Lavender Greens Caucus

National Lavender Greens Caucus

Bylaws of the Lavender Green Caucus of the Green Party of the United States

I. NAME

The name of this Caucus is the National Lavender Green Caucus of the Green Party of the United States hereinafter Caucus.

II. PURPOSE

The purpose of the Caucus is:

To promote the Four Pillars and the Ten Key Values of the Green Party.
To promote issues of interest to Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer, Intersex, Asexual (LGBTQIA+) Greens.
To facilitate communication and coordination amongst LGBTQIA+ individuals and Caucuses (or equivalent) within state Green Party organizations.
To elect Delegates and Alternate Delegates to the National Committee of the Green Party of the United States as specified in GPUS Bylaws.
To elect two delegates and two alternate delegates to the Presidential Nominating Convention of the Green Party of the United States.

The Caucus may adopt a mission statement and operating rules that further define its purpose.

III. MEMBERSHIP

Members of the Lavender Greens shall be defined as Green Party members who identify as LGBTQIA+.

Members shall have full voting rights as of Midnight PST on the 15th calendar day after joining (time period initiated upon addition of their name to the lavender-info email list or equivalent if no access to email is available as recorded by the Secretary), and shall be able to run for any office of the Caucus other than Co-Chair, Secretary, Delegate and Alternate Delegate to the NC, or Delegate and Alternate Delegate to the Presidential Nominating Convention.
One full calendar year after becoming a member, members shall be able to run for the following positions of significance and trust: Co-Chair, Media Spokesperson, Secretary, and Delegate and Alternate Delegate to the National Committee and Delegate and Alternate Delegate to the Presidential Nominating Convention.

IV. OFFICERS

The Caucus shall elect two Co-Chairs, two Delegates (and Alternate Delegates as specified in GPUS Bylaws) to the National Committee, two Media Spokespeople, a Secretary, and a Treasurer to serve as officers of the Caucus. In addition, Representatives to all national committees (such as the Platform Committee) to which the Caucus is eligible to make appointments as specified by the Bylaws of the Green Party of the United States shall be appointed by election at the same time.

