Committee Annual Reports
Constitution & Bylaws
Committee
Final Report
George
Eynon , Chair
This
document contains one (1) constitutional amendment, eight (8) bylaws
amendments and one (1) resolution to be brought forward for consideration
by the House of Delegates at its annual meeting to be held in Denver,
Colorado on June 3, 2001.
In order for the membership and the delegates to better understand
the context of each of the Constitution and Bylaws amendments and
resolution for consideration, the annual report of the House of
Delegates Constitution and Bylaws Committee to be submitted at the
meeting is also included.
This information is being published in accordance with the requirements
of Article VIII, Section 4 (pertaining to constitutional amendments)
and Article XIV, Section 3 (pertaining to bylaws amendments) of
the AAPG Constitution and Bylaws as amended April 16, 2000.
In addition, the insert contains ten (10) recommended changes for
the House of Delegates Rules and Procedures for consideration at
the annual meeting. These recommendations are submitted in the form
of the House Rules and Procedures Committee report to be submitted
for consideration at the meeting.
The nine
resolutions for Constitution and Bylaws amendments—and the House
Resolution on COCBAP2—are all briefly described in the body of this
report, with detailed wording appended on separate numbered Attachments
for ease of reference. (The same format is followed in the Attachments
— any deletions are struck through [deletions]
and additions are underlined).
In accordance with Article C., 2. of the House Rules and Procedures
amended April 16, 2000, reports to be considered by the House must
be distributed a minimum of thirty-five (35) days prior to the date
of the annual meeting.
Any clarification of this information along with other committee
reports will be published in the next edition of The Delegates’
Voice as well as on the House
Forum.
Lowell K. Lischer
Chairman, AAPG House of Delegates
2000-2001
COCBAP3
Amendment
This
is a resolution arising from the EC ad hoc Committee
on Constitution and Bylaws Amendment Procedure (known as COCBAP),
and has been forwarded by EC directly. The resolution suggests amending
the Constitution to prevent any governing body (EC, AC or House)
from proposing amendments that would alter any other body without
its express consent. The spirit and intent of a second COCBAP proposal
—a mechanism to get input from any such affected body—was
used to help resolve this potentially contentious issue ahead of
time. All three bodies (the EC, AC and House leadership) discussed
the COCBAP 3 constitutional amendment proposal, were asked to provide
their views, and all three now recommend defeat of this resolution.
If so defeated the amendment will not have to go to the full membership
for a mail ballot.
CONSTITUTION:
Article V. Government
The government
of this Association shall be vested in six (6) elected officers,
an Executive Committee, a House of Delegates, and an Advisory
Council. The composition of each body, the manner of selection,
the terms of office, the specific duties, responsibilities, and
other matters relevant to such bodies and officers shall be as
provided in the Bylaws of this Association; provided that any
amendment to the Bylaws relating to the composition, manner of
selection, the terms of office, the specific duties, responsibilities,
and other matters relevant to the Executive Committee, the Advisory
Council, or the House of Delegates shall be approved by the body
affected. Any such responsibility and authority of government
of this Association not otherwise specified in these governing
documents shall be reserved to the Executive Committee.
International
Region Delegate Clarification Amendment
This
is a “housekeeping” clarification to the new International Region
portion of the Bylaws. It is intended to make it clear that all
delegates to the House from international Regions must be elected
from ballots mailed to all Region members, regardless of
whether it is an at-large seat across the Region, or one allocated
to AAPG members associated with a specific affiliated society. It
also clarifies that any AAPG voting member who wishes to run for
delegate from any delegate-electing entity (associated society,
for example) is allowed to be a nominee and have their name placed
on the ballot for the specific entity to which they have chosen
to be assigned at headquarters.
This resolution comes from the House meeting in New Orleans in 2000.
Article
V. House of Delegates
Section 3. Selection of United States Affiliated Society Delegates
and International Region Delegates
ýelegates
shall be selected by popular vote of American Association of Petroleum
Geologists members in elections conducted annually by United States
Affiliated Societies and International Regions. Voting shall be
restricted to those Association members claiming the Affiliated
Society or Region as their home society or region. Association
members residing in the United States and not members of any United
States Affiliated Society may be assigned for the purpose of voting
in elections for Delegates to the nearest United States Affiliated
Society upon request to that society, without enjoying any of
the membership privileges. All Association members residing outside
of the United States shall be assigned to the International Regions
in which they reside and shall vote in that Region in elections
for Delegates unless claiming a United States Affiliated Society
or another Region as their home society or region. All members
of an International Region shall be entitled to vote in all elections
for all Delegates from that Region. Each International Region
shall elect, in an election or elections in which all members
of such region shall be entitled to vote, not less than one
(1) Delegate from among the Association members of each Affiliated
Society within that International Region. Additional Delegates,
if any, to which a Region may be entitled shall be elected as
determined by the Region; provided, that all Association members
assigned to an International Region shall be entitled to vote
in all elections of Delegates from that International Region.
