Minutes, GPCA General Assembly - Santa Barbara, June 21-22

Minutes approved by the GPCA Standing General Assembly, October 5, 2014
 
Saturday, June 21
 
  8:00am Breakfast, registration
 
  9:00am Opening, new delegate orientation, quorum count, announcement of Standing Committee vacancies
 
Eight regions present: Central Coast, East Bay,  Los Angeles, Monterey Bay, North Bay, Orange/San Bernardino/Riverside,  San Francisco, Silicon Valley
 
29 delegates present
 
  9:30am Agenda approval
 
- Proposal (Feinstein): Add Bylaws interpretation allowing SGA votes to start on June 26 instead of June 16
 
Agenda item added to agenda draft by consensus
 
- Proposal (Feinstein): Add Bylaws interpretation for extending date by which County Council roster be sent to CC to Monday, July 7 instead of Sunday, June 22

Agenda item added to agenda draft by consensus

 
- Proposal (Shantz): Move presentation from David Curtis into place scheduled for Laura Wells

Agenda item added to agenda draft by consensus

 
Agenda as amended approved by consensus
 

Presentation (part one): Update on Legal Cases against Proposition 14/SB6Update on AB2351 and overall efforts to amend the state elections code to address negative effects of Proposition 14 on the state's smaller, ballot qualified parties (Coordinating Committee)  - item also continued on Sunday afternoon for discussion 

Michael Rubin (Oakland) made presentation on Rubin v. Bowen
Mike Feinstein (Santa Monica) made presentation on GPCA amicus brief and AB2351
 

Presentation: Coordinating Committee female and male candidates for FY2014-2016 make statements

Marla Bernstein, Mike Feinstein, Maxine Daniel and Tim Laidman made presentations on behalf of their own candidacies.
 

Presentation: GPUS Delegation delegate and alternate candidates for FY2014-2016 make statements

Joe Fulga and Greg Jan made presentations on behalf of their own candidacies for delegates.
 

Proposal (Coordinating Committee): Bylaws interpretation: Allow SGA votes to start on June 26 instead of June 16

Proposal (Feinstein, with amendment from Koteen accepted to add "on a one time basis"): That the General Assembly approve the following bylaws amentment:

Whereas it is in the interest of the Green Party of California (GPCA) to have an informed Standing General Assembly; and
Whereas the candidate biographies weren't made available to the Standing General Assembly at any point during the discussion period which began on May 5th; and
Whereas the candidate biographies can be made availabe to the Standing General Assembly no later than Wednesdday, June 25;
Therefore the General Assembly finds that it is acceptable on a one time basis for the vote to start on June 26th instead of June 13th, and that the vote shall be conducted for the standard one week.
 
Approved by consensus

Proposal (Coordinating Committee): Bylaws interpretation: Extend date by which County Council roster be sent to Coordinating Committee to Monday, July 7 instead of Sunday, June 22

Proposal (Feinstein): That the General Assembly approve the following bylaws amentment:

Whereas SB1272, passed by the California state legislature and signed into law by Governor Brown changed state law so that county registrars only conduct County Council elections every four years - during presidential preference primary elections - rather than every two years during the primary elections, as has been the practice since the GPCA first qualified for the ballot; and

Whereas the June 2013 Napa General Assembly passed a budget for GPCA FY2013-2014 that budgeted $3,000 for the conduct of the 2014-2016 County Council elections, and empowered the Coordinating Committee to contract directly for support services; and

Whereas the Coordinating Committee found that the party did not have the volunteer infrastructure to simultaneously conduct County Council elections and gather the new larger number of signatures-in-lieus of a filing fee for its endorsed statewide candidates, and

Whereas without any further bylaws interpretations to provide for County Councils in 2014-2016, the GPCA will have no County Councils in place for 2014-2016 when the 2012-2014 term ends,

Therefore the GPCA finds that for the purposes of providing for County Councils in 2014-2016, the following GPCA members shall be considered County Council members at the beginning of the 2014-2016 term, as long as the Coordinating Committee sends notice of these conditions to the GPCA Inform List, and as long as a list of who qualifies via this criteria is sent to applications@cagreens.org by midnight, Monday, July 7:

1) All those GPCA members who were elected in the June 2012 County Council elections, and who have not either resigned their seat, or otherwise lost their seat as per the bylaws of the county Green Party to whose County Council they were elected, or as per the GPCA bylaws (as described in GPCA Bylaws 6-4 http://www.cagreens.org/bylaws/2013-06-23#Section_6-4_Vacancy); and

2) All those GPCA members who were appointed to a County Council according to the process described in their county Green Party's bylaws and still remain on that County Council (as described in GPCA Bylaws 6-3 http://www.cagreens.org/bylaws/2013-06-23#Section_6-3_Appointment_to_Vacancies); and

3) All those GPCA members who were appointed to a County Council in counties in which no County Council members were elected in the primary election, and still remain on that County Council (as described in GPCA Bylaws 6-6 http://www.cagreens.org/bylaws/2013-06-23#Section_6-6_Appointment_to_Vacancies_in_Counties_in_which_no_County_Council_members_were_elected_in_the_primary_election) ; and

The GPCA finds that despite there being no County Council elections for 2014-2016, that to be consistent with GPCA bylaws which state that County Council terms are for two years (as per GPCA bylaws 6-2.1 http://www.cagreens.org/bylaws/2013-06-23#Section_6-2_Elections), that the process described herein shall take the place of those County Council elections for 2014-2016, and that the members of each County Council in all GPCA counties shall be considered members of new County Councils for 2014-2016, and that the election of officers for each new County Council term as described in each county Green Party's bylaws shall apply.