TERM OF OFFICE
1. All Caucus officers and representatives to national committees shall serve two year terms ending April 15th.
2. Elections are to be held annually, and terms of office are to be staggered whenever possible so as to have at least one but not all multi-seat offices and committee appointments up for election in alternating years.
3. Co-Chairs are to be elected in alternate years, unless both positions become simultaneously vacant due to resignations or incapacity to serve, in which case the elected Co-Chairs shall decide between them who will serve the shorter term. If they cannot come to an agreement then whoever received the lowest number of votes shall serve the shorter term. Ties shall be decided by the flip of a coin, conducted by the Secretary in view of both Co-Chairs.
DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES
1. The Co-Chairs shall be responsible for coordinating the day to day affairs of the Caucus and shall be the primary points of contact with the leadership of the party at a state and national level.
2. The Media Spokespeople shall be responsible for representing the Caucus to the media.
3. The Secretary shall be responsible for managing all documentation and records of the Caucus, including official meeting minutes, membership records, the list of current officeholders and committee members as reflected on the Caucus web site, and shall be responsible for notifying the appropriate individuals within the national party of any new appointments or removals, as well as being the primary administrator of Caucus elections.
4. The Treasurer shall be responsible for the fiscal management and disbursement of the Caucus funds, administer any tools used to raise funds on behalf of the Caucus, and fulfill any financial reporting or filing requirements imposed by the national party or governmental entities.
5. Delegates to the National Committee shall be responsible for representing the interests, ideas and needs of the Caucus, and shall report back to the Caucus on matters of interest to the membership.
  1. Delegates are encouraged to informally consult the other officers of the Caucus and the membership as a whole on voting matters, but are solely responsible for casting their own votes.
6. The Alternate Delegates shall be responsible for assisting the Delegates in their duties and to serve in a Delegate's place when the Delegate is unable to perform their duties.
  1. In cases of Incapacity, Death, Resignation, or other long term inability for a Delegate to perform their Duties, the Alternate Delegates shall assume the position of Delegate and serve the remainder of the elected term, and that office shall be considered vacant for the purposes of Chapter IV, Section E.
REQUIREMENT TO REPORT TO THE MEMBERSHIP
1. The Co-Chairs, Secretary, Treasurer, Media Spokespeople, Delegates and Alternate Delegates to the National Committee, other Officers, and Committee Representatives are required to make reports to the Caucus at each meeting.
  1. Failure to do so for a period of three consecutive calendar months during which a meeting has been held shall result in automatic removal from office. The position shall either be left vacant until the next scheduled election, or a special election shall be held to replace them at the discretion of the Co-Chairs and Secretary.
  2. Reports may be verbal, written, or by proxy (such as via a fellow committee member who states they are reporting on behalf of one or more other members) and may be delivered to the Secretary or a Co-Chair outside of a meeting (who shall then be responsible for delivering them at the next meeting), by posting to the "Coordinators" email list (or equivalent forum) prior to the start of a meeting, or in the course of a meeting.
  3. The Secretary shall record a report as having been provided (or not) in the minutes of each meeting. Members are responsible for reviewing the minutes of each meeting and ensuring that their reports have been duly included and acknowledged.
  4. If a dispute arises over whether or not a report has been made in the first or second calendar month, the report shall be recorded in the following calendar month's minutes as having been made in the current calendar month.
  5. If a dispute arises over whether a report has been made in the third calendar month after two consecutive calendar months in which no report has been recorded, it must be raised within the first seven calendar days of the next month; the Co-Chairs and Secretary shall then be required to make a unanimous determination that no report was provided in order for the member to be removed from office.
2. Committee representatives shall forward to the membership of the Caucus any annual reports prepared by their committees for submission to the National Committee as required by Section 3-6.2 of the GPUS Bylaws, or an account thereof if such reports are not made in written form. If no representative has been appointed to a committee, it shall be the responsibility of the NC Delegates to forward any written reports or an account thereof if delivered otherwise.
FURTHER DEFINITION OF DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES
1. The duties and responsibilities of these positions may be further defined in Operating Rules adopted by the Caucus. The Caucus may also appoint such other officers as is needed, and must define the duties and term of office for their positions upon their establishment via the establishment of an Operating Rule or Bylaw Amendment.
ELECTION RULES
1. Elections shall be conducted using either Instant Runoff Voting (using San Francisco RCV) or Single Transferable Vote (using Scottish STV), depending on the number of candidates for the positions.
2. The mechanism for holding an election shall be determined by the Secretary in consultation with the Co-Chairs, and may be done in the form of email ballots or online voting software compliant with the requirements of section (a) above, and shall preserve anonymity where feasible while also ensuring one member, one vote. Members unable to participate otherwise may notify the Secretary prior to the start of an election and be provided with an alternate means of casting their vote (such as voting by mail or directly contacting the Secretary).
3. Voting shall be conducted as specified in the "Proposal Format" document.
4. The option of voting "None Of The Above" shall be available for all elections.
5. Write-in votes shall not be permitted or counted unless specifically authorized by the Secretary and Co-Chairs prior to the start of an election.
VACANCIES LEADING TO SPECIAL ELECTIONS, AND TEMPORARY APPOINTMENTS:
1. A special election shall take place upon any vacancy of the following offices within 45 days: Co-Chair, Secretary, and Treasurer.
2. The Co-Chairs may make temporary appointments to the positions of Media Spokespeople, Alternate Delegate to the National Committee, Treasurer and Secretary should they become vacant.
  1. Individuals thus appointed shall serve until a replacement is elected, and are eligible to run for the office they are appointed to.
3. In the event the Secretary is unable to perform their duties at a meeting, the Co-Chairs shall appoint another attendee to record the minutes.
4. Should the Alternate Delegate be unable to assume the responsibilities of a Delegate to the National Committee unable to perform their duties as per Section B., f., i., or if more than one Delegate is unable to perform their duties, the Co-Chairs may unanimously make a temporary appointment to the unfilled Delegate position(s).
  1. Individuals thus appointed shall serve until a replacement is elected, and are eligible to run for the office they are appointed to.
RECALL OF OFFICERS:
1. The following officers are subject to recall by a two-thirds vote of the membership as a whole upon submission of a formal proposal as outlined in Chapter V, Section B: Co-Chair, Media Spokesperson, Delegate to the National Committee (and Alternate), Secretary and Treasurer.
2. No Officer may be subject to recall more than once in a 180 day period, or twice during the term of their office.
3. In order to preserve continuity of leadership and good order in Caucus affairs:
  1. No proposal may include the recall of more than a single Officer.
  2. No more than one recall proposal may be considered at a time.
  3. No additional petitions to recall a Co-Chair may be considered until a special election has been held to appoint a replacement for the office in question.
  4. No Co-Chair elected to replace a recalled Officer may be subject to recall for at least 90 days after being elected.
4. Recalled Officers are immediately removed from office, thus vacating the position and triggering a special election as described in Section E above, and are not eligible to participate in a subsequent special election to replace them, or to be appointed to any position or stand for office in any Caucus election for at least 180 days.
RECALL OF OTHER ELECTED OFFICERS AND COMMITTEE REPRESENTATIVES:
1. All officers not specified in Section F may be subject to recall by a two-thirds vote of the members in attendance at a meeting satisfying the requirements of Chapter VI, Section C.
  1. Officers recalled thusly are eligible to run in a special election to fill the vacancy thus created, or any other office, but are not eligible for temporary appointment to office as specified in Chapter IV, Section E, paragraphs (b) and (d).

