GREEN PARTY OF CALIFORNIA PROPOSAL: Diversified Agenda (April 2004, 3/15/07 revision)

SPONSOR: Green Issues Working Group

PRESENTER: to be determined by the Coordinating Committee

CONTACT: info@green247.org

SUBJECT: Rules and procedures for developing and approving the General Assembly draft agenda for inclusion into the agenda packet. Decentralization, Grassroots Democracy, Sustainability, Respect for Diversity, Feminism and Gender Equity are the involved Key Values.

BACKGROUND: The cocos are responsible for producing most of the proposals. We have a stake in how the proposals are treated during the agenda development process. (co-co majority, 2006) PlenPlan is an ad-hoc committee of the CC. This is why I suggest that we move away from letting PlenPlan make the final decision...although technically speaking PlenPlan may not make decisions, in practice, they do. The CC has allowed it to be this way for years. I'd appreciate the feedback on this topic. (Magali, 2005?) Gatekeeping is not a form of facilitating. The beloved Plenary Agenda Committee (the agenda team) must be relieved of pressure to make decisions for the General Assembly.

PURPOSE: To fulfill representations made to the public that the GPCA supports decentralized grassroots democracy.

12 SEPARATE PROPOSALS TO BE CONSIDERED SEPARATELY (placed together in the agenda package to save time and resources):

1. (bylaw interpretation) The Coordinating Committee (CC) is responsible for establishing the General Assembly (GA) agenda (bylaw 7-1.1). That means that the CC, including the plenary planning committee and agenda team, facilitate the presentation of all proposals from the grassroots. It does so by formatting proposals, distributing them and presenting them (or finding a presenter). It may help make a proposal more presentable by suggesting amendments.
"Establishing" in bylaw 5.3.1 and "Establish" in bylaw 7-1.1a means:
to make firm or stable;
to introduce and cause to grow and multiply ;
to put into a favorable position;
to gain full recognition or acceptance of
(submitted to Bylaws online on Mar 5, 2007, and thereafter).

2. (bylaw interpretation) The SC/WGs are granted proposal authority in bylaw 6-2.5. Accordingly, all proposals from SC/WGs shall be placed on the agenda and may be removed only by the General Assembly.

3. (bylaw interpretation) In accordance with bylaw 10-1.2a, the sponsoring SC/WGs may postpone a proposal only upon consultation with the CC and the presenter/contact. The GPCA discourages postponing proposals originated by a member of a protected group including women. The GPCA prefers amending such proposals and helping prepare them for early presentation.

4. (bylaw interpretation) In accordance with bylaw 5-8.11 (consent calendar), all proposals shall be placed on the consent calendar. Thus, the consent calendar shall be used as a test for consensus and triage. After all, if the General Assembly gives immediate consensus, it was a consent calendar item. If anyone on the CC or SC/WG did not consent, they would have sent their detailed blocking concerns to the presenter/contact long before day G-43 (see proposed timeline below), the day locals are asked to consider the proposal. Similarly, if any delegate did not consent, they would have sent their detailed blocking concerns to the presenter/contact before the plenary.

5. In the spirit of bylaw 5-3.4 (the GA sets the agenda), all proposals that do not pass by initial test for consensus are scheduled for the agenda as prioritized by the General Assembly (with the "top vote-getters" first).

6. (bylaw interpretation) In accordance with Respect for Diversity and bylaw 5-6.1 (stacking speakers), any agenda tie-breaking is accomplished through disabled-minority-gender-stacking.

7. (bylaw interpretation) Extending the spirit of bylaw 5-6.1 (stacking speakers), the CC shall stack all presenters on the consent calendar according to disability, minority and gender of the presenter. The GPCA discourages taking agenda time from disabled minority female presenters and giving it to leisure-class white male presenters. It simply does not ask the GA to do so.

8. (bylaw interpretation) In accordance with bylaw 5-8.4, the CC shall give each General Assembly coordinating committee equal time for the consensus process.
a. That means equal time on the consent calendar to present any amendments that were made since day G-43.
b. That means equal time on the agenda to attempt to achieve consensus. Each committee may present any amendments to the proposal made since the GA set the agenda. However, that takes time away from the consent process.

8. (bylaw interpretation) The CC is responsible for assigning a presenter to each proposal, in accordance with bylaw 5-8.5. The coordinators of the sponsoring SC/WG are the default presenters. Presenters who cannot attend the first day of plenary shall notify the agenda team. If their proposal is approved for Day 1, the agenda team shall move it to Day 2. Otherwise, if a presenter is indisposed, the CC shall find another presenter. In case of failure, a CC/SC/WG coordinator shall present the proposal.

9. (bylaw interpretation) In accordance with bylaw 5-3.3 the agenda package shall include General Assembly committee proposals. That means ALL General Assembly committee proposals (this was submitted to Bylaws online on Mar 5, 2007). Co-coordinators and the CC shall facilitate all proposals from the grassroots.

10. A plenary agenda is a draft until accepted by the General Assembly. Therefore, only the General Assembly may make any decision concerning a plenary agenda.

