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Proposal Details

Proposal ID	740
Proposal	One Time amendment to GPUS Bylaws, 2014 Platform Process
Presenter	Steering Committee
Floor Manager	Jesse Townley
Phase	Closed
Discussion	04/14/2014 - 04/27/2014
Voting	04/28/2014 - 05/04/2014
Result	Adopted
Presens Quorum	30 0.6666
Consens Quorum	37 0.6666 of Yes and No Votes

Background

GPUS Bylaws 9-1.3 state "In even numbered years in which there is no Presidential Nominating Convention, the National Committee shall be the decision-making body responsible for amending the platform. The process shall be as established in the GPUS Rules and Procedures."

One of the reasons that the process for even-numbered years (in which there is no Presidential Nominating Convention) was to be placed in the GPUS Rules and Procedures, is so that process for this very important function of the GPUS would be easily found in the party's governing documents, and not off in a proposal somewhere on the GPUS voting page. This is the same reason why the platform process for even-numbered years in which there is a Presidential Nomination Convention is already in the Convention Rules.

When 9-1.3 (and the Article IX Platform http://www.gp.org/index.php/bylaws-of-the-green-party-of-the-united-states.html#09) was approved by the National Committee, it came in June 2010 as part of Proposal 462 "Amendment to GPUS Bylaws, 2010 Platform Process" (http://gp.org/cgi-bin/vote/propdetail?pid=462). Owing to the timing late timing of the passage of #462 late in the 2010 platform amendment process, no such ongoing procedure was proposed to amend the GPUS Rulesand Procedures at that time. Instead, a one-time only platform amendment process was approved for 2010 as part of #462.

Since 2010, no revision to the GPUS Rules and Procedures has been proposed to nor considered by the National Committee. To address the need for a procedure in 2014, the following is a one time proposal for 2014.

To minimize disagreement, this proposal draws upon applicable language regarding the role of the Platform Committee, that was approved by 80% in #462. Note also that the starting and ending dates in Section B, correspond to the actual opening and closing of GPUS voting on Mondays and Sundays, according to GPUS Rules and Procedures Article VI), whereas the starting and ending dates proposed in #727 (which attempted to amend the platform process in November 2013 but received only 52.7% while needed 2/3) did not.

The Steering Committee is looking forward to working with the Platform Committee and others in coming to an on-going solution of some sort for off-year platform cycles.

Proposal

That the National Committee approve the following:

That for 2014 only, the National Committee agrees upon the following timeline and process for Platform discussion and voting and agrees that this timeline and process has the force of the party's Rules and Procedures:

(A) September 1, 2013 through May 11, 2014

(A1) The platform amendment submission period that began on September 1, 2013 shall end on May 11, 2014. No other platform amendments may be proposed in 2014, except the Platform Committee may bring forward housekeeping amendments before July 20th, 2014.

(A2) Proposals to amend the platform shall be submitted to the Platform Committee according to the template for submissions posted on the Platform Committee website and forwarded to the GPUS Votes List. National Committee Delegates are requested to inform their state parties and caucuses about these timeline and process requirements.

(A3) The Platform Committee shall work with amendment sponsors to ensure that proposals conform to submission guidelines, to correct any typographic, grammatical, spelling, and punctuation errors, and to promote consistency in style of layout with the rest of the GPUS Platform.

(A4) The Platform Committee shall identify potentially conflicting proposed platform amendments, and work with their sponsors to resolve them before they enter the voting period, including where the sponsors are willing, to combine them. When any such conflict remains, the Platform Committee shall submit a report to the National Committee once the proposed amendments have entered the discussion phase, identifying the conflict in specificity; and optionally, make recommendations on how to resolve the conflict.

(A5) The Platform Committee shall have forty-five days after the submission of any proposals to communicate any of the above. Sponsors shall have thirty days to respond, after which their proposals shall go forward according to the timeline A6. The exception shall be any proposals submitted before April 1st, for which the 45 day timeline shall begin as of April 1st.

(A6) All proposals shall begin on the regular starting dates (Mondays) as established in GPUS Rules and Procedures Article VI and shall be for the maximum length of discussion of four weeks, as established in GPUS Rules and Procedures Article VI. Within this framework, the Platform Committee shall establish the schedule for which proposals shall be discussed and voted by grouping proposals in chapters/common areas, and shall seek to balance the number of proposals to be voted on at any one time by scheduling the votes to occur over the entire voting period.

(B) May 12 through August 24, 2014

(B1) Proposals submitted by state parties or caucuses under A1 shall be submitted to the Steering Committee for submission to the National Committee during this period.

(B2) The Platform Committee shall be listed on all proposals as the presenter, followed by the sponsoring state or caucus as the sponsor.

(B3) Proposal sponsors retain the right to make amendments to those proposals, as established in GPUS Rules and Procedures Article VI.

(B4) As noted in (A1), the Platform Committee may submit housekeeping amendments by July 20, 2014 with the final date for housekeeping amendments to be voted upon as August 24, 2014

(C) August 25 through September 24, 2014

(C1) The Platform Committee shall work with the GPUS webmaster to ensure that any amendments to the Platform approved during B shall be promptly reflected on the GPUS web page under the headline GPUS Platform 2014, and that such an amended platform is published in both text and .pdf format.

Resources

Platform amendments from states & caucuses accepted until May 11. Platform Committee continues current work on submitted platform planks during this time and all states & caucuses are encouraged to submit planks before May 11. 2014 Platform posted on-line by September 24 for use by GP candidates and supporters. Platform Committe can propose housekeeping amendments through July 20, 2014.

Current GPUS Platform: http://gp.org/what-we-believe/our-platform

References

Proposal 727: Platform Amendment Process and Timeline for Non-Presidential Nominating Convention Years
Proposal 462: Amendment to GPUS Bylaws, 2010 Platform Process
Proposal 649: Platform Amendment Process and Timeline for Presidential Nominating Convention Years

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