2016 Council on Legislation Deliberations and Decisions
I was privileged to attend the 2016 COL on behalf of our district in Chicago from April 10 to 15. Of the 535 districts in the Rotary World, 511 were represented. We used electronic voting machines to cast our ballots. However, a few were not comfortable using the first machine given to us on Sunday (for a trial) and Monday. This was evident from the voting tally on Monday; the total votes for and against a proposal were not close to the total no of delegates in attendance. This was partially resolved when new voting machines were given to us on Tuesday.
Quite a number of enactments and resolutions were simple and worthy of full support by the delegates. But there were always a few dissenters; sometimes just a handful. This proved to me that some had butter fingers or the translations were not fully understood by the delegates who were not proficient in English.
The following is a summary of the decisions on the 117 enactments and 64 resolutions that were considered by the delegates at the 2016 COL. Of these 23 were withdrawn by the proposers before the Council even met in session. Many were dealing with the same subject but with a slight twist or wording requiring them to be considered separately. For example there were four enactments dealing with the Objects of Rotary and four on the Fifth Avenue of Service.
- PDG Raju Paul. District 5360, Canada
Enactments
If approved enactments make changes to RI and Club official documents like bylaws and constitution.
The RI Board has already reviewed many of these enactments. Their support or objections are noted in bold after 5360, Canadaeach. The enactments go into effect as of July 01, 2016. Should a club decides to make no changes to their bylaws the current rules will continue.
a. Club Administration:
16-01: To provide written minutes of a Club board meeting available to all members. This was adopted by a vote 318 in favor and 136 against.
16-02: To provide for the Club Treasurer to be a member of the Club board. Although this may not be an issue for clubs in RID 5360, it is a concern in many parts of the Rotary World. It was adopted by a vote of 379 for and 72 against.
16-03: To provide for the secretary-elect to be a member of the Club board. This was rejected by a vote of 332 against and 123 for.
16-04: To revise the provisions for club officers to include the President nominee as a voting member was rejected by a vote of 332 against and 123 for; although I thought it was good for continuity and voted for it. In many clubs in our district it is usual include that person on the Club board probably in any designation.
16-05: Committees of the club- the council adopted a new committee structure for clubs namely: Club Administration, Membership, Public Image, Rotary Foundation, Service projects (both local and international) and any additional committees that the club may to wish to appoint. This was adopted by a narrow margin of 238 for and 213 against,
16-06: To define the purpose of a Rotary Club as in 16-05 and to develop future leaders beyond club level was adopted by a slim margin vote of 236 for and 217
16-07: Admission Fees for new members was removed by a very slim margin of 232 for and 228 against.
16-08 and 16-09 were two other proposals on Admission fees. These were withdrawn in light of the above.
B: Avenues of Service
16-10: An amended version of the second Avenue of service was adopted toinclude Rotarians to lend their vocational skills to implement the club sponsoredprojects by a vote of 254 for and 210 against.
16-11, 16-12 and 16-13 to remove the Fifth Avenue of Service were rejected
16-14: To add a fifth part to the Object of Rotary to encourage a new generationof global leaders was withdrawn.
16-15: To add a fifth part to the Object of Rotary to include the development ofservice and leadership in youth and young adults was rejected by a vote of 435
16-16: To add a fifth part to the Objects of Rotary to include New Generationswas withdrawn in light of the above.
However, working with youth and young leaders in a number of areas isone of the most important activities of Rotary and the RI Board supportsthis enactment. They have decided to appoint a committee to review 16-14to 16 and bring it back to the next COL.
16-17, 16-18 and 16-20: were all to amend the Objects of Rotary with differentversions and sometimes the same were referred to the Board to consolidate.
The Board has decided to appoint a committee to study and bring it back to the next CoL
16-19: was to amend the Objects of Rotary again and was withdrawn as theprevious ones were being reviewed by the Bo
C: Club Meetings:
16-21: To allow flexibility to the club to determine the provisions on the frequencyand attendance of Club meetings was adopted by a vote of 392 for and 82
The board endorses this enactment as it provides a club with flexibility,responsiveness and adaptation to today’s changing world where theworking people find it difficult to attend a Rotary meeting every week. Thisgives the clubs the freedom to implement on new actions namely:
- Select best day and time to meet
- Cancel a meeting if the need arises
- Combine multiple formats for meetings like face to face, electronicmeetings, social gatherings, etc.
