Conservation Committee Standing Rules
(Adopted by Conservation Committee 1975)
I. Organization, Membership, Purposes, and Basis of Action
1. The Conservation Committee is a standing Chapter committee, constituted by action of the Executive Committee of the Chapter in accordance with the Bylaws of the San Francisco Bay Chapter.
2. Membership - The membership of this Committee shall consist of two representatives of each currently recognized subcommittee and each regional group; in addition, upon concurrence of the Committee, the Chair may appoint as Committee members any Chapter members who have a demonstrated interest and/or expertise in Chapter conservation affairs. One representative from each sub-committee shall be the subcommittee chair or his designee. One regional group representative shall be the group conservation chair or his designee. Each subcommittee and regional group shall select its second member with the concurrence of the particular chair. At least once each year the Committee Secretary shall review the membership list and, with the concurrence of the Committee, drop from the list those members who have indicated, by non-attendance or otherwise, that they are no longer actively interested in being involved in the work of the Committee.
3. Purposes - The purpose of this Committee is to identify, gather and disseminate information, and take action on all conservation matters within the scope of the Chapter's area and concern, in accordance with the policies of the Executive Committee. It shall fully research, evaluate and make appropriate recommendations to the Executive Committee on conservation matters for which new policy should be established or actions taken requiring new policy.
4. Basis of Action - Committee members are reminded that their action on behalf of the Committee represents Chapter conservation policy and further reflects the responsible position of the Sierra Club as established by the Board of Directors. Action on conservation matters may be initiated at any level within the Committee. Matters within the jurisdiction of a regional and/or subordinate group should be thoroughly investigated and discussed, and decided on by a consensus of that group in accordance with Section III, paragraphs 5 and 6 of these Rules.
5. In recognition of the indispensable need for widespread member involvement in accomplishing the Committee’s purposes, the Committee shall be organized and operated to emphasize the following principles:
a. Decentralization and delegation of duties and responsibilities where appropriate to permit decision and action at the lowest possible level;
b. Responsibility of the subordinate groups and the Committee to involve and train new and inexperienced members; and
c. Full communication at and between all levels of the Committee.
II. Officers
1. The officers of this Committee shall be Chairman, Vice Chairman and Secretary. The Chairman shall appoint the Secretary and one or more Vice Chairmen to be responsible under his direction for those areas or duties he wishes to delegate. The Vice Chairmen shall generally be responsible to the Chairman and Committee from specific geographic areas, areas of expertise or other duties designated herein. A Vice Chairman designated by the Chairman shall act for the Chairman in his absence. The Chairman, or in his absence, the designated Vice Chairman, shall be responsible to the Executive Committee for the actions of the Committee. In emergency situations the Chairman shall be empowered to take action as required, and shall report such occurrences to the members at his earliest convenience. The actions of the officer shall be subject to review of the Committee by a majority of the members present at a regular meeting.
2. The Secretary shall record minutes of all Committee meetings and make copies of these minutes available to all members in a timely manner. With the assistance of the Staff Conservation Coordinator, he shall also maintain a Chapter Conservation Policy Book in which shall be entered an indexed and permanent record of the policy directives adopted by the Chapter and Committee. The Vice Chairmen shall assist in any compilation of this record within the areas of their responsibility. In addition, the Secretary shall maintain and up-to-date list of the Committee membership.
3. The maintaining of the committee’s budget and financial records shall be the responsibility of a designated Vice Chairman, who may in turn appoint a committee member as bookkeeper for the Committee, subject to the Committee’s confirmation. Procedures for the handling and disbursement of the Committee’s funds shall be established as necessary by Committee resolution.
4. Nominations for Chair shall be accepted at the September Conservation Committee meeting and voted on at the October meeting. The Chair shall take office upon confirmation by the Executive Committee. In the event the Executive Committee fails to confirm the Chair-elect, the existing Chair shall continue as Acting Chair and a new election shall be held, with nominations accepted at the next Conservation Committee meeting and voted on at the following meeting. As soon as practicable after confirmation by the Executive Committee, the Chair shall appoint the other officers, subject to confirmation by the Committee. All officers shall serve for a term of no more than one year. No officer may serve for more than two consecutive full terms in the same office, unless ruled otherwise by a two-thirds vote at a regular Committee meeting.
III. Subordinate Groups
1. Definition - Subcommittees, coordinators, task forces, and other entities established pursuant to this article are collectively referred to in these rules as "subordinate groups."
2. Subcommittees - The Committee may by resolution establish and abolish standing subcommittees. The resolution establishing the subcommittee shall specify its purpose, duties, and authority. The Committee shall elect the person to serve as Chair of newly established subcommittees. Existing subcommittees shall nominate a person to serve as Chair, for appointment by the Committee. These appointments shall be reviewed annually at the February meeting of the Conservation Committee.
Subcommittees shall meet regularly, not less than six times per year and shall make periodic reports of their activities to the Committee.
3. Coordinators - The Chair may nominate individual Chapter members for appointment by the Committee as coordinators of chapter activities involving particular conservation issues. Coordinators shall serve for an unlimited term, but they may be removed by the Committee at any time, or by the Committee Chair within 30 days after the Chair has taken office. Where appropriate, coordinators may establish a task force or other organization of Chapter members interested in the same conservation issues.
4. Other subordinate groups - With the concurrence of the Committee, the Chair may from time to time establish and abolish task forces and other special groups to work on specific conservation or internal management matters. The Chair may appoint and remove the members of such groups and shall designate the person to act as Chair of this group.
