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Proposal Details

Proposal ID	1248
Proposal	Dividing the Credentials Committee Into Specialized Subcommittees
Presenter	Credentials Committee
Floor Manager	Justin Paglino
Phase	Closed - Adopted
Discussion	03-03-2025 - 03-16-2025
Voting	03-17-2025 - 03-23-2025
Presens Quorum	Two Thirds of Active Accredited States/Caucuses
Consens Quorum	Two Thirds of Yes and No Votes

Background

A) The Credentials Committee, established through Proposal #55 and amended in Proposal #330, is embodied in both the Convention Rules of the Presidential Nominating Convention and its own Credentials Committee Rules. These structures provide for the committee to consist of up to fifteen members, who are responsible for communicating with the states and caucuses, informing them of what they need to do in order to be authorized to send delegates to the Presidential Nominating Convention, and reviewing the materials received pertaining to those states and caucuses and to the individual delegates who are to be credentialed.
In the event of a challenge to the credentialing (or lack thereof) of a delegate or a delegation, five members of the Credentials Committee are to be designated as a Challenge Panel to hear the challenge and rule on it.
https://secure.gpus.org/cgi-bin/vote/propdetail?pid=55
https://secure.gpus.org/cgi-bin/vote/propdetail?pid=330
https://gpus.org/committees/credentials/committee-rules/
https://gpus.org/convention-rules/#04
The Convention Rules of the Presidential Nominating Convention state that
4-9.7 Any member of the Credentials Committee who resides in the state that is the subject of a challenge, or is challenging the seating of any other delegates, shall be considered recused from the consideration of any procedural or substantive question related to such a challenge.
4-9.8 Any member of the Credentials Committee who is an active member of a Caucus that is the subject of a challenge, shall be considered recused from the consideration of any procedural or substantive question related to such a challenge.
https://gpus.org/convention-rules/#04-07
B) The Credentials Committee of 2023-2024 originally consisted of nine elected members but attrition due to a combination of overcommitment, conflict of interest, scheduling conflict, and other such factors the participating membership of the committee was reduced to four people — a not uncommon phenomenon among committees of the Green Party.
The four-person Credentials Committee was able to function efficiently and it was the consensus of the members after the 2024 PNC was over that we at no time suffered from a lack of more committee members; but that this would not be the case if a state or caucus’s delegation credentials (or the lack of them) were challenged. We would not have been able to form the required five-person Challenge Panel, a situation that would have been exacerbated if the challenge were issued by one of the states or caucuses from which our committee members reside or are affiliated.
C) Although no formal challenges of this nature arose in the 2023-2024 timeframe, our experience of the informal conflicts and areas of disagreement and dispute demonstrated to us that the most likely disputes would involve questions about the decisions and policies of the Credentials Committee itself, which provokes its own question about probable conflicts of interest.

Proposal

THE STRUCTURE OF THE CREDENTIALS COMMITTEE SHALL BE MODIFIED AS FOLLOWS:

SUMMARY

A) The Credentials Committee shall consist of two subcommittees, a Credentials Administrative Committee consisting of no more than five members, which shall hold responsibility for all tasks currently allocated to the Credentials Committee under Proposals 55 and 330 with the exception of hearing formal challenges; and a Credentials Challenge Panel, consisting of up to ten members, who will be responsible for hearing formal challenges as defined and described in Section VII of Proposal 55 and as restricted by the PNC rules #04-07.
B) Members of the Credentials Administrative Committee shall not serve on the Credentials Challenge Panel.
C) Members of the Credentials Challenge Panel shall be selected at the same time as the Credentials Administrative Committee and shall meet (or conduct a roll call) quarterly to ascertain that all members remain active and available. Any vacancies will be filled by special election as need be.

EXISTING LANGUAGE BEING MODIFIED

CREDENTIALS COMMITTEE RULES: In the following listed sections/subsections, the term “Committee” shall be replaced with the term “Administrative Committee”: 5.1.1; 5.1.2; 5.4.1; 5.4.3; The following sections shall be replaced entirely as specified below: 1-1; 1-4.1; 4-1.3; 4-3.
CONVENTION RULES: In the following listed sections/subsections, the term “Credentials Committee” or “Committee” by itself shall be replaced with the term “Credentials Administrative Committee”: 4-1.2; 4-1.3; 4-1.4; 4-1.5; 4-2.8; 4-3.1; 4-3.3; 4-3.5; 4-5; 4-5.1; 4-6.1; 4-6.2; 4-6.3; 4-6.6; 4-7.3; 4-7.4; 4-8.2; 4-9.1(a); 4.14.7; 4.15.1; and in the following listed sections/subsections, the term “Credentials Committee” or “Committee” by itself shall be replaced with the term “Credentials Challenge Panel”: 4-7; 4-8.1; 4-8.4; 4-9.1; 4-9.2; 4-9.3; 4-9.4; 4-9.7; 4-9.8; 4-11.4; 4-12.1; 4-12.2; 4-13; 4-13.1; 4-14; 4-14.1; 4-14.2; 4-14.3; 4-14.5; 4-15.4; 4-15.6; 4-16.3; 4-16.4; The following sections shall be substantially reworded or replaced as specified below: 4-9.6(a); 4-10; 4-10.1; 4-10.2; 4-10.3(a); 4-10.3(b); 4-10.4
4-10.4(a); 4-10.4(b); 4-10.4(c); 4-10.5; 4-15.1; 4-15.2; 4-15.3; 4-15.5; 4-16.1; 5-7.1; 5-7.2; 5-8.1;
The following sections shall be removed without replacement: 4-9.6 (b)(1); 4-9.6(b)(2); 4-9.6(b)(3); 4-10.1; 4-10.2; 4-10.3(a); 4-10.3(b)