16-22, 16-23, 16-24 and 16-25 were withdrawn based on the above enactment.
16-26: To amend the provisions for cancelling a meeting when the meeting dayfalls on a statutory holiday or a commonly recognized holiday and if the holidayfalls on the same week of the meeting day was adopted by a vote of 272 for and 222 against.
D: Meeting Attendance Requirements
16-27, 16-28 and16-29: were withdrawn based on the passing of enactment 16-21 which gives the clubs the flexibility on this.
16-30: To allow members to attend a club meeting on line (if the club is set upwith a video conferencing provision) or in person was adopted by a vote of 322for and 188 against.
16-31: was withdrawn based on the above.
E. Make –Ups and Excused absences
16-32: was an enactment to allow for a Make-Up meeting to beallowed withinthe Rotary Year of missing a meeting was rejected by a narrow margin of 241for and 250 against.
16-33: on extended absence was withdrawn.
16-34: An enactment to excuse a Rotarian from attending meetings for a yearafter the birth of a baby was adopted with a vote of 395 for 97 against.
16-35: A member can be excused from attendance if he or she reaches the ageof 65 and has 20 years of service in one or more clubs, was adopted by a voteof 334 for and 170 against.
16-36: An enactment to allow the flexibility for a club to remove or modify theclassification system was adopted by a vote of 386 for and 75 against.
The RI Board supports the idea of giving clubs the ability to craft rules orregulations affecting composition of their membership and how they wishto manage their membership namely:
- Create various membership types other than active and honorary.
- Determine how former and transferring members are accepted
- Whether it is possible to be a member in more than one club
- Allow Rotaractors to become members of Rotary club whilemaintaining membership in a Rotaract club
- Determine how the club manages the resources of an honorary Member
16-37: was withdrawn based on the above
16-38: This enactment revises the requirements regarding the composition of aclub and the qualifications for club membership. A club consists of adultpersons who demonstrate good character, integrity and leadership andwilling to serve the local and international communities. Adopted with 426votes for and 85 against.
16-39: To expand the definition of Rotary Alumni beyond the Rotary Foundationparticipants. Although this proposed enactment was withdrawn, the RI Boardendorses it include former participants of all Rotary programs.
16-40: This enactment allows Rotaractors to be active members of a RotaryClub. It is hoped that they will continue to be in Rotary when they can be nolonger a Rotaractor. Adopted with a vote of 413 for 97 against.
16-41 to 16-44: All dealt with Article 5 Section 2.a (6) in the current ClubConstitution allowing persons who have never worked to be members of a club.This was postponed indefinitely for consideration and discussion.
16-42 and 16-43 were withdrawn
16-45: An enactment to allow for a new category of membership called associatemembership was rejected by a vote of 330 against and 182 for. However, the RIBoard supports this enactment since a club has the ability to do it as per 16-36.
16-46: An Enactment to prevent the domination by family members or closerelatives from becoming members of a club was withdrawn.
16-47: A minor revision to delete the word “permanent” from the support ofRotary from the requirement to be an honorary member was adopted by a voteof 417 for and 89 against.
16-48, 16-49 and 16-50 dealt with provisions for temporary suspension ofmembers with minor grammatical changes, length of suspension limited to 45days and a provision for appeal by the suspended member. All were adopted
16-51: Is an enactment of the provisions for transferring membership fromanother club. The requirement that the parent club provide a letter of no liabilitywas revised to say if no letter is provided within 30 days it is considered thatthere is no liability. Adopted by a vote 452 for 53 against.
16-52 dealing with the same matter was withdrawn.
16-53: An enactment to encourage clubs to search for qualified members wasrejected and it is implied as the primary duty of any club by a vote of 318 for and 164 against.
G: RI OFFICERS AND ELECTIONS:
16-54: Amended the duties of the RI President by clearly defining them and thatthe position has no inherent powers other than those derived from the RI Board.Adopted by a vote of 488 for and 13 against.
