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Proposal Details

Proposal ID	868
Proposal	Platform Amendment Process and Timeline for Non-Presidential Nominating Convention Years
Presenter	GPUS Platform Committee
Floor Manager	Jan Martell
Phase	Closed
Discussion	05/01/2017 - 05/21/2017
Voting	05/22/2017 - 05/28/2017
Result	Adopted
Presens Quorum	32 0.6666
Consens Quorum	50 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. See Prop 649.

When 9-1.3 (and the Article IX Platform was approved by the National Committee, it came in June 2010 as part of Proposal 462 “Amendment to GPUS Bylaws, 2010 Platform Process.” Owing to the late timing of the passage of #462 in the 2010 platform amendment process, no such ongoing procedure was proposed to amend the GPUS Rules and Procedures at that time. Instead, a one-time only platform amendment process was approved for 2010 as part of Prop #462. In 2014 another proposal, Prop 740 established another one-time only platform amendment process.

Since 2010, no revision to the GPUS Rules and Procedures has been proposed to nor considered by the National Committee.

This proposal would establish a new Article XII of the GPUS Rules and Procedures of the Green Party of the United States to fulfill the requirements of Article IX of the GPUS Bylaws 9-1.3 cited above.

This proposal would also add the timeline for the platform amendment process for those years when there is a GPUS Presidential Nominating Convention (PNC) to the new Article XII of the Rules and Procedures so that the timeline for both PNC and non-PNC years may be found in one section of the Rules and Procedures.

The platform amendment process timeline for years in which there is a PNC requires a well defined schedule in order to have the required draft platform prepared and approved prior to the PNC with sufficient time for PNC delegates to review the draft platform. The platform amendment process in non-PNC years does not.

One of the problems of such a tight schedule is that amendment proposals have been submitted to the National Committee in groups of several proposals with the same decision-making timeline. This proposal would allow the Platform Committee to vet amendment proposals as soon as they are received and post them for review on the Platcom web page as soon as the vetting process has been completed. After a minimum of six weeks of review and with the consent of the amendment sponsors, Platcom would then submit the amendment proposal to the Steering Committee for inclusion in the voting queue.

This process change will result in amendment proposals being submitted to the NC for discussion and voting over a longer period of time for more thorough consideration. It would also reduce the need to submit multiple amendment proposals to the voting queue within the same decision-making timeline.

Proposal

The National Committee shall approve the creation of Article XII of the GPUS National Committee Rules and Procedures as follows:

ARTICLE XII: PLATFORM AMENDMENT PROCESS AND TIMELINE

12-1 Process and Timeline for even-numbered years in which there is a GPUS Presidential Nominating Convention:

12-1.1 June 1 of the year preceding the convention
A six-month open submissions period begins. Amendment proposals must be submitted according to the template for submissions posted on the Platform Committee website. The opening of the new platform cycle will be announced to the GNC votes list, along with submission process guidelines. Delegates are charged with informing their state parties and caucuses about the timeline and process requirements.

12-1.2 January 1 of the Convention year
Submissions close. No new amendments will be accepted. During the month of January the Platform Committee will work with authors and state or caucus contacts to edit language and style, resolve conflicts and problems.

12-1.3 February 1 of the Convention year
Amendment proposals will be posted on the Platcom website for reading. Suggestions for modification may be accepted by authors and editors until March 15.

12-1.4 March 15 - May 1 of the Convention year
The platform committee will submit amendment proposals individually to the Green National Committee for approval. Amendments passed by the GNC will amend the draft platform which will be submitted for approval to the PNC.

12-1.5 May 15 of the Convention year
A draft version of the proposed platform will be published on the PlatCom website for reading. This posting will be announced to the GNC, and delegates are charged with informing their state parties and their state's PNC delegates about this posting, and the PNC procedures for approval.

12-1.6 Housekeeping amendments, limited to corrections of grammar, style and format, can be made by the Platform Committee, in collaboration with amendment sponsors, at any time throughout this process.

12-1.7 Presidential Nominating Convention
The Platform Committee will schedule platform hearings in a workshop format at least a day before the final vote, for discussions, questions, and answers concerning changes and additions to the platform. No substantial changes or new amendments can be introduced at this stage.

12-2 Process and Timeline for even-numbered years in which there is no Presidential Nominating Convention:

12-2.1 June 1 to December 31 of the year preceding an even-numbered year in which there is no PNC.
A six-month open submissions period begins. Amendment proposals must be submitted according to the template for submissions posted on the Platform Committee website. The opening of the new platform cycle will be announced to the GNC votes list, along with submission process guidelines. Delegates are charged with informing their state parties and caucuses about the timeline and process requirements.

12-2.2 As soon an amendment proposal has been submitted, the Platform Committee will immediately begin to work with authors and state or caucus contacts to edit language and style and to resolve any conflicts and problems. 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.

12-2.3 Amendment proposals shall be posted on the Platcom website for reading for a minimum period of six weeks once any editing for language and style or resolution of conflicts and problems have been completed. Suggestions for modification may be accepted by authors and editors during this period.

12-2.4 After the amendment proposal has been posted on the Platcom website for review for a minimum period of six weeks and with the consent of the sponsors, the platform committee will submit amendment proposals individually to the Steering Committee for submission to the National Committee for approval.

12-2.5 January 1
Submissions close. No new amendments will be accepted. During the month of January the Platform Committee will work with authors and state or caucus contacts to edit language and style, resolve conflicts and problems of any remaining amendment proposals.

12-2.6 Consideration of 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.

12-2.7 The Platform Committee shall be listed on all proposals as the presenter, followed by the sponsoring state or caucus as the sponsor. Proposal sponsors retain the right to make amendments to those proposals, as established in GPUS Rules and Procedures Article VI, during the discussion period.

12-2.8 Once all Platform Amendment proposals have been either accepted or rejected by vote of the National Committee, the Platform Committee shall work with the GPUS webmaster to ensure that any amendments to the Platform approved shall be promptly reflected on the GPUS web page under the headline GPUS Platform, and that such an amended platform is published in both text and pdf format.

Resources

Immediate implementation of this rule change. Webmaster is instructed to update the content immediately upon passage.

References

CONTACTS:
Bruce Hinkforth – Co-Chair GPUS Platcom (bhinkforth at milwpc.com)
Linda Cree – Co-Chair GPUS Platcom (creelinda at hotmail.com)

Prop 420 (http://gp.org/cgi-bin/vote/propdetail?pid=420)

Prop 649 (http://gp.org/cgi-bin/vote/propdetail?pid=649)

Prop 749 (http://gp.org/cgi-bin/vote/propdetail?pid=740)

Prop 801 (http://gp.org/cgi-bin/vote/propdetail?pid=801)

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