View source for GPLAC Rules and Procedures

Rules & Procedures of the
Green Party of Los Angeles County
last amended April 5th, 2011

Table of Contents

SECTION 1: COUNTY COUNCIL MEETINGS 
Minutes Taking for GPLAC Meetings 

SECTION 2: FILLING COUNTY COUNCIL VACANCIES 
Seating of Newly Appointed County Councilmembers

SECTION 3: ALTERNATE REGIONAL REPRESENTATIVES TO GPCA STATE COORDINATING COMMITTEE 
• Eligibility
• Length of Term
• Appointment
• Gender Balance
• Timing

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

SECTION 5: DATA BASE
Database Coordinator
Database Committee
Access to Database/County Councilmembers
Access to Database/Green Locals
Access to Database/Candidates

SECTION 6 : FUNDRAISING
Donor and Volunteer Lists from the GPCA
Fundraising via email

SECTION 7: COMMUNICATIONS
A) Process for Posting/Notification of Election of GPLAC Officers
B) Official Communications by GPLAC Officers
C) County Green General Discussion/Announcement Email List
D) County Council Discussion Email List 
E) County Council Pre-Vote Discussion Web Pages
F) County Council On-Line Voting Voting .
G) GPLAC eRules 
H) Referrals to Active Green Locals
I) County Council candidates (candidate statements, qualification signatures)

ARTICLE VIII: ON-LINE VOTING 
Section 8-1 Authority
Section 8-2 Timeline
Section 8-3 Expedited Proposals
Section 8-4 Proposal Format
Section 8-5 Elections Format
Section 8-6 Reporting of Results 

SECTION 9: VOTING ON GPCA POLLING OF THE COUNTIES

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'''SECTION 1: COUNTY COUNCIL MEETINGS'''

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.

'''ARTICLE VIII: ON-LINE DECISION MAKING'''

Section 8-1 Authority

8-1.1 The County Council may make decisions on-line via the process described in this Article and as otherwise provided for in GPLAC Bylaws.

8-1.2 Quorum and approval thresholds shall be the same as those defined for County Council decision making in GPLAC Bylaws Section 9-2 Quorum and Section 9-4 Consensus Seeking.

8-1.3 While the County Council retains the ability to make on-line decisions regarding anything under its jurisdiction under GPLAC and GPCA bylaws, use of on-line decision making is generally recommended for the following:

8-1.3(a) When there is a need to make a decision in between face to face meetings to meet legal and/or internal party deadlines, or to otherwise effectuate meeting GPLAC Bylaws Section 5-2 Duties of the Council in a timely manner not possible by waiting until the next face-to-face County Council meeting or County Council teleconference;;

8-1.3(b) When an item has been discussed first at a face-to-face County Council meeting or County Council teleconference;

8-1.3(c) When the date of the next County Council meeting was not set at a face-to-face County Council meeting or County Council teleconference;

8-1.3(d) For the approval of County Council meeting minutes.

8-1.4 All on-line proposals must by co-sponsored by at least two County Councilmembers at the time of their posting; must be posted in the format specified in 8-4; and must be posted to the County Council email list (gplac-cc@cagreens.org) with the subject header of the email stating "ON-LINE PROPOSAL: subject/title of the proposal", or in the case of proposals with an expedited timelines as per 8-3, "EXPEDITED ON-LINE PROPOSAL: subject/title of the proposal".

8-1.5 All on-line elections for internal party positions must by co-sponsored by at least two County Councilmembers; must be posted in the format specified in 8-5; and must be posted to the County Council email list (gplac-cc@cagreens.org) with the subject header of the email stating "ON-LINE ELECTION: election of which position".