Any Association member may be a candidate or Delegate from
the US Affiliated Society or International Region in which the
member votes upon the member’s timely written request. Delegates
shall be elected for three (3)-year terms and may succeed themselves;
provided, however, that any Delegate elected as an officer of
the House of Delegates during the third year of the Delegate’s
three-year term shall automatically be a voting At-Large Member
of the House of Delegates for the one year such person serves
as such officer. Terms of office shall begin on July 1 following
their election. Vacancies in office, or alternates for Delegates
unable to attend meetings of the House of Delegates may be filled
or obtained from among the candidates not receiving a sufficient
number of votes for election, and in order of the total number
of votes received. In the event alternates for Delegates are not
available from the candidates described above, then the members
of a United States Affiliated Society or an International Region
who are Association members may appoint alternate Delegates for
said meeting. The names of these appointed alternate Delegates
must be received in writing by the Headquarters office of the
Association at least fifteen (15) days prior to the meeting of
the House of Delegates for which they are appointed.
Legality
Requirement Elimination Amendment
Currently,
all resolutions approved by the House must have their “legality”
affirmed by the EC. It is the opinion of AAPG’s legal counsel (Craig
Blackstock) that this procedure is not necessary to legally enact
a valid Bylaw Amendment; and, further, the “legality” language has
created some confusion in the past. If an amendment is illegal,
as it pertains to a statute or regulation, then it is unenforceable.
This proposal removes the language in Article XIV, Sections 2 &
3 pertaining to “affirmation of legality” and “determine legality”
since it is not necessary and to avoid any future potential misunderstandings.
ARTICLE XIV. AMENDMENTS
SECTION 2. Amending Procedure
Upon
receipt of such proposals, they shall be referred to the Chairman
of the House of Delegates, who shall then request that
the Executive Committee determine legality forward
them to (a) the Executive Committee and (b) to the Constitution
& Bylaws Committee of the House of Delegates for review and
a report to be presented to the members of the House of Delegates,
in accordance with its Rules & Procedures.
SECTION
3. Publication of Amendments
Upon
affirmation of legality of proposed amendments The Executive
Committee shall cause them proposed amendments
to be published in the Bulletin or by other suitable means
at least two (2) months prior to the annual meeting of the House
of Delegates.
SECTION
4. Consideration of Amendments
Proposed
amendments shall be considered at the annual meeting of the House
of Delegates and shall be passed upon receipt of a two-thirds
(2/3) affirmative vote of the Delegates present and voting. In
the event any revisions of the published amendments are approved
by the House, the amendments shall become effective only when
and if the legality of the revised form has been affirmatively
determined by the Executive Committee.
Bylaws
Amending Time Period Equivalency Amendment
This
standardizes the procedures for proposing amendments to the Bylaws
by mandating a single 90-day time-period for submitting resolutions
to the membership.
As it now stands, the House must pass a resolution for amendment
in the form of a committee report or motion from the floor of the
House and then wait a full year until the next annual meeting to
vote on the actual change to the Bylaws. However, the EC or any
50 members may propose Amendments up until 2 months before the House
Annual Meeting. To provide the House some equivalency this resolution
therefore proposes granting the three elected House officers together
with the Chairman of the C&BL Committee the authority to propose
Bylaws amending resolutions. In this way the officers of both the
EC and the House, as well as any 50-member petition, will have the
right to bring forth resolutions for Amendment to the Bylaws at
the next Annual Meeting.
Those three ways of proposing amending resolutions should be subject
to the same time frame for submission; and, further, 50% more time
should be provided for consideration of all Resolutions for Amendments
from any source. Thus, we propose changing the time period for submission
to the membership from “2 months” to “90 days”.
ARTICLE
XIV. AMENDMENTS
SECTION 1. Proposal of Amendments
Amendments
to these Bylaws may be proposed by the following means:
(a)
Resolution by the Executive Committee;
(b) Resolution of the House of Delegates;
(c) Written proposal signed by fifty (50) members of the Association.
