Decision Making Structure and Proposal Format
Adopted - February, 2003
Revised – August, 2015
The following guidelines are designed to standardize decision-making for the Caucus. The Secretary will be the default officer for managing all decision-making procedures of the Caucus. But when the Secretary is not available, when it would be inappropriate for the Secretary to manage a specific decision-making procedure, or at the request of a Caucus member, the Chair may from time to time manage the decision-making procedures of the Caucus.
Officers may extend the discussion or voting periods, depending on circumstances.
The author of a proposal may call for a volunteer officer or Caucus member for the purpose of assisting in vote tabulation.
The author of a proposal may request one of the following decision-making procedures with submission of a proposal to the Secretary or the Chair of the Caucus. If the author does not indicate a specific procedure, the Secretary or Chair may select a process she feels would be appropriate. If a procedure other than Standard is selected by the author or by an officer, any five Caucus members can request that the Standard Decision-making procedure to be used. A request to change the procedure must be made within 72 hours of the beginning of the Standard discussion period, 48 hours within the beginning of the Accelerated discussion period, and 24 hours of the beginning of the Rapid discussion period.
All proposals are submitted to the membership-required, moderated lavender-info email list for the start of the discussion period and again for the start of the voting period. Proposal will include a link to the Caucus lavender-discussion email list for members not subscribed. Voting period announcement will include instructions for sending ballots to tabulators.
Standard Decision-making Procedure
1. Proposal is submitted to the Secretary (primary) or Chair (secondary) with a request to begin 14-day discussion period. The discussion period will end at 12:00 Midnight, Pacific Time on the 14th day of the discussion period.
2. Proposal is presented to Caucus in standardized format listing date submitted, author, and close-date for discussion period.
3. At the close of the discussion period a final draft of the proposal will be presented to the Secretary or Chair who will then present the final proposal to the Caucus for action. The proposal will be presented in a standardized format listing date submitted, final draft date, author, action requested, and action close date.
4. The time period for action on a proposal by the Caucus will be seven days, voting will end at 12:00 Midnight, Pacific Time on the seventh day. The Secretary or Chair shall be responsible for collecting and counting the votes of the Caucus and presenting the results of the action. No action will be considered ratified without the certification of the Secretary or Chair.
Accelerated Decision-making Procedure (time-sensitive decisions)
1. Proposal is submitted to the Secretary or Chair with a request to begin seven-day discussion period. The discussion period will end at 12:00 Midnight, Pacific Time on the seventh day of the discussion period.
2. Proposal is presented to Caucus in standardized format listing date submitted, author, and close date for discussion period.
3. The author of the proposal will be responsible for managing the redrafting of the proposal in response to Caucus discussion and input.
4. At the close of the discussion period a final draft of the proposal will be presented to the Secretary or Chair who will then present the final proposal to the Caucus for action. The proposal will be presented in a standardized format listing date submitted, final draft date, author, action requested, and action close date.
5. The time period for action on a proposal by the Caucus will be seven days, voting will end at 12:00 Midnight, Pacific Time on the seventh day. The Secretary or Chair shall be responsible for collecting and counting the votes of the Caucus and presenting the results of the action. No action will be considered ratified without the certification of the Secretary or Chair.
Rapid Decision-making Procedure (emergency decisions)
1. Proposal is submitted to the Secretary or Chair with a request to begin three-day discussion period. The discussion period will end at 12:00 Midnight, Pacific Time on the third day of the discussion period.
2. Proposal is presented to Caucus in standardized format listing date submitted, author, and close date for discussion period.
3. In general, proposals that would require redrafting would not be submitted under the Rapid Decision-making procedure. At most general tweaking of a proposal would be done under this decision-making heading. Any revisions are to be managed by the proposal author.
4. At the close of the discussion period a final draft of the proposal will be presented to the Secretary or Chair who will then present the final proposal to the Caucus for action. The proposal will be presented in a standardized format listing date submitted, final draft date, author, action requested, and action close date.
5. The time period for action on a proposal by the Caucus will be three days.
Voting will end 24 hours after submission to the Caucus for action. The Secretary or Chair shall be responsible for collecting and counting the votes of the Caucus and presenting the results of the action by 12:00 Midnight, Pacific Time of the day following the close of the action period. No action will be considered ratified without the certification of the Secretary or Chair.
The following format shall be constructed as a cover sheet for all votes, proposed statements, policy decisions, and by-law amendments.
National Lavender Green Caucus
Green Party of the United States
Action Proposal
Proposal Title:
Author:
Floor manager: (name and email address)
Action Requested: (Discussion or vote)
Date Submitted:
Action Close:
Certified By:
Voting members: