Green Party of Los Angeles County

Agenda for the June 22, 2008 Meeting of the County Council

Sunday, 2008-06-22, 3:00-6:00 P.M.

Home of Ceil Sorensen

11056 White Oak Ave

Granada Hills, CA 91344

Directions: http://maps.google.com.



Facilitator: Ellen Maisen.



This meeting will be videotaped to record the truth.

  1. Introduction and Roll Call. Facilitator. 3 minutes.

  2. Ten Key Values Presentation and Discussion. Dorothy Kemeny. 10 minutes.


  1. Agenda Approval and /or Amendment. Facilitator. 10 minutes.


  1. Minutes review and approval. Donna Warren. 5 minutes.


  1. Treasurer's Report. Donna Warren. 2 minutes.


  1. Committee Reports. Ceil Sorensen. 0 minutes. Postponed until July.


  1. Regional Reps Reports on Coordinating Committee Activities. Regional Reps. 5 minutes.


  1. Choose future meeting dates and places. 10 minutes.


Old Business:



Agenda Item 9. Only item f. is new. John Wenger. 5 minutes.


Article 9.4.2 Voting Thresholds.


Votes that require 2/3 for approval are


a. Bylaws changes;

b. Candidate endorsements;

c. Censure resolutions;

d. Certain Co-Coordinator appointments (as specified in Article 6);

e. Adding a new item to a County Council agenda at the meeting;

f. Removing a County Council Member for violating the Council or State Bylaws.


Votes that require 3/5 for approval are modifying the time and/or order of the agenda at the meeting, and recognizing Active Green Locals. For other decisions, a simple majority is required.



Agenda Item 10. Bylaws Amendment --- Section 8.6 - Voting for Nominees to Fill Vacant Council Seats. John Wenger. 5 minutes.


OLD Wording.


8.6 Voting upon Nominees


The County Council will vote upon each vacancy separately using Instant Run-Off Voting. County Council members may cast votes for qualified nominees, and may exercise the 'No Other Candidate' (NOC) option. In the event of a tie, a new election may be held.


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NEW Wording.


8.6 Voting for Nominees to Fill Vacant Council Seats During the Term of the Council, i.e., After the Primary Election.


The County Council shall vote upon each vacancy separately using a two-stage voting procedure. First, for each vacancy, the Council shall vote whether or not to approve the nomination of each candidate using Approval Voting, with a two-thirds approval threshold. Next, if there is more than one candidate for the vacancy, the County Council shall vote to fill each vacancy using STV-IRV, often called Instant Run-Off Voting, see Section 9.4.1.2 on Voting Methods for more details on voting. In the event of a tie, a new election may be held.


The Council shall strive to fill vacant seats of the unrepresented State Senate districts before filling the traditionally well represented districts along the coast.



Agenda Item 11. Bylaws Amendments -- 9.4.1.2 Voting Amendments and 9.4.1.3 Public Ballots. John Wenger. 10 minutes.


Motivation. These amendments factor the common methods out of Articles 11 and 12 and 8, thus simplifying the bylaws. They also add more explanatory material for those new to the subject of voting methods.


9.4.1.2 Voting Methods.


For all elections, unless otherwise specified by a particular bylaw (such as, for example, the approval voting for nominations for filling vacant seats within council terms), the Council shall use the Single Transferable Vote method, using fractional vote transfers, using the Droop threshold, and including the No Other Candidate (NOC) option, as referenced in the GPCA Bylaws (Sections 4 and 7). This method is sometimes called “Choice Voting”, but is more descriptively called “Ranked Preference Voting”, or simply “Preference Voting”. Cf. GPCA Bylaws Sections 4 and 7 for more details.


Add URL for the GPCA bylaws here.


In addition to the nominated candidates, the ballot shall also include a "No Other Candidate" (NOC) option, which is used to indicate that the voter finds the rest of the candidates unacceptable.


The Droop threshold is the minimum fraction of the votes cast that must be obtained, and is defined as 1/(n+1), where n is the number of seats being voted for. For all elections, no candidate shall be seated who does not cross the threshold before NOC does. In this context, “cross” means “exceed”.


The Council Members shall vote by ranking the candidates along with the NOC option in order of preference, from first preference through NOC.


For single seat elections, STV is often called Instant Runoff Voting, or simply IRV. For multiple seat elections, the STV method provides for Proportional Representation, so the method is then called Single Transferable Vote – Proportional Representation (STV-PR).