11. A timeline, relative to the GA date, shall be automatically generated from a program, such as an Excel spreadsheet, that informs the SC/WG cocos of the submission time for proposals to the agenda team. That timeline shall be distributed immediately at the end of the plenary for the upcoming plenary. In case of failure, the timeline shall remain flexible to accommodate coordinators who do not check their email every day.

12. At G-85, the GA decides the date, Host committee and Venue of the following plenary. In case of failure, the San Francisco government building shall be the default venue. The 85-day cycle permits 4 plenaries per year plus a 25-day buffer, in case of postponement..

COMMITTEE DECISION: This is a distillation of amendments requested by a local that has been greening the west side of Los Angeles County for about 20 years, the Westside Greens. See www.westsidegreens.org.
It is a more precise and technical version of the same proposal posted on 4/14/05 at http://lists.cagreens.org/pipermail/womens-caucus/2005-April/000096.html.
It borrows from proposals sponsored by GIWG in 2006 and posted at www.green247.org/diversity.htm and www.green247.org/travel.htm.
The gist of it was submitted to Bylaws online on Mar 5, 2007.
The gist of it was presented at Bylaws Committee teleconference with no quorum on March 6, 2007.
At the Mar 6, 2007 teleconference, Bylaws members asked GIWG to format and present it, if I understood correctly.

TIME LINE:

G-85 Decision (GA): Date, Host committee and Venue decided.

G-85 Notice (CC): Timeline (Excel spreadsheet) notice goes out to CA Greens including all SC/WGs

G-85 until G-42 Determination (Liason to SoS): Report which counties are active
http://www.cagreens.org/liaison/delegates.html (determination)
http://ss.ca.gov/elections/elections_u.htm (reports of registration)

G-70 Deadline (WGs, Commitees): Send meeting agenda and sponsored Proposals (Coordinator Draft) for upload to plenary planning web page, for standing committees and working groups to coordinate content of proposals, in accordance with bylaw 6-2.5.
- template for proposals: http://www.cagreens.org/cc/internal/admin/PropFormat.rtf
mail to: agenda-team@cagreens.org

G-63 Deadline (GAP): Agenda Committee of CC places all sponsored proposals on plenary planning web page, in accordance with bylaws 5.3.1, 5-3.3 and 7-1.1a.

G-53 Deadline (CC, WGs, SCs): Coordinators provide all clarifying questions and blocking concerns to Presenter/Contact/Author of every proposal, in accordance with bylaws 5.3.1, 6-2.5 and 7-1.1a

G-46 Deadline (CC): Coordinating Committee formats draft agenda in .pdf and .html files for upload, in accordance with bylaw 5.3.1 and bylaw 7-1.1a, and assigns presenters, in accordance with bylaw 5-8.5.

G-46 Deadline (WGs, Committees): Send amended meeting agenda and sponsored Proposals (County Draft) for Agenda Team to distribute to counties, in accordance with bylaw 5.3.1 and bylaw 7-1.1a.
mail to: agenda-team@cagreens.org

G-43 Notice (GAP): Plenary Packet (proposals/meetings) upload to www.cagreens.org/plenary, in accordance with bylaw 5-3.3 .

G-33 Deadline (Host Committee): provides necessary registration and teleconference information to GPCA-IT for upload to www.cagreens.org/plenary

G-30 Notice (GAP): Plenary Packet (logistics) upload to www.cagreens.org/plenary

G-30 Notice (GAP): Open registration, banner at www.cagreens.org

G-30 through G-00 Registration (GPCA Treasurer): Each attendee provides Host committee with 10% (honor system) of weekly income for each day of planned attendance at the plenary to cover food, lodging (the benefit of attending 2 days) venue and plenary expenses.

G-10 Deadline (counties): Delegates and alternates send clarifying questions and blocking concerns to Presenter/Contact/Author of every proposal.

G-03 Deadline (WGs, Committees): Send amended meeting agenda and sponsored Proposals (Plenary Draft) for CC distribution to delegates, in accordance with bylaw 6-2.5.

G-01 Deadline (CC): Coordinating Committee prepares plenary site, technical tests for teleconference, email, chat room, video streaming, captioning, etc.

G-00 Decision (GA): Agenda triage through consent calendar process at beginning of General Assembly, in accordance with bylaws 5-3.4, 5-6.1 and 5-8.11 ; agenda items scheduled in order of number of votes received per item.

G-00 through G+01 Report (Minutes Taker): Ongoing Circulation and Correction of Draft Minutes 'decisions taken' (including full text of proposals passed), 'amendments accepted', 'votes cast/consensus reached', 'approval threshold', 'outstanding concerns', 'delegates present', 'counties present', 'regions present', 'quorum counts'

G+14 Report (WGs): Updating Working Group Membership

RESOURCES: Affords the GPCA 4 plenaries per year. Saves the CC, Agenda Team and Plenary Planning Committees a great deal of time. Assists in bylaw interpretation.