NLPES Bylaw Amendment Election

Over the past few years, members of the NLPES Executive Committee have discussed the difficulty of having to very quickly come up to speed on the responsibilities, duties, and subcommittees of the Executive Committee. With only three meetings a year, gaining the necessary experience, making progress and achieving goals in a two-year term on the Committee is difficult. Recognizing these concerns, the Elections subcommittee was assigned to examine if and how terms of Executive Committee members could be lengthened. The subcommittee recommended amending the bylaws to change to a three-year term and developed language to accomplish the change.

As a result, on April 11, 2008 the NLPES Executive Committee approved the following proposed changes in the NLPES bylaws for consideration by the membership. The proposed new language is underlined.

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ARTICLE III: Executive Committee

The NLPES executive committee shall be composed of 12 members, eleven elected members and the immediate past chair, who shall be a non-voting member of the committee except in cases of tie votes. (Should the immediate past chair be re-elected to the executive committee by vote, the individual shall then be a voting member and the immediate past chair's position shall be vacant.) Elected members shall serve for a period of three years and shall be eligible for re-election. Three members shall serve terms beginning in 2008 and every third year thereafter; four members shall serve terms beginning in 2009 and every third year thereafter, and four members shall serve terms beginning in 2010 and every third year thereafter. The committee shall provide for its own organization and rules of operation and shall elect its officers.

For the purposes of implementing by-law changes to Article III adopted in 2008, at the first meeting of the Executive Committee for 2008-2009, the five members elected in 2008 shall determine through consensus or by drawing lots, three members that will serve three-year terms and two members that will serve two-year terms. At the first meeting of the Executive Committee for 2009-2010, the six members whose terms expire in 2009 shall determine through consensus or by drawing lots, two members whose terms are extended to 2010. This paragraph expires September 1, 2009.

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The bylaws require proposed changes to the structure or terms of the Executive Committee be submitted to the membership for a vote. Only those individuals listed on the NLPES roster as of June 1, 2008 are eligible to vote. If you work for an U.S. legislative agency as of June 1, 2008 that does program/performance evaluations or audits, you are eligible to vote on the bylaw proposal.

Voting is now open via the web. Please participate and access the ballot by clicking on the following link:

http://www.ncsl.org/surveys/TakeSurvey.asp?SurveyID=30H4m32288mLI

Voting will remain open until 5PM, July 2, 2008. If you want a hard copy ballot, please contact Bob Boerner at NCSL, bob.boerner@ncsl.org or at 303.364.7700. Thank you very much for participating in the NLPES bylaw amendment election process.

Ken Levine

Elections Subcommittee Chair