For single seat elections, the Council shall vote using STV-IRV, and n=1, so the Droop Threshold is 1/(1+1) = ½ of the total votes cast.


For multiple seat elections, the Council shall use the Single Transferable Vote – Proportional Representation (STV-PR) method, . The Droop threshold is 1/(n+1), where n is the number of seats being voted for.


Thus, for a three-seat election, n=3, and the Droop Threshold is 1/(3 + 1) = ¼ of the total votes cast. For example, if twelve votes were cast, then the Droop threshold would be ¼ of twelve, or three votes, and each candidate must exceed three votes to become seated, i.e., must receive at least four votes to become seated.


And, for a twenty seat election, n=20, so the Droop Threshold is 1/(20+1) = 1/21 of the total votes cast.


For multiple seat elections, the Council shall elect candidates using only one STV-PR election per set of seats; the reason for this is that multiple elections for the candidates would decrease the Proportional Representation of the candidates elected.


For all elections, Council Members are encouraged to consider issues of diversity, and representation of viewpoints, while ranking their choices.


9.4.1.3 County Council Members shall vote with public ballots.



Agenda Item 12. Bylaws Amendment - Article 11 -- Election of Delegates to the General Assembly. John Wenger. 10 minutes.


ARTICLE 11 DELEGATES TO GPCA GENERAL ASSEMBLIES


OLD:

Section 11.4 Appointment of Delegates


  1. The County Council shall select delegates by the Choice Voting, Single Transferable Vote (STV) form of proportional representation, using the Droop threshold, and including the No Other Candidate option, as referenced in the GPCA Bylaws (Section 7). County Council members shall vote by secret paper ballot and shall take into consideration issues of diversity and representation when ranking their choices.



11.4.2 If not all delegate seats are filled, additional delegates may be added later at General Assembly itself, upon a 3/5 vote of the delegates present.


11.4.3 The Co-Coordinators shall be responsible for notifying the GPCA of the names of the GPLAC's delegates, and for doing so according to the deadlines set by the GPCA.


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NEW: Section 11.4 Election of Delegates by Single Transferable Vote – Proportional Representation


11.4.1 The County Council shall elect delegates by the Single Transferable Vote – Proportional Representation (STV-PR) method of voting, using the Droop threshold, and including the No Other Candidate (NOC) option. See Section 9.4.1.2 for more details.


As per Section 9.4.1.3, Council Members shall vote by public ballots. Paper ballots are permissible.


Council Members are encouraged to consider issues of diversity, and representation of viewpoints, while ranking their choices.


The County Council shall elect delegates to General Assemblies using only one STV-PR election per General Assembly; the reason for this is that multiple elections for the delegates would decrease the Proportional Representation of the delegates elected.



OLD:

11.4.2 If not all delegate seats are filled, additional delegates may be added later at General Assembly itself, upon with a 3/5 vote of the delegates present.


NEW: 11.4.2 If not all of the GPCA allocated delegate seats are filled, the Council Delegates may add additional delegates later at the General Assembly with a 3/5 vote of the Council's delegates registered that day.



OLD:

11.4.3 The Co-Coordinators shall be responsible for notifying the GPCA of the names of the GPLAC's delegates, and for doing so according to the deadlines set by the GPCA.


NEW: 11.4.3 The Council Spokespersons shall be responsible for notifying the GPCA of the names of the GPLAC's delegates, and for doing so according to the deadlines set by the GPCA.


Note: The Spokespersons are described in section 6.5.


Agenda Item 13. Bylaws Amendment - Article 12 - REPRESENTATION ON THE GPCA COORDINATING COMMITTEE.


These amendments change our procedure to use proportional representation to select our regional reps, which is the Greenist way to do things. John Wenger. 15 minutes.



ARTICLE 12 REPRESENTATION ON THE GPCA COORDINATING COMMITEE


12.1 Number of Representatives.


OLD: The number of representatives is established by the GPCA, and has been set at three.


NEW: The GPCA has allocated Los Angeles County three Regional Representatives.



12.2 Length of Term


OLD:

Coordinating Committee Representatives shall serve for a nominal term of two years, or until their successors are elected.


NEW:

Coordinating Committee Representatives shall serve for a nominal term of two years, or until their successors are elected, whichever occurs first. Replacement elections may be scheduled at any regular Council meeting, or may be conducted online.