(d)
Resolution by a majority vote of the Officers of the House of
Delegates and the Chairman of Constitution and Bylaws Committee
of the House of Delegates.
SECTION
3. Publication of Amendments
Upon
affirmation of legality of proposed amendments, the Executive
Committee shall cause them to be published in the Bulletin
or by other suitable means at least two (2) months
ninety (90) days prior to the annual meeting of
the House of Delegates.
Eliminate
“suitable” Amendment
The
word is used in the Bylaws referring to the AC’s mandate as the
nominating committee to provide “suitable’“ candidates for election.
The House last year voted to eliminate the word “suitable” for several
reasons. First, the meaning of the word is not defined anywhere
in the Bylaws. Second, it is redundant—the AC would not provide
unsuitable candidates; if the Advisory Council nominates a member
as an EC officer candidate, that nominee should be accepted as being
properly qualified. Third, its use in the past has been inconsistent;
there has been much EC discussion and debate over this one word
in the Bylaws, to the extent that legal counsel has been asked to
define it and its use.
This resolution of the House is intended to clean up the wording
and eliminate the possibility of this one word unnecessarily wasting
the time and energy of EC members, HQ staff, and AAPG counsel.
ARTICLE
V. ADVISORY COUNCIL
SECTION 5. Nominations
The Advisory
Council shall recommend suitable candidates for
Association officers as provided in these Bylaws.
Election
Results Release Amendment
The release
of the results of AAPG Elections needs to be handled in the Bylaws,
with the intent of providing candidates with information to help
them assess their efforts. Many candidates want to know the specific
numerical results of their individual races for AAPG office. It
is only fair that both the winner and loser, if they both agree,
should be given the specific numerical results of their individual
election contest. A written request from the candidates would
be required, and they would not be bound by any requirement for
confidentiality of the information so could freely discuss them
if they wished. The Bylaws are silent on this issue at present,
so the proposed addition of a Section 12 to Article II of the
Bylaws is a clarification and a policy statement for the future.
ARTICLE
II. OFFICERS AND EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR
SECTION
12. Release of Election Results.
If
all candidates in any AAPG election for a specific office approve
in writing a statement authorizing the release of the numerical
results of their election, those results shall be released to
each of the said candidates and any of those candidates may disclose
such election results to any person. For the purposes of this
Section 12, AAPG elections include, but are not limited to, elections
for officers of the Association, the House of Delegates, and the
Divisions, and any other election between members of any classification
conducted by the Association.
Limitation
on Holding Multiple Positions Amendment
Currently
there is nothing in the Bylaws to prohibit any member from holding
more than one of approximately 25 senior elected positions of the
EC, AC, House and Divisions. With 20,000 or more members it should
not be necessary to have any individual member hold more than one;
in fact, the Association needs to provide for a broader representation
of its members in its senior management ranks. This resolution—which
originates from the EC—proposes just such a reasonable limitation
on holding multiple positions. It will be added to Article II of
the Bylaws as a new Section 12 or 13, depending on the outcome of
the vote on the Election Results Release Amendment (Attachment 6).
ARTICLE
II. OFFICERS, AND EXECUTIVE-DIRECTOR,
AND ASSOCIATION POSITIONS
SECTION
12. Limitations on Association Positions
(a)
No member of any classification may hold more than one of the
following offices at any one time;
Association President;
Association Vice President;
Association President-Elect;
Association Secretary;
Association Treasurer;
Association Editor;
Chairman, House of Delegates;
Chairman-Elect, House of Delegates;
Secretary-Editor, House of Delegates;
President of any Division;
Advisory Council member elected by any United States Section;
and
Advisory Council member elected by any International Region.
(b)
No past president of the Association may within three (3) years
after expiration of his or her term of office as such hold any
of the offices listed in subsection 12(a) above.
(c)
If a member of any classification holds or has been elected to,
appointed to, or is otherwise entitled to hold any of the offices
listed in subsection 12(a) above, such member may not be nominated
as a candidate for or be appointed to or otherwise hold any other
of such offices if the member’s election or appointment to or
the member’s otherwise holding such other office would result
in such member holding two or more of such offices concurrently.