16-55: Made President-nominee a non-voting participant of the RI Board.Adopted by a vote of 469 for and 36 against.
16-56: To consider the selection of the President-nominee at the RI conventionswas withdrawn. The RI Board opposes this as it takes away the experience ofthe Convention from Rotarians and also add to the expenses of holding ameeting of the nominating Committee.
16-57: Limits the membership of a Past RI Director on the nominating committeefor RI President-Nominee to a maximum of three times. Adopted by a vote of 388 to 120.
16-58: To increase the term of the RI director to three years was rejected by a vote of 393 against 115.
16-59 and 16-60 were enactments to relax the requirement for a directornominee to attend a certain minimum number Zone Institutes, RI Conventionsand the no of years to have served as a Governor. These were rejectedAlso the RI Board opposes 16-59.
16-61: This enactment provides for electing a director nominee by a ballot byclubs if 60% of the nominating committee cannot agree on a candidate. Adoptedby a vote of 413 for and 91 against.This was practised in the past and this enactment made it official in the RI
16-62 and 16-63 dealt with minor changes to the provisions of a nominatingcommittee when a particular Zone has multiple sections as is the case with a fewAfrican and Europe combined Zones and were adopted easily.
16-64: A requirement for a nominating committee member to be attending aminimum no of Zone Institutes and RI Conventions was withdrawn.
16-65 and 16-66 to revise the qualifications for nominating committeemembership were rejected overwhelmingly and 16-67 dealing with the samematter was withdrawn.
16-68: Provision for a transferable ballot by nominating committee memberswhen there are more than two candidates was rejected by a vote of 394 vs 109.
16-69: An enactment proposed to revise the qualifications of Governor-nomineefrom seven years of service as a Rotarian before taking office to nine years wasrejected by a vote of 349 against and 157 for.
16-70: Dealing with the no of votes a club is entitled to was withdrawn.
16-71: This enactment dealt with the provisions for challenging a nomination to aminimum of 10 clubs’ support or by 20% of the clubs in the district was adoptedby a vote of 390 for and 121 against.The RI Board supports this enactment.
16-72: Shortens the processing time for special elections if there is no candidateselected by the nominating committee in the first round. Adopted by 329 votes infavor and 174 against.
16-73 to 16-77 were proposed enactments of selecting a vice-governor to fulfilthe duties of a governor if he or she is incapacitated during the serving year.Several enactments from abolishing the position to amending Article 6.120 of theRI Bylaw about the selection of the person for the position were proposed. 16-73was rejected, 16-74, 76 and 77 were adopted and 16-75 was withdrawn.
4. Miscellaneous:
16-78: Dealt with the order of selecting the club officers who can vote from onDistrict matters but was rejected by a vote of 408 to 105.
16-79: Was about amending the procedures for selecting COL delegates andDirector-nominees and that all votes from clubs with multiple votes shall be castfor the same candidate. Adopted by a vote of 306 for and 206 against.
16-80: Restricts a club in nominating the COL delegate to be a member withinthe club and not from other clubs in the district as specified in article 12.020.5 ofRI Bylaws. This was rejected by a vote of 295 against and 218 for.
H: Rotary International:
16-81: Proposed by the RI Board, this enactment may suspend or terminatethe membership of any club that initiates or maintains or retains in itsmembership an individual who initiates or maintains, litigation against RotaryInternational including their directors, trustees, officers and employees, prior toexhausting all remedies provided for in the constitutional documents. This is acontentious issue in some parts of the Rotary World and was adopted by vote of463 for and 52 against.The RI Board supports this enactment.
16-82: Removes the distinction between e-clubs and conventional clubs:Adopted 355 for and 145 against.
16-83: Was adopted and establishes the minimum number of membersrequired for chartering a new club to be 20 and removes the provision forwaiving this requirement by RI Board.
16-84: Was adopted and revises the authority of the RI Board to change theboundaries of undersized districts with less than 1100 Rotarians and divideoversized districts. 444 votes for and 56 against.The RI Board supports this enactment.
16-85: Was withdrawn since it dealt with the same as 16-84.
16-86: Was adopted and gives at least two years before a boundary change orelimination of a district is implemented by the Board.