Section 8-2 Timeline

8-2.1 All on-line proposals, except expedited proposals as per 8-4, shall have seven days for discussion and five days for voting. The seven day discussion period shall commence on the day after the initial posting of the proposal and shall conclude at midnight Pacific Time seven days later, after which the voting period shall commence immediately and conclude five days later on the 12th day at midnight Pacific Time. If a proposal is amended during the discussion period, it shall be reposted as amended before the voting period commences. The sponsors of a proposal may chose to withdraw the proposal before the discussion period concludes, but may not do so once the voting period commences. The purpose of the discussion period for proposal shall be for general discussion of the proposal, including

8-2.1(a) Hearing and responding to clarifying questions;

8-2.1(b) Hearing concerns and affirmations and hearing responding to concerns;

8-2.1(c) Considering and accepting amendments.

8-2.2 All on-line elections shall have seven days for nomination and discussion and five days for voting. The seven day nomination and discussion period shall commence on the day after the initial posting of the proposal and shall conclude at midnight Pacific Time seven days later, after which the voting period shall commence immediately and conclude five days later on the 12th day at midnight Pacific Time. Nominations may be made by any County Councilmember and do not need to be seconded. Nominations shall be considered to be accepted if they are not declined by the conclusion of the nomination and discussion period. The purpose of the nomination and discussion period shall be for

8-2.2(a) Nomination of candidates for the position in question;

8-2.2(b) The declination of nomination for the position in question by candidates nominated;

8-2.2(c) A discussion of the merits of the candidates vis-a-vis serving in the position in question;

8-2.2(d) Responses by candidates to questions and concerns.

8-2.3 All votes shall be cast on the County Council email list (gplac-cc@cagreens.org), except if a County Councilmember has no access to email during the voting period, they may call in their vote to one of the GPLAC Co-coordinators, in which case it is the responsibility of the Co-coordinator to make a good faith effort to post the vote to the County Council email list as soon as possible and no later than the conclusion of the voting period.

Section 8-3 Expedited Proposals
8-3.1 Proposals of a time-sensitive nature may be proposed with an expedited discussion period of less than the seven days. Expedited Proposals shall include a 'statements of findings' explaining the need for the compacted discussion schedule. When voting upon an Expedited Proposal, the County Council shall cast two votes: one regarding the statement of findings and the other on the proposal itself. The statement of findings must be approved for the proposal itself to be approved.

Section 8-4 Proposal Format

8-4.1 SUBJECT/TITLE: PROPOSAL/EXPEDITED ON-LINE PROPOSAL: Name of Proposal

8-4.2 CO-SPONSOR(S): The names of the proposal's co-sponsors. At least two County Councilmembers must co-sponsor a proposal

8-4.3 QUORUM (as per GPLAC Bylaws 9-2) AND TYPE OF PROPOSAL AND APPROVAL THRESHOLD (as per GPLAC Bylaws 9-4.2):

8-4.4 DECISION-MAKING TIMELINE (all proposals shall have seven days of discussion followed by five days voting at per 8-2.1, except in cases of Expedited Proposals and the sponsors shall list the actual calendar dates for the discussion and voting periods)

8-4.5 BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: (relationship, reasons and/or justification to the GPLAC)

8-4.6 PROPOSAL: (the text of what is proposed)

8-4.7 IMPLEMENTATION/TIMELINE/RESOURCES: (personnel, meetings, work hours, finances, period of implementation and any sunset clause if applicable)

8-4.8 REFERENCES: (Sources for readily obtainable materials to aid in the decision making process of voting members)

Section 8-5 Elections Format

8-5.1 SUBJECT/TITLE: ELECTION: What Position

8-5.2 CO-SPONSOR(S): At least two County Councilmembers must co-sponsor an on-line election

8-5.3 TYPE OF ELECTION, QUORUM (as per GPLAC Bylaws 9-2) AND VOTING PROCEDURE: (as per GPLAC Bylaws 6-1.1, 6-2.1, 6-3.1, 8-3.2, 11-4 and 12-4)

8-5.4 SPECIFIC DATES OF NOMINATION AND DISCUSSION TIMELINE (all elections shall have seven days of nomination and discussion followed by five days voting)

Section 8-6 Reporting of Results

8-6.1 It shall be the responsibility of the Secretary to post the results of on-line votes to the County Council email list within 24 hours of the conclusion of any vote and to the GPLAC web page within ten days of any vote.

'''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.