ASCE - American Society of Civil Engineers

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REVISION OF THE CONSTITUTION
SUMMARY OF SUBSTANTIAL CHANGES

On April 18th the proposed revision of the Constitution was distributed to the membership for a vote.  This Summary of Substantial Changes has been prepared to assist you with your review.  The proposed Constitution is also available in “track change” mode for review (see below to access the document).  Please note that due to Article re-numbering, section formatting, and content changes, the Constitution was essentially rewritten.  Therefore, it is referred to as a “revision” as opposed to amended.

The substantial changes are:

Preamble
• Added as requested by the Committee on Geographic Units (CGU)

Proposed Article 2
• Defines Assigned Members who meet dues requirements as having the rights and privileges as set forth in the Section Constitution and Section Bylaws.  This definition replaces the term “Subscribing Member”.  Therefore, only the Assigned Member term is used with the criteria for “rights” defined.
• Defines voting and non-voting member grades consistent with the Society
• Addition of “Institute-only Members” as required by the CGU.

Proposed Article 4
• Defines the Section Board Officers including two Vice Presidents, which is consistent with the current number of Vice Presidents serving (current Constitution states “. . . as established in the Bylaws”).  Note: Officers are listed in the Constitution and are not in the Bylaws to avoid any potential inconsistencies between documents.  The Constitution requires a vote of the membership to be amended (Note: Bylaws amendments are voted on by the Board after a 30 days notice is given to the membership).
• Inclusion on the Board of Directors of the Region 9 Governor (formally Delegate to the California Society of Civil Engineers, District 13) and the Life Member Forum representative.

Proposed Article 7
• Inclusion of legal language required by the CGU.
• The addition and definition of the term “Forward to a member” which allows e-mail distribution of information related to Section business.

Proposed Article 8
• Clarification of the procedure to amend the Constitution including reviews and final approval by the Committee on Geographic Units (formally ASCE National Council of Vice Presidents).

I hope this information is helpful.  Please vote.

Jay Higgins
Secretary, Los Angeles Section

Click here to access the Proposed Constitution in “track change” mode

REVISION OF THE BYLAWS
SUMMARY OF SUBSTANTIAL CHANGES

On April 18th the proposed revision of the Bylaws was distributed to the membership for review.  The Board will vote on the proposed revision at the June 4, 2008 Board Meeting to be held from 7:30 am to noon in Room 102 at the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California, 700 North Alameda Street, Los Angeles, California 90012.  Your attendance and input is encouraged.  The Bylaws vote will be the first agenda item under “Board Action Items”.

This Summary of Substantial Changes has been prepared to assist you with your review.  Please note that due to Article re-numbering, section formatting, and content changes, the Bylaws were essentially rewritten.  Therefore, they are referred to as a “revision” as opposed to amended.  The proposed Bylaws is also available in “track change” mode for review, see below (however this document is very difficult to follow due the Article re-formatting changes)

The substantial changes are:

General changes
• Bylaws Article numbers are “parallel” to the Constitution
• Assigned Member is only defined in the Constitution.  Society member grades/classifications are used throughout the Bylaws.  Previous membership definitions which do not appear in the body of the Bylaws were eliminated.
• Use of the term “Society” throughout instead of the previous “ASCE National”

Preamble
• Added as requested by the Committee on Geographic Units (CGU)

Proposed Article 1
• Adds use of name and mark as required by CGU

Proposed Article 2
• States that Membership grades and Section voting classifications are set forth in the Constitution.

Proposed Article 3 - Dues
• Allows Section Board to determine dues each year by June 14th..  Current Bylaws have stated amount which requires an amendment to the Bylaws each year the amount is changed.

Proposed Article 4
• Officers are not listed in Bylaws; refers to Officers list in Constitution.  Members of the Board of Directors also listed only in the Constitution.
• The President and President-Elect shall be a Registered Professional Engineer; however the Section Board may waive this requirement on a case by case basis.
• Secretary, Treasurer and Vice Presidents may serve two consecutive terms; current Bylaws only allow one term.
• Nominating Committee is appointed by the Section Board (consistent with Robert’s rules of Order) and the President-Elect is ex officio a member of the committee; currently President appoints Nominating Committee members as outlined in the Policies and Procedures Manual
• Extends election process by one month over previous time frames to allow for more time to publish information in the newsletter and conduct the election.
• Allows electronic balloting for voting members with e-mail addresses; voting members without e-mail receive mailed ballot

Current Article V – Board of Directors is covered under proposed Constitution, Article 4 - Officers and Governing Bodies

Proposed Article 5 - Management

• Adds parliamentary authority (current edition of Robert’s Rules of Order Newly revised) in this Article to cover all situations not covered by the in Constitution or Bylaws; currently Robert’s Rules of Order in Article IV Meetings
• Adds clarification of the procedure for the creation of Subsidiary Organizations including the addition of Institute Chapters
• Adds President as ex officio a member of all committees except the Nominating Committee (as recommended in Robert’s Rules of Order)
• Adds Policy and Procedure Manual requirements under this proposed Article; precious under Article VIII; requirements remain the same.
• Adds section for Region 9 Board of Governors Nominee ; procedure is as established by Region 9 Board

Proposed Article 6 - Meetings
• Makes clear distinction between Board, Section, and Special Section meetings.
• A majority of the Board constitutes a quorum; current Bylaws state a fixed number of 8.
• Allows non-officer Section Board Member to designate a representative to act on behalf of the Board Member.

Proposed Article 8 Amendments
• Clarifies initiation of Board action amendment and amendment by petition
• Clarifies the amendment approval process including CGU reviews and final approval
• Society give final approval (updated from ASCE National Committee on Sections and District Councils, which no longer exists)

I hope this information is helpful.  The Board looks forward to your input at the upcoming June 4th Board meeting.

Jay Higgins
Secretary, Los Angeles Section

Click here to access the Proposed Bylaws in “track change” mode