Should have adequate notice, such as 30 or 60 days, to prevent surprises when the agenda is modified during the meeting.



12.3 Eligibility


OLD: Any GPLAC member is eligible to be a GPLAC representative to the GPCA Coordinating Committee A Coordinating Committee member may not also be a County Co-Coordinator. However, a sitting Co-Coordinator may run for the Coordinating Committee, and, if elected, shall be considered to have immediately resigned their seat.


NEW: We have no more cocos, so this section can be withdrawn, unless we want to apply this restriction to some of the other council officers.


12.4 Election of Representatives


OLD:

A male and a female seat shall be chosen first, after which a seat open to all shall be chosen. The voting procedure for each seat shall be by Instant Run-Off (IRV) using a simple majority threshold, and including the No Other Candidate option, as referenced in the GPCA Bylaws (Section 7).


NEW:

The County Council shall elect delegates with the Single Transferable Vote – Proportional Representation method (STV-PR) method of voting, which uses ranked preferences, i.e., ranked choices. In addition to the nominated candidates, the ballot shall also include a "No Other Candidate" (NOC) option, which is used to indicate that the voter finds the rest of the candidates unacceptable.


See Section 9.4.1.2 for more details for all of the Council elections.


Council Members are encouraged to consider issues of diversity and representation of viewpoints while ranking their choices.


Note: Proportional Representation is designed to maximize the diversity of viewpoints represented, without the need for quotas for special groups. Group quotas reduce the total diversity of viewpoints represented by promoting the quota viewpoint ahead of all of the other viewpoints.



Agenda Item 14. Bylaws Amendment - Article 6 -- Council Officers.


These amendments divide the coco Office into three officers. Agenda Clerk for making agendas, Spokespersons, and ROV Liaisons. Section 6.3.2 tightens up the attendance policy. I will propose that we vote on these amendments piece by piece to simplify things. John Wenger. 25 minutes.



ARTICLE 6 OFFICERS


OLD: The County Council shall appoint Officers of the party. The Co-Coordinators must be members of the County Council. Other officers do not have to be members of the County Council, but all Officers must be registered as Greens in Los Angeles County.


NEW: The County Council shall elect Officers of the party. The Agenda Clerks, Spokespersons, and Liaisons to the Registrar of Voters, must be members of the County Council. Other officers do not have to be members of the County Council, but all Officers must be registered as Greens in Los Angeles County.



6.1. OLD: Co-Coordinators NEW: Agenda Clerks.


6.1.1 OLD: The Council shall elect two Co-Coordinators, one male and one female. The term for each shall be eight months. The voting procedure shall be by Instant Run-Off (IRV), using a simple majority threshold, and including the No Other Candidate option, as referenced in the GPCA Bylaws (Section 7).


6.1.1 NEW: The Council shall elect two Agenda Clerks. The term for each shall be eight months. The voting procedure shall be by Single Transferable Vote – Proportional Representation), using a Droop threshold, and including the No Other Candidate option, as referenced in the GPCA Bylaws (Section 7).


Rationale: The council needs to share the agenda-creation authority.



6.1.2 OLD: Co-Coordinators may not serve for more than three consecutive eight-month terms (nor their equivalent), nor shall any person serve for more than twenty-four months total out of every forty, with one exception: at any election with a 2/3 IRV vote, the County Council may elect a Co-Coordinator, regardless of how many prior months that person has served.


6.1.2 Agenda Clerks shall serve until they resign, or are replaced.



OLD: 6.1.3 The Co-Coordinators shall be responsible for the production of the Council agenda. This includes the prioritization of, and the assigning times to agenda items, as well as the appointment of a meeting facilitator(s), minutes taker, and vibes-watcher.


NEW: 6.1.3 The Agenda Clerks shall be responsible for the production of the Council agenda. This includes the appointment of a meeting facilitator(s), time-keeper, notes taker, and vibes-watcher.




OLD: 6.1.4 The Co-Coordinators shall be responsible for the distribution of the Council agenda. Distribution will include Council Members, and Active Green locals, and will appear on the County web site.


NEW: 6.1.4 The Agenda Clerks shall be responsible for the distribution of the Council agenda. Distribution will include Council Members and Active Green locals, and will appear on the County web site.