V. DECISION MAKING, PRESENTATION OF PROPOSALS TO THE MEMBERSHIP, AND STRIVING FOR CONSENSUS

Decisions of significance, such as the passage of Bylaws, Operating Rules, Policy Statements are generally to be made by the membership as a whole.

The membership as a whole shall make decisions either via consensus (the preferred mechanism) as described in the Caucus document entitled "Consensus" or via a formal vote as described in the Caucus document entitled "Proposal Format".
1. All decisions made otherwise (such as in meetings) are subject to being overridden or modified via a formal proposal using one of these mechanisms.
Formal proposals may be presented to the membership as a whole when any of the following conditions are satisfied:
1. Co-signed by a minimum of two of the following six officers: the two Co-Chairs, the Secretary, the Treasurer, and the two Delegates to the National Committee.
2. Co-signed by 20 or more members of the Caucus who have been members for at least 15 calendar days, and presented to the Secretary of the Caucus or a Co-Chair for distribution to the membership.
3. A majority vote of the members attending a meeting quorum as described in Chapter VI, Section C.
The Caucus shall strive for consensus in decision-making.
1. If consensus is not possible, a simple majority of the members casting a vote shall pass general decisions and Operating Rules.
2. Bylaws and policy statements must pass by a two-thirds majority of those voting.
3. Quorum for decisions not made by consensus shall be met via votes being recorded by members from at least five separate states.
  1. The Secretary shall verify that quorum has been met at the conclusion of any online vote.
  2. The Secretary (or stand-in) shall verify that quorum has been met prior to conducting any in-person vote, whether a meeting is conducted on or offline.
  3. A proposal shall be deemed to have failed if this standard is not met.

VI. MEETINGS

The Caucus shall regularly hold meetings at which members elected to office report on their activities, and issues of pertinence to the affairs of the Caucus and its membership are discussed.

