https://ballot-access.org/2022/06/22/california-bill-to-repeal-top-two-system/.

According to Richard Winger of Ballot Access News "This is the fourth time this has happened. There was a US House race in 2012 that cheated the Democrats. And in 2016 and again in 2018 there were Assembly races in which this happened. One cheated the Republicans and one the Democrats."

Proposal:  That the GPLAC endorse ACA and send a letter stating that the GPLAC and the GPCA ultimately believes that single-seat, winner-take all legislative districts should be replaced by proportional representation elections from multi-seat districts; that at a minimum single-seat, winner-take elections should be conducted by ranked-choice voting; but that the top two experiment has been enough of a failure that it must be repealed immediately and then attention can be turned to further reform (http://losangeles.cagreens.org/issues/repeal-top-two, http://losangeles.cagreens.org/issues/public-hearings-electoral-reform).

8. Decision: Reimburse for GPLAC Nationbuilder account expenses (fifteen minutes) *
Sponsors: Mike Feinstein, Ajay Rai

Background: Discussion of funding of the GPLAC Nationbuilder account

Proposal: That the GPLAC reimburse Mike Feinstein for a total of xxxx

9. Decision: GPCA General Assembly (twenty minutes) *
Sponsors: Feinstein, Rai

Background: Here is the agenda https://assets.nationbuilder.com/cagreens/pages/1659/attachments/origina...

Proposal #1: That the GPLAC authorize a written response that (1) voting upon bylaws at a General Assembly instead of a Standing General Assembly when fewer people are present and can discuss proposals  violates Green Party values of grassroots democracy; and (2) that the consolidation of working groups (which are open to all GPCA members who meet the attendance requirements) into commitee appointed by the GPCA state Coordinating Committee and thus restricts partication to those chosen by a majority of the Coordinating Committee centralizes power and violates Green Party values of grassroots democracy.

Proposal #2: Choose Delegates

10. Decision:  Setting 2022 GPLAC meeting dates for remainder of 2022 (fifteen minutes) *
Sponsor: Drew, Feinstein, Rai
Background: GPLAC Bylaws Section 10-2 Scheduling Meetings state:
10-2.1 On an annual basis, the County Council shall sets its meeting dates and times. Meetings may be in-person or via teleconference. Where a meeting location can be determined in advance, it shall be included in this calendar. When not, it may be delegated to the Co-coordinators to identify the location and added thereafter.
10-2.2. Meeting dates shall be set with a goal of meeting approximately every six weeks, and for no more than three hours. Meeting dates shall not conflict with the dates of GPCA General Assemblies, GPUS Annual National Meetings, GPUS Presidential Nominating Conventions, nor Global Greens Congresses. Meeting date shall take into account conflicts with local, state and federal elections, and public holidays.
10-2.3 The County Council reserves the right to amend its meeting schedule.

Proposal: That the County Council adopt a schedule for the remainder of 2022 and consider in-person and video-conferencing options.

11.   Discussion: County Council Districts for 2024 change with redistricting * (ten minutes)
Sponsors: Mike Feinstein, Ajay Rai

12. Discussion:  Review of Greens in June 2022 elections (twenty minutes) *
Sponsors: Mike Feinstein, Ajay Rai

13. ​Discussion:  County Councilmembership (fifteen minutes) *
Sponsors: Mike Feinstein, Ajay Rai

Background: What steps should the County Council take to increase County Council membership?

14. ​Discussion: Hearing from Greens interested in joining the County Council (ten minutes)*