16-87: This enactment proposed by a Club from Japan was to assign ageographical name to a district in addition to the district no. This was highlycontested and discussed and was adopted by a very narrow initially onHowever the matter was reconsidered on the last day was rejected,
16-88: Article 15.060.4 of the RI Bylaw requires an audited or a district committeereviewed district finances to be circulated to all clubs with in three months of agovernor leaving office. If that is not done, this enactment specifies the timeperiod within which the annual statement of the district finances are to befinalized as 60 days maximum after the following district conference, Adopted bya vote of 337 for 136 against.
16-89: Prohibits governors who improperly administer district funds or do notcomply with 15.060.1 about providing timely financial reports from holding anyoffice until the financial irregularities are resolved. Adopted with 439 votes for and 58 against.
16-90: Proposed by the RI Board this enactment established a highly neededMembership Committee at the RI level and was adopted by a vote of 368 for andThe RI Board supports this enactment.
16-91: This enactment again proposed by the RI Board revised the compositionof the Finance and Audit Committee by deleting one member each from theboard and trustees and adding two more from the general membership. Adoptedby a vote of 459 for and 44 against.
16-92: Dealing with the same subject was withdrawn.
16-93: Proposed by the RI Board this enactment amended the terms of referencefor the Strategic Planning Committee. It will be established by the Board and thetrustees and will have eight members instead of six serving a four year termsinstead of six. Adopted by a vote of 483 for and 27 against.The RI Board supports this.
16-94 and 16-95 dealing with the same were withdrawn.
16-96: Provides the option to receive only one copy of the print version of theRotary magazine if there are two Rotarians residing in the same household. Thishas been the case for the English version for some time and this enactmentextends it to other regional versions as well. Also, a club may be excused fromsubscribing to a magazine if the members are not literate in the language of thepublication. Adopted by a vote of 475 for 27 against.
16-97: An enactment to opt out by US and Canadian members from subscribingto the Rotarian was rejected 303 against and 209 for.The RI Board opposes this enactment as well.
16-98: Consideration of an enactment dealing with the reduction of Greenhousegases was postponed indefinitely.The RI Board opposes this enactment as it is not within the scope of thepurposes or the objects of Rotary
I: RI Finances and Per Capita dues:
16- 99 to 16-103 dealt with per capita membership dues. This was the highlycontentious item on the COL agenda which resulted in extensive spiriteddiscussions the whole morning on Wednesday. The current fee is $27.50 halfyearly in 2015-16. There were a few proposals to increase it by a 50 cents or adollar every six months. On Sunday April 10 we all listened to a presentationfrom the RI Treasurer on a Five Year Financial for cast for 2017-2022 and howRI is not able to meet the demands placed on it by the membership with thecurrent fee structure of a dollar increase and proposed a $4.00 dollar increasesemi-annually commencing with 2017-18 Rotary year which will keep the reserveabove the Bylaw target and the board target in years to come. There wasconsiderable discussion about the travel budget and the number of non-votingattendees at the COL and their expenses by RI. RI has tried to reduce theexpenses by outsourcing the printing and mailing (annual cost of $400,00) aswell as outsourcing data services and software management ( a saving of $3.
The motion to increase the fees by $4.00 semi-annually from 2017-18 wasadopted by a vote of 317 for and 197 against.
Membership dues provide 65 percent of Rotary’s primary source of revenue tosupport the operations and therefore membership and its growth are a priority.These revenues support clubs and districts – membership development, Rotaractand Interact operations, communications, staff salaries, DG travel and training,etc. The four dollar increase is only 2% increase from the current figures.
16-100, 16-102 and 103 on fees were rejected and 16-101was withdrawn.
16-104: An enactment which would have required a club to pay for a minimum of10 members was rejected by a vote of 276 against and 233 for.However, the RI Board supports this enactment which would give an additional$200,000.00 revenue. There are 150 clubs under 5 members and 650 clubsbetween six and ten members. By charging a minimum for 10 members wouldencourage these clubs to recruit more members or merger with other clubs.
16-105: This enactment requires a club to report and pay the dues on a timelybasis to avoid suspension by the board. Adopted by a vote of 350 for and 149