Advisory
Council Alternates Amendment
Currently
the rules providing for Alternates to attend and vote at the AC
are not equivalent for the Past Presidents, Divisions, Sections
and Regions. While the amendment below does not create exactly the
same mechanism for each of those categories of AC member, it does
provide enough flexibility to allow all bodies to be fully represented
if the primary, elected individual is unable to attend. The resolution—which
comes directly from the EC—includes a new Section 12 of Article
V; the wording is somewhat difficult to follow, since it also handles
those positions on the AC that have no prior member – new international
Regions for example.
ARTICLE
V. ADVISORY COUNCIL
SECTION 8. Composition and Terms of Office
Except
as set forth in subparagraph (a) and (c) below, the members of
the Advisory Council shall each serve for three (3)-year terms
in rotation. The members of the Advisory Council shall consist
of the following:
(a)
The immediate past-president and the two (2) former presidents
who have served most recently or their designated representatives
from their respective Executive Committees and the immediate past
chairman of the House of Delegates;
(b)
One (1) or more members of the Association elected every third
year by the Association members of each United States Section
and International Region, in accordance with a schedule established
by the Executive Committee to provide staggered terms and subject
to the provisions of subparagraph (d) of this Section 8;
(c)
The chief elected officer of each Division who shall serve ex
officio during the officer’s term, provided said Division has
not less than seven hundred and fifty (750) Association members
on the first day of the fiscal year of the Association. The chief
elected officer of each Division with less than seven hundred
and fifty (750) Association members shall be entitled to attend
Advisory Council meetings as an Observer but will not be a member
of the Advisory Council. The chief elected officer of
each Division may designate in writing to the Chairman of the
Advisory Council for one meeting only of the Advisory Council
the chief elected officer’s designated representative from such
Division’s executive committee who shall at such meeting have
the authority, including the right to vote, of such chief elected
officer. The written designation must be received by the Chairman
of the Advisory Council not less than ten days prior to such meeting.
Like designations may be made for subsequent meetings.
(d)
Each United States Section and International Region with not less
than seven hundred and fifty (750) Association members shall be
entitled to elect one Advisory Council member for up to five thousand
(5,000) Association members within such section or region. Each
United States Section and International Region with less than
seven hundred and fifty (750) Association members will elect for
a three (3)-year term an Observer to attend Advisory Council meetings
but who will not be a member of the Advisory Council except as
otherwise provided in these Bylaws. If a Section or a Region which
elected an Observer has seven hundred and fifty (750) or more
Association members on the first day of any fiscal year of the
Association, such Observer shall become a member of the Advisory
Council as of that date and continue as such for the remainder
of the Observer’s three (3)-year term. A Section or Region shall
be entitled to elect an additional Advisory Council member for
each additional five thousand (5,000) members, or any fraction
thereof. For the purposes of this subparagraph (d), the number
of members of a section or region shall be determined as of the
first day of the Association’s fiscal year in which an election
is to occur. Once elected, an Advisory Council member from a Section
or Region shall serve for three (3) years, regardless of the number
of members in such section or region during the term of that Advisory
Council member.
SECTION
9. Meetings
The Advisory
Council shall meet at least once each year during the annual meeting
of the Association, and shall submit annual reports to the Executive
Committee. Additional meetings may be held at the call of the
Chairman. A quorum shall consist of a simple majority of members.
Robert’s Rules of Order shall apply at all meetings. No
proxies shall be allowed, and no but alternates
for absentee members may be appointed in accordance with Section
8 paragraph (a) or the procedures prescribed in Section 12 of
this Article V. Mail canvasses may be conducted when necessary
for interim action requested by the Executive Committee.
SECTION
10. Presiding Officer – NO Changes
SECTION 11. Observers at Advisory Council Meetings – NO Changes
SECTION
12. Alternates at Advisory Council Meetings for Absent Members
The
alternate representative for an absent Advisory Council member
shall be that absent member’s immediate predecessor as a member
of the Advisory Council, except as prescribed in Section 8 paragraph
(a) of this Article. If the absent Advisory Council member represents
a Region, Section, or Division and did not have a predecessor,
the alternate representative shall be designated by the Region,
Section, or Division President, and shall be a current member
of its executive committee. If an Advisory Council member dies
or resigns, then prior to the election of a successor member as
prescribed in Article VI, Section 1, such former member’s alternate
representative shall be as otherwise provided herein for an absent
member. An alternate representative may be seated at any time
during an Advisory Council meeting. The atlternate representattive
shall have the authority, including the right to vote, of the
absent member.
COCBAP2
Amendment
The
C&BL committee offers this as a Resolution of the House in case
the Delegates defeat the COCBAP3 Constitutional amendment. In that
event, a resolution such as this would be required to provide a
mechanism to obtain comment from each of the three governing bodies
on amendments that might affect them, as per the COCBAP2 recommendation.
