Bylaw Amendment Proposal

/////Field submission of suggested bylaw amendments

Any registered member of Trail Life USA may propose an amendment to the bylaws of the Corporation. The adoption of amendments will be rare. As the bylaws represent the highest level of policy in Trail Life USA, sitting directly below the Articles of Incorporation, there must be a compelling reason for the adoption of any amendment and a clear case for why the amended language better fulfills the purposes of Trail Life USA than did the existing language. Accordingly, all proposed amendments will go through a standardized review process and will only be submitted to the membership for a vote if all criteria for adoption are met.

 

/////Submission Criteria

All proposed amendments must meet all current TLUSA requirements and align with TLUSA Core Values and be structured to facilitate review. For such facilitation, the notice for a Bylaw amendment shall contain four fundamental components:

• The proposed amendment, precisely worded
• The unamended bylaw as it is currently worded
• The bylaw as it will read if the amendment is adopted
• A brief statement of the rationale for amending the bylaw, indicating how the amendment improves the existing bylaws (e.g. by improving alignment between TLUSA Core Values and the bylaws)

////Submission Process

Proposed amendments shall be submitted by a registered member of Trail Life USA to the CEO. The path for submission to the CEO shall be determined by the Home Office, but may take the form of an online “suggestions box”.

 

///Review Process

The CEO shall pass on proposed amendments to the Chair of the Governance/Board Development (G/BD) Committee or its descendent committee charged with the governance functions laid out in that committee’s charter. The G/BD Committee will review all proposed amendments submitted by registered members. During review, the G/BD Committee may contact the proposer and ask for clarification and even collaborate to make final revisions of the text. If the G/BD Committee concludes the proposed amendment has sufficient merit, under the above stated criteria, the Committee will submit the proposed amendment to the Board. If the Board agrees the amendment has sufficient merit to warrant a formal vote, the amendment may either be adopted by the Board or sent for a vote by all Charter Org Reps as part of the Annual Meeting balloting. Amendments that receive sufficient votes according to the criteria laid out in the Bylaws will be adopted immediately upon such vote.

 

///Review Timing

Amendments received more than 90 days before the Annual Meeting will be reviewed for possible inclusion in the ballot during the year they are received. Amendments received less than 90 days before the Annual Meeting will be reviewed for inclusion in the following year’s ballot, unless the Committee deems their inclusion in the present year’s ballot to be urgent and chooses to review it for possible inclusion in the current year’s ballot.

 

Please submit your proposal for amendments to the bylaws here.