OLD: 6.1.5 The Co-Coordinators shall be responsible for updating the GPLAC website, and may work with the Secretary to accomplish this task. The web site shall include the names and official contact information of all County Council Members, County Council officers, and GPLAC representatives to the GPCA Coordinating Committee; the official contact information for Active Green Locals in Los Angeles County; GPLAC Bylaws and GPLAC Rules and Procedures, and minutes of County Council and County Council committee meetings.


NEW: 6.1.5 The Agenda Clerks shall be responsible for updating the GPLAC website, and may work with the Secretary to accomplish this task. The web site shall include the names and official contact information of all County Council Members, County Council officers, and GPLAC representatives to the GPCA Coordinating Committee; the official contact information for Active Green Locals in Los Angeles County; GPLAC Bylaws and GPLAC Rules and Procedures, and minutes of County Council and County Council committee meetings.



OLD: 6.1.6 The Co-Coordinators will serve as Co-Liaisons to the office of the Registrar/Recorder of Los Angeles County.


NEW: 6.1.6 Deleted. Duties re-assigned to the ROV Liaisons in Section 6.4 below.



OLD: 6.1.7 The Co-Coordinators may speak on behalf of the GPLAC, consistent with GPLAC policy, the Green Party of California state platform, and the Ten Key Values. No other Council member may speak on behalf of the County Council, without County Council authorization.


NEW: 6.1.7 Deleted and re-assigned to the Spokespersons, cf. Section 6.5.


6.2. Treasurer -- No changes.



ARTICLE 6


Rationale: In accordance with the Ten Key Values , especially 5, decentralization, it is appropriate to disperse the duties and responsibilities of the County Council as widely as possible.



6.3 Secretaries


6.3.1 The County Council shall select four (4) Secretaries. The term shall be for the same term of office as the County Council, unless otherwise specified by the County Council. The STV-IRV voting procedure is specified in Section 9.4.1.2 Voting Methods.


6.3.2 The Attendance Secretary shall maintain attendance records for all County Council Members. When a County Council member misses two consecutive regularly scheduled County Council meetings, and if the County Council member has a recorded attendance of less than 50% over the calendar year ending at the time of the up coming meeting, the Attendance Secretary shall advise the Correspondence Secretary of this fact.


6.3.3 The Correspondence Secretary shall send correspondence on behalf of the County Council, including distribution of the County Council agenda, and send written notice (as defined in Section 8.1.6.) to the vacating member. For non-incumbent Council Members, the Calendar Year will begin with the first meeting of the new Council after the Registrar certifies the election. The Correspondence Secretary shall also provide notice of County Council vacancies.


6.3.4 The Recording Secretary shall, in addition to taking minutes at the County Council meetings, verify nomination petitions signatures for County Council appointment.


6.3.5 The Press Secretary shall speak on behalf of the County Council, consistent with GPLAC policy, the Green Party if California state platform, and the Ten Key Values. No other Council member may speak on behalf of the County Council, without County Council authorization.




NEW: 6.4 Liaisons to the County Registrar of Voters.


Liaisons to the office of the Registrar/Recorder of Los Angeles County shall communicate with the Registrar of Voters when directed to by the Council by a consensus decision, or by a two-thirds vote with a 3/5 quorum of the current membership of the Council.



NEW: 6.5 Spokespersons.


Comment: not to be in the final version. We should consider abolishing this privilege because of the potential for abuse, or else extend it to all of the Council Members. Need more input here.


The Spokespersons may speak to the media and to the public on behalf of the County Council, consistent with GPLAC policy, the Green Party of California state platform, and the Ten Key Values. No other Council member may speak on behalf of the County Council, without County Council authorization.



Agenda Item 15. Bylaws Amendment -- Article 9.5 -- Revised Process for Creating Agendas.


Motivation. The purpose of this bylaw is to give the control of the agenda to the council. John Wenger. 30 minutes.


OLD:


9.5 Submitting and Prioritizing Agenda Items


9.5.1 Any County Council Member may submit a proposed agenda item to the Co-Coordinators. To be considered for inclusion, an item must be received by at least one Co-Coordinator no later than 17 days before the upcoming County Council meeting.


9.5.2 Agenda items shall be prioritized and assigned times by the Co-Coordinators. The County Council may also direct the Co-Coordinators to prioritize an item or items, as long as that to prioritize decision is made before the 17 day deadline for submitting agenda item submissions.