 
Approved by consensus (with one stand aside - Shane Que Hee)
 
Stand aside concern: "It is redundant to say GPCA in last paragraph, at its first mention in the last paragraph"
 

11:00am Presentation/Discussion: Review of 2014 primary election campaign, featuring David Curtis and Ellen Brown  (Campaigns & Candidates Working Group)

Presentations made by Curtis (over Skype, followed by question and answer) and Brown in person, followed by question and answer.
 
See video of presentation by Curtis
 

Announcements 


12:00pm Lunch, Womens Caucus meeting during lunch 

 

 
1:15pm Quorum count
 
Eight regions present, with 29 delegates
LA, SF, OC/SB/R, Central Coast, North Bay, East Bay,  Silicon, Monterey
 

Proposal: Proposal: Budget FY2014-2015 - Draft budget in .xls and .pdf format  format; Income Narrative, Expense NarrativeAnnual Reports and Workplans of Standing Committees and Working Groups (Budget Committee), Proposal: Strategic Plan (Coordinating Committee)

Approved by consensus
 

  2:55pm Announcement of Standing Committee vacancies


  3:00pm Breakout sessions for committees and working groups (CCWG, Platform, Finance, GROW)


  4:30pm  Presentation/Discussion: Review of 2014 primary election campaign, featuring Luis Rodriguez   (Campaigns & Candidates Working Group)


  5:55pm Announcements


  6:00pm Dinner on your own (host committee providing recommendations), GPUS Delegation meeting during dinner


  7:30pm Evening Group Discussion Program with delegates and statewide candidates 


 

Sunday, June 22
 
  8:00am Breakfast, registration
 
  9:00am Breakout sessions for committees and working groups (CCWG, Green Issues, Media)
 
10:35pm Quorum count
 
Seven regions present: Central Coast, East Bay,  Los Angeles, Monterey Bay, North Bay, San Francisco, Silicon Valley
 
22 delegates present
 
 
GROW nominates David Gesinger
 
Approved by consensus
 

10:45am Proposal: Approval Next General Assembly Meeting Date and Place (Coordinating Committee)

 
No county presented a proposal.  The Coordinating Committee announced a deadline of September 21 for counties to submit proposals for a January 2015 General Assembly.
 

10:55am Proposal: Platform plank - Sexual Assault of Native Americans and Indigenous Alaskans (Platform Committee)

Proposal: Approve Sexual Assault of Native Americans and Indigenous Alaskans plank as amended

(text within [] represents changes on the floor from the Platform Committee from the version submitted in the agenda)

(changes within {} represent changes on the floor accepted by the Platform
 
 
In the face of outstanding concerns, the presenters chose to ask for a vote
 
Yes (10): 5, 6, 9, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 18, 20
No (9): 1, 3, 4, 7, 8, 17, 19, 21, 22
Abstain (3): 2, 10, 16
 
Proposal did not pass 10-9-3 (52.6%), requires 2/3
 
Proposal: Platform plank - TransPacific Partnership as amended (Platform Committee)
(text within [] represents changes on the floor from the Platform Committee from the version submitted in the agenda)
(changes within {} represent changes on the floor accepted by the Platform

http://www.cagreens.org/ga/2014-06/platform-amendment-tpp

 
In the face of outstanding concerns, the presenters chose to ask for a vote
 
Yes (5): 10, 11, 14, 18, 20
No (10): 1, 3, 4, 5, 7, 15, 16, 17, 19, 22
Abstain (7): 2, 6, 8, 9, 12, 13, 21
 
Proposal does not pass 5-10-7 (33%) requires 2/3
 

12:30pm Lunch, Optional caucus meetings 


  1:35pm Announcements, including announcement of Standing Committee vacancies,

Quorum Count

 
Seven regions present: Central Coast, East Bay,  Los Angeles, Monterey Bay, North Bay, San Francisco, Silicon Valley
 
22 delegates present
 
  1:40pm Presentation/Discussion (part two): Update on Legal Cases against Proposition 14/SB6Update on AB2351 and overall efforts to amend the state elections code to address negative effects of Proposition 14 on the state's smaller, ballot qualified parties (Coordinating Committee)  

Presentation by Attorney Guattam Dutta via cell phone, followed by question and answer, on GPCA amicus brief.

Presentation by Michael Rubin (Oakland)  on Rubin v. Bowen, followed by question and answer.
Presentation by Mike Feinstein (Santa Monica) on AB2351, followed by question and answer.
 

  2:45pm Breakout sessions for committees and working groups (Finance, Bylaws, ERWG, Clearinghouse)


  4:15pm Confirmation: Standing Committee and Working Group Co-Coordinators  (for any committees or working groups not confirmed in morning session)

IT nominated Ajay Rai 
 
Approved by consensus
 

  4:20pm Closing session