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Proposal Details

Proposal ID278
ProposalFund Diversity Waivers from Proxy Registration
PresenterGreen Party of Georgia
Floor ManagerJody Grage
PhaseClosed
Discussion05/21/2007 - 06/03/2007
Voting06/04/2007 - 06/10/2007
ResultFailed
Presens Quorum32 0.6666
Consens Quorum51 0.6666 of Yes and No Votes

Background

When a member State Party chooses to save their state money, by
not sending a full delegation to the annual national meeting,
everybody loses the value of that participation, and proxies
cannot replace the missing experience, perspective and diversity
which a non-participating Delegate could have provided.
The fixed costs involved in mounting the Annual National
Meeting must be drawn from a smaller pool of paid registrations.

This results in increased registration fees for those who
do attend, and particularly for those states which send a
full delegation.

The savings enjoyed by a state choosing to vote by proxy becomes
a cost borne by the rest of the Party, both in missing wisdom
and in actual dollars.

This National Committee just adopted a proposal authorizing
disbursements from a nearly empty General Fund to meet our
obligations to fund the Diversity Waiver Program authorized
by Resolution #81. This proposal offers a funding mechanism
which we hope will make a significant contribution to the cost
of funding these authorized and much needed waivers.

Proposal

A resolution to amend the bylaws of the Green Party of the
United States to require that a Delegate be registered for the
Annual National Meeting prior to their vote being exercised
by proxy; to amend the policies and procedures of the Annual
National Meeting Committee to require that registration fees
for non-attending Delegates be defined in the Committee's
annual budget request; to direct the Annual National Meeting
Committee to establish a registration fee applying to the 2007
Reading Pennsylvania meeting for non-attending Delegates whose
vote would be exercised by proxy; and to provide for related
implementation details.

A Resolution of the
Green National Committee of the
Green Party of the United States

SECTION 1.

Resolved, that the bylaws of the Green Party of the United
States are here amended, by striking from Article II, related
to "Membership and the National Committee", Section 2, related
to the "National Committee", the sentence reading:

  A delegate to the National Committee may cast an additional
  vote at a National Conference in place of an absent
  delegate, as long as the total number of votes cast for
  that state does not exceed its total allowed votes on
  the National Committee, or twice the number of voting
  delegates in attendance.

and inserting in its place, the following:

  A delegate to the National Committee may cast a proxy
  vote at a face-to-face meeting of the Green National
  Committee, in place of not more than one absent Delegate
  who is registered to participate in such face-to-face
  meeting, as long as the total number of votes cast for
  that state does not exceed its total allowed votes on
  the National Committee, or twice the number of voting
  delegates in attendance.

SECTION 2.

The charter of the Annual National Meeting Committee, adopted
December 18th, 2005, is here amended at Section 9., related to
"Budget", by replacing the periods at the end of paragraphs b)
and c) with semicolons, by inserting after the semicolon at
the end of paragraph c), the word 'and' and by inserting after
paragraph c., the following new paragraph d., to read:

  d) The Annual National Meeting Committee is directed to
  recommend as a part of its budget request, a registration
  cost structure in which a registration fee will be
  charged for non-attending Delegates whose vote will be
  exercised by proxy. Such registration fee shall be set for
  non-attending Delegates at a level which shall not exceed
  that for a Delegate in attendance. Revenues raised from
  registration fees charged for non-attending Delegates
  shall be dedicated to repaying the general fund for
  funds advanced for the diversity fee waiver program.
  In recommending a registration fee structure, the Annual
  National Meeting Committee is urged to provide for fees
  which are expected to raise sufficient revenues to meet
  the costs of providing registration fees and meals for
  at least fifteen, but not more than thirty participants
  qualified under the program adopted as Proposal #81, by
  the Green National Committee on May 9th, 2004, related to
  'Diversity at Green Party National Committee meetings'.

SECTION 3.

For purposes of the 2007 Annual National Meeting of the Green
National Committee, the Annual National Meeting Committee
is directed, not later than six weeks after the adoption of
this policy, to set and publish a registration fee to apply to
absent, but registered Delegates whose votes are eligible to
be cast by proxy, and which is expected to raise sufficient
revenues to meet the costs of providing registration fees
and meals for at least fifteen, but not more than thirty
participants qualified under the program adopted as Proposal
#81, by the Green National Committee on May 9th, 2004, related
to 'Diversity at Green Party National Committee meetings'.
Such registration fee for a non-attending Delegate shall not
exceed that charged for a Delegate in attendance.

Resources

Contacts:
Nan Garrett
  Hugh Esco

References

Proposal #193: Policies and Procedures of the
  Green Party Annual National Meeting Committee
  http://gp.org/cgi-bin/vote/propdetail?pid=193

  Proposal #81: Diversity at Green Party
  National Committee Meetings
  http://gp.org/cgi-bin/vote/propdetail?pid=81

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