Constitution and Bylaws Committee
(Revised
Purpose
The responsibility of the Constitution and Bylaws Committee
is to prepare proposed amendments for action by the Board of the Association.
The committee serves as a channel through which any members of the Association,
including committee members, can submit proposed revisions of the Constitution
and Bylaws to the Board. Amendments may also be proposed directly to the
Board if the requirements of the Constitution are met.
Constitutional Requirements
Article XI, Section 1, of the Constitution states the
requirements for amending the Constitution of the Association as follows:
Section 1. This constitution may be altered, amended, or repealed and a new
Constitution or portions thereof may be adopted by a vote of two-thirds of
the votes cast at an Annual Meeting of the Association or by a majority of
the total voting power of the Association, whichever is less, provided that
notice of any proposed revision has been mailed to every member of the
Association at least thirty days prior to the Annual Business Session at
which the revision is to be considered.
Revisions of this Constitution as provided above shall not be considered
by the membership of the Association until such proposed revisions have been
submitted to, reviewed by, and approved by the Board of the Association.
Upon its election, in the case of conflict of interest or other special
circumstances, the Board may choose to submit a proposed revision of the
Constitution to the Association members without recommendation provided that
the Board communicates the basis for this election to the members along with
the proposed amendment. For the purpose of the review and recommendation
by the Board, proposed revisions of the Constitution shall be submitted to
the Board at any regular or special meeting. After review and appropriate
action thereon, the Board shall forward the proposed revisions to the membership
of the Association for consideration. During its review and prior to
forwarding the proposed revisions with its recommendation, the Board may
make such editorial revisions as are necessary and appropriate.
Article XI, Section 2, of the Constitution states the requirements for amending
the Bylaws of the Association as follows:
Section 2. The activities of the Association shall be
regulated by the Bylaws. The Bylaws of the Association may be altered, amended,
or repealed and new Bylaws or portions thereof may be adopted in the same
manner as prescribed for the Constitution in the above Section 1 of this
Article.
Committee Appointment
The members of the Constitution and Bylaws Committee
are appointed by the MSERA President to began their service in January of
each year and serve concurrently with the presidential term of office. Although
the number of committee members is not mandated, the recommended practice
is to include a member from each state of the Association's six-state region
if persons from the respective states are available as well as at-large members.
The President designates a member to chair the committee.
The committee appointments are announced in the MSERA Researcher in
order to inform the Association's members of persons who can be contacted
to propose amendments.
Procedures
The initial action of the committee chair is to contact the
committee members for the purpose of soliciting their ideas on amendments
to the Constitution and Bylaws, simultaneously informing them of any suggestions
that have already been submitted (Appendix A). Based on the responses of
the committee and submissions from other MSERA members, a statement of the
proposed amendments prepared by the committee chair is submitted to the committee
for review. The committee members are requested to indicate their concurrence,
revision, or rejection of each amendment (Appendix B). The results of the
review are synthesized to determine which amendments are to be proposed to
the Board. The committee chair submits the committee's report to the Board
for consideration at the next Board Meeting (Appendix C). The Board may adopt
the draft amendments as submitted, adopt the draft amendments with revision,
or reject the draft amendments recommended by the Committee.
The Board may also approve amendments submitted directly to
it or amendments initiated by the Board itself. If such amendments are adopted
by the Board, the committee chair may be requested to prepare a draft of
these amendments for the Board to review. The draft materials are submitted
to the Board for revision and approval. If any substantive revisions in the
statement of the amendments are suggested, they are incorporated into a second
draft of the amendments and submitted to the Board for additional review
and approval. After the final revisions are made in the language of the
amendments adopted by the Board, a final report is prepared for the Board.
After Board approval, the report is distributed to the
Association's members at the Business Session of the Annual Meeting for action
by the members of the Association (Appendix D).
Subsequently, the amendments adopted by the members in the Business
Session are inserted in a revised Constitution and Bylaws for publication
in the Proceedings and the MSERA Web Page.
Time Schedule
Amendments to the Constitution and Bylaws must be approved
by the Board prior to presenting them at the Business Session of the Annual
Meeting and distributed to the Association’s membership at least thirty
days before the Business Session at the Annual Meeting. These requirements
mean that proposed amendments considered at the Spring Board Meeting can
be placed on the agenda for the Business Session at the same year’s
Annual Meeting. Proposed amendments considered at the Board Meeting immediately
prior to the Annual Meeting must be placed on the agenda for the Business
Session at the next year’s Annual Meeting.
Appendices (from 2005 committee):