LA REGLA. Mark Your Calendar!

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1 LA REGLA the official newsletter of the New Mexico State Association of Parliamentarians Editor: Barbara Posler, RP November 2017 convention. I ask all of the members to invite friends and leaders you know that can benefit from the NMSAP Smart Meetings. With all of us inviting attendees to the event, it will be successful! The flyer should be available on the nmsap.org website soon for publication. Please contact the convention coordinator (Barbara Posler, RP) or myself with any questions. poslong@ymail.com FROM THE PRESIDENT NMSAP President Message As the fall leaves are changing, I am reminded once again of how fast the year comes to a close. Plans are underway for the 2018 Smart Meetings on April 14, The membership and officers are all invited Friday evening April 13, 2018 for the pre-board meeting and NMSAP dinner. More information will be coming on the entire weekend. Thanks to all of the board members for your work preparing for a great Valoree Althoff, PRP President New Mexico State Association of Parliamentarians Mark Your Calendar! September 7-8, 2018 NAP National Training Conference The Hyatt Regency Buffalo Buffalo, New York September 5-8, 2019 NAP Biennial Convention The Westgate Las Vegas Las Vegas, NV

2 OFFICERS President Valoree Althoff, PRP 5 Road 3779 Farmington, NM (505) eerolav@hotmail.com Vice-President Kay Hannum 1643 N. Breckon Dr. Hobbs, NM (575) KHannum714@yahoo.com Secretary James R. L. Smart 8-A Platt Court La Puebla, NM (505) jrls@hotmail.com Treasurer Janice K. Strand, PRP 7617 Vista Cedro Ct. NE Albuquerque, NM (505) jan_str@msn.com Immediate Past President Adam Hathaway, PRP P.O. Box 31 Los Lunas, NM (505) stedefast@msn.com New NMSAP Members Santa Fe Unit: Janice Baker bakerhomeplace@msn.com Joy Lecuyer jwlecuyer@gmail.com Dora students: Isaac Carrasco McCray Clark Velinda Fierro Shania Ramirez Charlyn Simpson Gema Villanueva Parliamentary Websites NMSAP: SFPU: APU: NAP: District Six Director Jim Lawson, RP 525 Terrace Place Norman, OK (405) Jlawson11@cox.net

3 NAP Convention Briefing Thank you to the delegates and NMSAP members who attended the NAP Biennial Convention in Lombard, IL September 8-11, 2017: Barbara Posler, RP, Daniel Ivey-Soto, PRP, Valoree Althoff, PRP and Jan Strand, PRP. Valoree Althoff, PRP completed the term as the District 6 Director. Mary Randolph, PRP completed her term as the NAP President. Officers elected for the NAP terms are: Jim Jones, PRP, President; Darlene Allen, PRP, Vice-President; Kevin Connelly, PRP, Secretary; and Wanda Sims, PRP, Treasurer. Directors-at-Large are: Alison Wallis, PRP, Ann Rempel, PRP and Joyce Brown-Watkins. District Directors to the Board are Larry Martin, PRP and Roger Hanshaw, PRP A resolution was adopted to rescind the action of the 20 th NAP Convention in 1975 entitled Discourage the Use of the Term Chairperson. Many fabulous events were hosted including: the Navy Pier excursion, the Membership and Youth Awards Luncheon, the Blue & Silver Gala Reception in addition to all of the amazing workshops. Delegates discussed the bylaws amendments. A few of the amendments adopted relate to the NAP budget and the Commission on Credentialing Alternative 2 (Amendment 12). A consent agenda was moved and adopted for Amendments 19, 20, 21, 23, 24 and Left to right: Daniel Seabold, PRP Jan Strand, PRP Valoree Althoff, PRP Barbara Posler, RP and Daniel Ivey-Soto, PRP

4 Albuquerque Parliamentarian Unit The officers of the Albuquerque Parliamentarian Unit elected at the Annual Meeting in April are President - Jan Strand, PRP; Vice President - Marsha Thole; Secretary - Carmen Pennington; Treasurer - Barbara Posler, RP. The theme for this term is Reaching Out -- the intention is to reach out to the community with workshops and meeting programs that serve the needs of local organizations. After its summer recess, the unit met Monday, September 18. Barbara Posler, RP presented the educational program, Nominations. Barbara Posler and Jan Strand reported on the 2017 NAP Convention. Marla Pardilla, a guest at the meeting, was presented with a copy of Robert s Rules of Order In Brief and expressed interest in becoming a member of the unit. Paul McDonough, Carmen Pennington, and Barbara Posler volunteered to serve on the Holiday Party Committee. At the October 9 meeting, Jan Strand presented the educational program, Limitations on Boards and Committees, a workshop presented by Daniel Seabold, PRP, at the 2017 NAP Convention. Barbara Posler reported on the NMSAP Board Meeting. NMSAP officers installed by Adam Hathaway, PRP at the annual meeting April 1, Left to right: Adam Hathaway, Immediate Past President as installing officer; Valoree Althoff, PRP, President; Kay Hannum, Vice-president; James Smart, Secretary; Jan Strand, PRP, Treasurer.

5 Santa Fe Unit The Santa Fe Unit has held monthly meetings throughout the calendar year; most meetings have been held at the Southside Library. The Unit erected a display at La Farge Library during October to publicize Youth Parliamentary Law Month. For more updates, check the Unit website at Call for Nominees It is never too early to consider taking a larger role in the NMSAP. If you have the time and talents to share with the NMSAP Board, please consider nomination for an office! We need leaders to sustain our organization. Contact Valoree Althoff, PRP or the Nominations Committee to discuss options!

