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Unofficial information about...

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

• Who am I?

• What is Program Planning? How does it work?

• Link to the LWVUS page on Program Planning for Convention June 11-14, 2010 in Atlanta
  Convention 2008 materials are online in the Member Section of the LWVUS webpage

• PROGRAM IDEAS
  A list of Leaguers looking for others to work on a program idea. If you want to find others interested in your proposal please send me your name, the name of your local League, and what you are considering proposing for consideration during program planning. With luck, others will join you to work on your idea.

• PROPOSALS
  I will post Program proposals here after a League Board has decided that it will propose the idea to other Leagues for consideration during their Program Planning meetings this winter. Please have the League President contact me with the proposed Program item.
  • NEW STUDIES, REVIEWS AND DROPS
    • Department of Peace
    • Education Study

  • AMENDMENTS TO LEAGUE PRINCIPLES

• PROPOSED AMENDMENTS TO THE BYLAWS
  • [delete the word "honorary" in (3), the life member sentence]
    Article III, Sec. 2 Types of Membership
    A. Voting Members. Citizens at least 18 years of age who join the League shall be voting members of Local Leagues, state Leagues and of the LWVUS; (1) individuals who live within an area of a local League may join that League or any other local League; (2) those who reside outside the area of any local League may join a local League or shall be state members-at-large; (3) those who have been members of the League for 50 years or more shall be honorary life members excused from the payment of dues.

    B. Associate Members. All others who join the League shall be associate members.

    Rationale: The word honorary is usually conferred on someone of distinction who does not have the prerequisites for the position for which he or she is being recognized. An example would be a prominent person who is given an honorary degree at a college, which she or he didn't attend and didn't earn. The amendment to remove the word honorary was first suggested by two fifty plus years League members who think that being labeled honorary is demeaning and belittles their League accomplishments. Fifty year members of the League may be active, serve on boards, chair committees or be passive members, essentially, no different than other League members. Many League members will never be able to achieve fifty year status, but their devotion to the League may equal that of a fifty year member. Removing the word honorary will not alter the bylaws in anyway except to be more respectful of those who have been members for fifty years or more.
    LWV of Missouri and LWV of St. Louis; Sydell Shayer - slsXay@sbcglobal.net [replace the X with h]

• THE BUDGET
  Don't forget the Budget because your proposal will need some amount of funding. It appears that the one year NPV study with online materials was about 10% of the cost of the old-style studies. More exact cost information will be posted when available.

  I don't see the 2009-10 budget on the LWVUS webpage, but the 2008-9 proposed budget is on the 2008 convention page

What is Program Planning? How does it work?

At convention delegates may vote to:

• retain - current Positions will be retained only if the delegates at convention vote to retain them.
• drop - obviously, dropping a Position is a drastic step and the proponents should be prepared to mount an extensive education campaign prior to convention.
• change - the details of a current Position
  • by a restudy or,
  • by a concurrence at convention
• adopt a new study
  • and attempt to acquire a new Position through member consensus
  • or attempt to acquire a new Position through concurrence
  • or concur with another League's Position at convention
• amend the League Principles (League Principles can be found in In League, p. 54.)

Program Process

These recommended and non-recommended program proposals come from local Leagues (LLs). LL program planning report forms are reviewed by LWVUS and the national Board then recommends one or more of the proposals for adoption at convention. "Recommendation" means that the proposal will automatically be on the agenda for consideration at convention. Not-recommended items must first survive a "vote to consider" at convention before they go on the agenda. This is a difference worth noting. If you want your proposal to go to convention as a recommended item you must have considerable support from other Leagues. It is usually the proposal with the most support that becomes the recommended proposal. The Convention Workbook contains the national Board's recommended program proposals and a list of the submitted, but not recommended proposals. Only the submitted proposals on that list may be voted "for consideration" at convention. No last minute proposals can be voted on. So plan ahead.

See the 2008 Convention Workbook for details on the Program adoption process.

Please contact me if you have a topic for a Program proposal that you would like me to add to this page.

Please do not link to this page without permission
Permission granted to League members to reprint for League purposes with attribution so long as you clearly state that the material is unofficial.

Barbara Wardenburg - barbXard@pacbell.net [replace X with w]
a member of the League of Women Voters of Los Altos/Mtn. View Area, CA
22 Aug 2009, revised 17 Jan 2010