9.5.3 All agenda items shall include a description of the item and identify the anticipated presenter(s).


9.5.4 Items requiring a decision of the County Council must include cost estimates, time-lines and personnel requirements as necessary.


9.5.5 Once distributed, the Agenda may not be changed until the meeting. The time and order of already agendized items may be amended by a 3/5 vote. New agenda items may be added by a 2/3 vote.


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NEW:


9.5 Agenda Creation Process.


9.5.1 Agenda Clerk Officer.


9.5.1.1 There shall be an officer of the County Council called the Agenda Clerk, whose duties are to compose and distribute the agenda following the rules of Section 9.5.


9.5.1.2 The Agenda Clerk shall follow these rules to compose the draft agenda, and distribute it via the Council Mailing List, or via direct email to all of the Council Members if the Mailing List is broken.



9.5.2 New Business.


9.5.2.1 The Council shall follow the round-robin principle to ensure equal opportunity for every Council Member to place their items onto the agenda.


9.5.2.2 Each Council Member shall be allowed to submit only one agenda item of new business per round, for as many rounds as they have agenda items to submit.


9.5.2.3 Each Council Member shall submit their agenda items to the Council Mailing List (or special mailing list for the Council Members, dedicated to the creation of the agenda) in their personally preferred order, with one agenda item per round. For example, Round One--- Resolution to stop global warming; Round Two --- Resolution to require single-payer, government provided, universal healthcare.


9.5.2.4 The Agenda Clerk shall queue the agenda item submissions by the order received by the Council Mailing List, with one agenda item per Council Member, per round.


9.5.2.5 Agenda items shall be submitted at least 17 days before the scheduled meeting.



9.5.3 Old Business.


9.5.3.1 During meetings the Council shall consider old business before new business, with the exception of time-sensitive items.


9.5.3.2 Items considered, but not completed, during a meeting shall be carried forward to the next meeting as Old Business, and shall be scheduled at the front of the Old Business Queue, in the order in which they were considered at the meeting.


9.5.3.3 Items not considered during a meeting shall be carried forward as Old business, following the items considered but not completed, and in the order they were originally queued by the Mailing List, unless the Council changed this order by amending the agenda, in which case the amended order shall be followed.


9.5.3.4 Submitters, or their appointee, must present their items when their time comes up, else the items requires resubmission as new business if it is to be heard. This is to prevent old business items from accumulating indefinitely.



9.5.4 Time-Sensitive Items.


9.5.4.1 The Agenda Clerk shall also compose a list of items that the Council is required, because of their time-sensitivity, for the Council to consider adding to the agenda queue. Examples of Time-Sensitive Items include Discussion of Plenary Packets, County Polling by the State, etc. Council Members are also encouraged to submit Time Sensitive items to the Council to consider. Time-Sensitive Items shall not be counted as items for the round-robin item-submission process, but shall instead be credited to the entire Council.



9.5.5 Amending the Agenda During the Meeting.


9.5.5.1 At the meeting of the Council, the Council shall consider amending the agenda before it considers any old or new business items.


9.5.5.2 The Council may extend or reduce the durations of the agenda items when it amends the agenda at the meeting.


9.5.6 All agenda items shall include a description of the item and identify the anticipated presenter(s).


9.5.7 Items requiring a decision of the County Council must include cost estimates, time-lines, and personnel requirements as necessary.


9.5.8 Once distributed, the Agenda may not be changed until the meeting. The time and order of already agendized items may be amended by a 3/5 vote. New agenda items may be added by a 2/3 vote.


9.5.9 These Council Agenda Creation Bylaws supersede all of the bylaws which previously assigned the agenda creation task to the Co-cos. The terms Co-Coordinator and Co-Coordinators shall be replaced with Agenda Clerk and Agenda Clerks respectively in these bylaws clauses that concern agendas.


New Business:


Agenda Item 16. Elect Agenda Clerks. John Wenger. 10 minutes.


Agenda Item 17. Elect Liaisons to the Registrar of Voters. John Wenger. 10 minutes.


Agenda Item 18. Elect Secretaries. John Wenger. 10 minutes.


Agenda Item 19. Elect Regional Representative Alternates. John Wenger. 10 minutes.


Agenda Item 20. Discuss and Adopt Code of Conduct for County Council Members. Ellen Maisen. 35 minutes.


Agenda Item 21. Resolution to Censure Genevieve Marcus. Ceil Sorensen. 5 minutes.