NEW LANGUAGE SUPPLANTING EXISTING LANGUAGE (except for simplistic term replacement as described above):

CREDENTIALS COMMITTEE RULES
1.1 The Credentials Committee shall consist of two Subcommittees, the Credentials Administrative Committee and the Credentials Challenge Panel. The Credentials Administrative Committee shall consist of not more than five members. The Credentials Challenge Panel shall consist of up to ten members. Members of both Subcommittees shall be elected by the National Committee, as described herein.
1-2.3 (a) No member of the Credentials Administrative Committee may simultaneously serve as a member of the Credentials Challenge Panel.
1.4.1 ‘Active’ shall mean a member of the Credentials Administrative Committee who in the last forty-five days has participated in committee activities, either by contributing to discussion of committee or subcommittee business, attending a meeting of the committee, or casting a vote on matters before the committee; or a member of the Credentials Challenge Panel who has attended a quarterly meeting of the committee or responded to a roll call; and inactive shall in both cases mean someone who has not.
4.3 (a) Vacancies on the Credentials Administrative Committee may be filled by a special election, whenever a majority of the active members of the Committee or a majority of the members of the Steering Committee find that fulfilling the committee’s mission would be substantially aided by filling the committee vacancy.
4.3 (b) Vacancies on the Credentials Challenge Panel may be filled by a special election whenever quarterly meetings or quarterly roll calls indicate that the active membership consists of seven or fewer members.

CONVENTION RULES
4-9.6(a) (3) if at the convention, 24 hours have elapsed since the challenge was filed and served on the respondent, the Credentials Challenge Panel shall rule on the challenge./
4-10 Responsibilities of the Credentials Challenge Panel
4-10.4 The Challenge Panel shall:
4-10.4(a) choose from among themselves a Presiding Hearing Officer who will have the responsibility to chair any proceedings and present the recommendations to the Steering Committee and to the Credentials Administrative Committee; and
4-10.4(b) be charged with conducting hearings on challenges and
4-10.4(c) make a report to the Steering Committee and to the Credentials Administrative Committee outlining their resolution of each challenge.
4-10.5 The Presiding Hearing Officer shall be elected by the Challenge Panel using preference voting, consistent with the process as defined in the Rules and Procedures of the Green Party of the United States, Article 7. Preference Voting Rules for Steering Committee Elections.
4-15.2 Until the resolution of any pending challenges and the adoption of a Credentials Report by the Presidential Nominating Convention, the Credentials Administrative Committee and the Credentials Challenge Panel shall each operate a Committee office or booth at the site of the Presidential Nominating Convention for at least four hours each day, starting when five or more committee members from five or more states are on site, but in no case starting later than twenty-four hours prior to the convening of the Convention; or, if the Presidential Nominating Convention is being conducted online, an appropriate virtual substitution for such booth shall be provided. The Credentials Committees may each utilize volunteers to staff the office if they are to be directly supervised by two or more members of the respective Committees. The volunteers’ role shall be limited to providing administrative support.
4-15.3 The booth (or online virtual equivalent) shall continue to operate until the adjournment of the Convention. At the site of the booth or equivalent, the Credentials Administrative Committee shall maintain for inspection by any delegate named in an application on file with the committee the original and a copy of each application, and a chain of custody log documenting the receipt of each application and the transfer of any such application for duplication or referral to the convention.
4-15.5 The supervising Credentials Challenge Panel members are empowered to rule on whether any application or challenge filed with the Committee complies substantially with the rules of the Committee and warrant action by the Committee. If there are unresolved challenges pending before the Committee, the Committee is urged to consider offering extended hours, as appropriate.
4-16.1 The Credentials Administrative Committee and the Credentials Challenge Panel shall each file and present a report of its actions and conclusions to the Convention for adoption.
5-7.1 The first order of business for the Convention shall be, consistent with Article IV, to consider, amend, consider appeals to and adopt the Reports of the Credentials Administrative Committee and the Credentials Challenge Panel.
5-7.2 The decision-making base to adopt the Reports of the Credentials Administrative Committee and the Credentials Challenge Panel shall be those delegations and delegates who have been awarded preliminary credentials under Article IV.

Resources

IMPLEMENTATION/TIMELINE
Beginning with the 2027-2028 Presidential election season.

CONTACT
Kristin Bedont-Combs, Co-chair
Cassandra Lems, Co-chair
Allan Hunter, clerk
Orlando Johnson

References

CONTACT: Allan Hunter, delapp@gp.org

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