The EC, AC and the House leadership implicitly endorse this process;
in fact, just such a process was implemented in spirit to obtain
the EC, AC and HOD views on COCBAP 3—and it worked wonderfully.
This resolution proposes to formally encode the process in the Bylaws.
ARTICLE
XIV. AMENDMENTS
SECTION 2. Amending Procedure
(a)
Upon receipt of such proposals, they shall be referred to
the Chairman of the House of Delegates, who shall then request
that the Executive Committee determine legality.
(b)
Amendments proposed by resolution of the Executive Committee or
by fifty (50) members of the Association shall within thirty (30)
days of their receipt by the Chairman of the House of Delegates
be distributed to the members of the House of Delegates, the Constitution
and Bylaws committee of the House of Delegates, the Advisory Council,
and any committee or member(s) of the Association designated by
the Executive Committee to receive them. Each of the Advisory
Council, committees or members of the Association, and members
of the House of Delegates to whom a proposed amendment was distributed
under these provisions, may submit comments to the Constitution
and Bylaws committee of the House of Delegates not less than thirty
(30) days prior to the annual meeting of the House of Delegates
at which the proposed amendment shall be considered. The Chairman
of the House of Delegates shall cause all such comments to be
sent to the members of the House of Delegates prior to such annual
meeting.
(d)
Amendments proposed by resolution of the House of Delegates shall
within thirty (30) days of their adoption be distributed to the
members of the House of Delegates, the Executive Committee, the
Advisory Council, and any committee or member(s) of the Association
designated by the Executive Committee to receive them. Each of
the Executive Committee, the Advisory Council, committees or members
of the Association, and members of the House of Delegates to whom
a proposed amendment was distributed under these provisions, may
submit comments to the Constitution and Bylaws committee of the
House of Delegates not later than the next October 31st following
the adoption of the resolution and preceding the annual meeting
of the House of Delegates at which the proposed amendment shall
be considered. The Chairman of the House of Delegates shall cause
all such comments to be sent with the proposed amendment to the
members of the House of Delegates as provided in its Rules and
Procedures.
Officer
Nominations EC Super-Majority Vote Amendment
During
the “New Business” portion of the 2000 Annual Meeting of the House
of Delegates, a Resolution was passed that required the Executive
Committee to have a greater than simple majority to change the order
of candidates or reject any names presented by the Advisory Council.
The resolution was passed and forwarded to the Constitution and
Bylaws committee for wordsmithing.
ARTICLE
II. OFFICERS AND EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR
SECTION 10. Election of Officers
These
officers shall be elected from among the members of the Association
by means of secret ballot in the following manner: not later than
June 30 of each year the Advisory Council shall annually recommend
two (2) or more candidates each for the offices of Vice President
and President-Elect, biennially recommend two (2) or more candidates
each for offices of Secretary and Treasurer, and triennially recommend
two (2) or more candidates for the office of Editor to stand for
election during the following fiscal year, and, if elected, to
serve during the second succeeding fiscal year. The Executive
Committee shall approve the candidates recommended in the order
(if the Advisory Council recommends candidates in a particular
order) and for the office recommended by the Advisory Council
unless the Executive Committee, by the affirmative vote of not
less than five of its members in each instance, alters the order
in which candidates are recommended or changes the office for
which a particular candidate is recommended; provided, however,
that no person shall be a candidate who declines such candidacy.
The Council’s recommendations shall thereafter be
considered by the The Executive Committee which
shall annually approve two (2) candidates each for the offices
of Vice President and President-Elect, biennially approve two
(2) candidates each for the offices of Secretary and Treasurer
and triennially approve two (2) candidates for the office of Editor.
The names of approved candidates shall be published in the Bulletin
or by other suitable means ninety (90) days prior to distribution
of ballots to members. Additional nominations may be made by written
petition of fifty (50) or more members in good standing received
at Association headquarters not later than November 15 following.
The Executive Committee shall then prepare a printed ballot, listing
the candidates for each office, and one (1) ballot shall be mailed
to each member on or before April 1. Marked ballots returned to
and received by the Association after May 15 shall not be counted.
The ballot committee shall count the ballots promptly after May
15 and report the results to the President. A plurality of all
votes cast for an office is necessary for election. In case of
a tie vote the Executive Committee shall cast one (1) additional
deciding vote.
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