The Co-Chairs of the Caucus shall strive to hold at least one meeting each calendar month at a consistently scheduled date and time unless doing so is unanimously determined to be infeasible by the Co-Chairs and Secretary.
1. A decision to not hold a monthly meeting, and the reason for not doing so, shall be communicated to the membership as a whole via a posting to the "lavender-info" email list or designated equivalent tool for communicating to the membership as a whole as soon as is feasible, but not less than 72 hours prior to the scheduled date and time of the meeting.
Meetings may be held in person, by video or telephone conference call, or by whatever other means that allows for the full participation of Caucus members to make decisions.
For the purposes of decision making in meetings, a quorum shall consist of members from at least five separate states and include at least two of the elected officers eligible to call for an unscheduled meeting as specified in section E of this Chapter below.
Minutes of each meeting shall be kept by the Secretary or designated alternate, and shall include a report of the total count of members and the balance of funds available to the Caucus when the Secretary or Treasurer or an alternate officer is available to do so.
1. Draft minutes shall be distributed to the membership as a whole via a posting to the "lavender-info" email list or designated equivalent tool for communicating to the membership as a whole as soon as is feasible subsequent to each meeting.

VII. COMMITTEES AND WORKING GROUPS

The Caucus may establish such committees, working groups and other entities as are necessary to do its work via a meeting or a proposal to the membership as a whole. Upon establishment of these committees, working groups, and entities, the Caucus shall define their membership, purpose and length of service. This information may further be defined in any Operating Rules the Caucus may adopt.

VIII. OPERATING RULES

The Caucus may adopt such Operating Rules as is necessary to regulate its business. No Operating Rule may be adopted that counteracts any aspect of these Bylaws. In cases of ambiguity or lack of clarity the Caucus may look to the Bylaws of the Green Party of the United States for direction.

IX. INITIAL ADOPTION OF BYLAWS

These bylaws shall be adopted when affirmative votes equivalent to 2/3 of the full membership of the Caucus as of July 8, 2002 are collected. Voting may occur via email, online voting, phone conference, or physical meeting. Each caucus member shall have 1 vote which may only be cast once. If these bylaws are not adopted by October 1, 2002, they shall be deemed unadopted and voting shall cease.

Bylaws amendment #1: Election of Co-Chairs

The Caucus shall elect two Co-Chairs, Secretary, and Treasurer to serve as officers of the Caucus for two-year terms ending the 15th day of April. Every effort shall be made to encourage and recruit candidates for Co-Chairs that reflect the diverse constituencies of the membership and sexual characteristics of the Caucus.

Bylaws amendment #2: Staggered terms for Co-Chairs

To establish staggered terms for the Co-Chairs, the persons elected to the positions shall decide between them who will serve a one year team. If this provision is not agreed to by the candidates, whoever receives the highest number of votes shall serve the 2 year term. This provision will continue to apply only in the event that both Co-chair positions need to be filled, due to resignations or incapacity to serve.

The above amendments to our Bylaws instituting the election of Co-Chairs were passed on April 15, 2008

Bylaws amendment #3: Update and Revisions

Updated number of Delegates. Revised constituent language. Clarified membership eligibility, and voting eligibility. Specified Pacific Time. Removed reference to sending ballots. Added reporting requirement with involuntary resignation.

The above amendments were passed on December 17, 2018

Bylaws amendment #4: Update, Enhancement and Revisions

Major update. Below is a summary of the most significant changes.

II. Section E specifying PNC delegates (added)

III. Section B specifying that members have a year of tenure prior to running for major offices (added)

IV. Intro: specified that we have two Alt. Del. to NC

IV. Section B added additional details about officer responsibilities

IV. Section C added more specifics about reporting requirements and process for removal from a position for failure to report

IV. Section E added more detail about specific procedures for counting votes

IV. Section F added temporary appointment authority for co-chairs for various offices

IV. New Sections G & H added process for recall of major officers and other elected representatives

V. Consolidated existing text into section IV. Replacement text consolidates and specifies details regarding proposal / decision making process

VI. Expanded on process for holding meetings

VII. Existing text consolidated into IV, Section C. Moved the first paragraph of IV in existing bylaws to separate section

The above amendments were passed on October 18th, 2021

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