6 The New Mexico State Association of Parliamentarians and the Albuquerque Parliamentarian Unit sponsored a half page birthday tribute to Irene Navarre, PRP-R in the NAP Convention Souvenir Journal. Congratulations, Irene! NMSAP Youth Committee Two New Mexico BPA parliamentary teams, Melrose and Dora, competed in national competition at the 2017 BPA National Leadership Conference in Orlando, Florida in May. Both placed in the top ten of the twenty-four teams competing. The eight Dora team members took the NAP membership exam; six became NAP members. One of them is now a student at UNM and will be invited to Albuquerque Parliamentarian Unit meetings! Two New Mexico FCCLA parliamentary teams, House Senior Team and Las Vegas Junior Team, competed in national competition at the 2017 FCCLA National Leadership Conference in Nashville, Tennessee in July. Save the Date: April 14, 2018 Smart Meetings and NMSAP Convention

7 Why and How to Consider Revising Your Bylaws Adam Hathaway, PRP Parliamentarian, NMSAP Immediate Past President, NMSAP The importance of the bylaws of any organization cannot be over-stressed. Bylaws provide not only the structure for any group but also its culture and identity as well as the rights and responsibilities of the membership. The most complex and confounding issues many of our clients and societies face are due largely to poorly written bylaws. To borrow from a lecture entitled Why I Hate Your Bylaws by Daniel E. Seabold, one of the authors of the 11 th edition of Robert s Rules of Order Newly Revised, (RONR) three principles of good bylaws construction exist but are too often ignored. These principles are: Say it once; Say it in the right place; and Say it clearly. Oftentimes over the course of years or even decades, organizations make changes within their bylaws piecemeal, focusing on certain sections, while ignoring others. This practice is problematic because it may create conflicts between different articles and disrupt the flow and continuity of the bylaws. To remedy bylaws containing several inconsistencies or errors, or to simply update them to modern practice, parliamentarians should be able to coach their groups on the proper methods of handling revisions. According to RONR, p. 593 ll 16-99, a revision is a substitution of an entirely new set of bylaws. Although the word substitution is used, the regular process of moving a substitution, which requires perfecting an original document as well as its amendment, is not used in this process. In other words, if a revision is not adopted, the current bylaws remain completely unaltered. When considering revisions, the procedures regarding amendments should be consulted. The rules pertaining to giving notice for a revision are identical to that of a bylaw amendment. All procedures established, within any of the governing documents that apply to amending bylaws, apply verbatim to a revision. As with all amendments, notice must specify the original language, what is proposed for amendment, and how the amended section would read upon adoption. The threecolumn method of indicating these three elements is common practice, but may be too cumbersome for a major revision. In such cases a red line copy indicating proposed changes within a revision indicating all that is to be struck, inserted and added may be preferable. Whatever method is used, notice must contain every detail of every change and indicate such in the clearest of measures.

8 The most significant difference between individual bylaw amendments and a bylaw revision is that the limitations of scope of notice do not apply to revisions. RONR p 593 states Notice of such a revision is notice that a new document will be submitted that will be open to amendment as fully as if the society were adopting bylaws for the first time. In other words, all motions to amend a revision are within the scope of notice. At the meeting in which the motion to adopt the revision is to be considered, the presenting committee should include a complete review of the changes; RONR p 570 l 8 states: In presenting the report of the bylaws committee to the assembly, the committee chairman should explain each section and in the case of a proposed revision of bylaws make clear what is new about each provision or how it differs from the corresponding provision of the existing bylaws. A member may wonder why meeting time is utilized to review changes that were painstakingly indicated in the notice. The answer lies at the very foundation of parliamentary procedure: the rights of the members to be fully informed, not only of the changes, but also of the rationale for their presentation. When the motion itself is moved for adoption, it should be considered seriatim, or section-by-section. Even though a revision presents an entirely new set of bylaws, a revision of the bylaws is adopted by the vote required to amend the existing ones (pp ), rather than by a majority vote as in the case of bylaws that bring a society into being. RONR pp Therefore, if the vote required to amend the bylaws is two-thirds, then the vote to adopt a revision is also two-thirds. Unless otherwise stated, revisions as with bylaw amendments go into effect immediately upon their adoption. If the revision contains expansive or complex changes to the structure or functioning of the organization, additional time for transition may be necessary. The motion to adopt may contain a proviso establishing when the revision will go into effect (RONR pp ). If a proviso is not included in the motion, one may be added by majority vote. As indicated in this article, a revision to the bylaws may provide vast and sweeping changes that can affect every aspect of a society. As parliamentarians, it is incumbent upon us, and crucial to the organization, that we instruct the members on the process of revision and coach them through the process. Our groups may not know what they do not know, thus requiring each of us to get out in front and provide the education and guidance that they need to successfully accomplish their vision for the future, while at all times protecting the rights of every member. All citations in this article are from RONR (11 th ed.)

9 NAP Convention Report The 2017 NAP Convention was held September 8-11 at the Westin Yorktown Lombard Center in suburban Chicago, Illinois. Attendance at this convention was again very energizing!! On Thursday, September 7, the NAP Youth Committee greeted the six students representing the five NAP partner Career and Technical Student Organizations. Several young parliamentarians also greeted the students and challenged them to take the NAP membership exam the following morning. The students who are the national parliamentarians of their organizations, or are national officers, did take the exam and become members. Arrangements were made for each of them to have delegate status from their own states or other states needing to fill the delegate quota. The students also acted as pages during the convention business meetings. Each found their participation to be a life-changing experience and became very committed to continuing their study of parliamentary procedure! Four have committed to studying for the Registered Parliamentarian exam! Two of the students are seniors in college, two are college freshmen, and two are high school seniors. It will be most interesting to track them as they continue to participate in NAP. Jan Strand, PRP, Chair 2017 NAP Youth Interns