5. Criteria for action - Matters under consideration by any subordinate group shall be fully investigated by that group before any policy is established or action taken. At a minimum, the subordinate group shall:
(a) Substantiate the factual data involved by contact with the source thereof and appropriate government agencies;
(b) Consult with the Conservation Coordinator to determine if the proposed action or policy is under consideration by another Sierra Club entity. If such is the case, the subordinate group shall attempt to coordinate its efforts with those of that entity.
(c) Consult with the Conservation Coordinator regarding existing Sierra Club policy expressed in statements, guidelines, resolutions or other material.
(d) Automatically refer to the Conservation Committee (or its Chairman or designated Vice Chairman, if prompt authorization to act is required) any matter which creates substantial controversy within the subordinate group, appears to be in conflict with or a radical departure from existing Sierra Club policy, or is not covered by existing Bay Chapter policies.
(e) Consult with other appropriate conservation groups and private individuals.
6. Communication with the Committee —
(a) Each subordinate group shall, at its earliest convenience, provide the Conservation Committee Chairman or designated Vice Chairman, and the Conservation Coordinator with copies of all correspondence or statements expressing conservation policy which are directed to persons outside the Sierra Club.
(b) In addition, each month the subordinate group shall submit a brief report of its activities (action and information items) to the Conservation Committee for review at its regular monthly meeting. However, if the subordinate group intends to implement or make public announcements regarding any proposed action or policy prior to the next regular meeting of the Conservation Committee, the subordinate group chairman should for the purposes of full communication inform the Conservation Chairman, or designated Vice Chairman, of the subordinate group’s plans.
IV. Meetings
1. General meetings of the Conservation Committee are for two basic purposes. First, they shall provide for the dissemination and exchange of information and the discussion of conservation matters of interest to the San Francisco Bay Chapter. Secondly, they provide the forum for review, discussion, modification, approval or disapproval of conservation resolutions that come to the attention of the Committee for their action. To the maximum practical extent, detailed study, discussion of the issues, and if possible, action should first take place within the appropriate subordinate group, or regional group.
2. Regular meetings of the Committee shall be held monthly at a specified time and place, normally the first Thursday of the month. Special meetings may be called by the Chairman, by his designated alternate in his absence, or by a majority vote of the Committee membership. Individual notice of regular and special meetings shall be given to each member of the Committee at least seven days prior to the meeting date. General notice of regular and, when practice, special meetings of the Committee shall be provided in the Yodeler and in the Schedule for the information of all Chapter members. Notices to members shall include a proposed agenda of the meeting and, to the extent practical, available background material such as resolutions for consideration at the meeting.
3. All meetings of the Committee shall be open to attendance by any member of the Sierra Club. Normally, all committee actions should be conducted by consensus; however, upon the request of any member a vote shall be taken. Only recognized Committee members shall be eligible to vote. All voting shall be done in open session.
4. All actions of the Committee shall be by consensus or majority vote of those members present except as otherwise provided in these rules.
V. Relationship with the Executive Committee
1. The following rules shall establish the operational relationship between the Committee and the Executive Committee:
(a) All matters pertaining to litigation and expenditures (beyond the Committee budget allocation) or requiring new policy or substantial amendment of old policy, must be referred to the ExCom for their approval.
(b) All other actions of the Committee shall be reported on a monthly basis to the ExCom;
(c) The Chairman or his designee shall make copies of all Committee meeting resolutions available to the ExCom prior to the next regular ExCom meeting;
(d) It is understood that the ExCom has review authority over all actions of the Committee; and
(e) On any action that must be implemented prior to the next regular ExCom meeting, the Conservation Chairman shall confer with the ExCom Chairman to determine if further action by the ExCom may be required before that action can be implemented.
VI. Adoption and Amendment of Rules
1. Standing rules — These standing rules may be adopted, amended or repealed by the Committee, at a regular meeting, if prior notice of the proposed action has been given to all Committee members.
2. Supplemental rules of procedure — Supplemental rules of procedure may be established from time to time by the Chair, except that such rules may be amended or rescinded at any time by the Committee. Supplemental rules shall be based primarily on the traditional procedures of the Committee, as modified and amplified in light of practical experience and changing conditions. Such rules shall be designed to afford the maximum feasible opportunity for full expression of all viewpoints, to the extent this is consistent with the need for expeditious action by the Committee. Robert’s Rules of Order may be used as a guide, but shall not necessarily be binding.
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Conservation Committee Procedures, November 27, 1984
A number of situations have arisen lately where the chapter’s left hand didn’t know what the right hand was doing. To help avoid these I propose the following procedures.
Whenever any chapter entity is taking any public position on any within-chapter conservation issue, the entity should beforehand clear the action with the Conservation Chair, or if they are unavailable, with a Conservation Vice-Chair, and should inform the chapter conservation staff. If the expression takes written form, a copy should go promptly to both of the above.
The Chair is to check, in particular, that we have existing policy to authorize the action, and that the action is not controversial so as to require further committee approval before proceeding.
Note: this applies to Regional Groups, subcommittees, ExCom members, task forces, loners, and chapter staff. It applies to letters to officials or agencies or editors, testimony, press contacts, articles, comments on EIR/EISs, etc. – wherever you are acting in the name of the Chapter or one of its sub-entities on a conservation matter.
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Conservation Committee Agenda: From Don Forman
The agenda gets mailed out generally eight days before a meeting. If you have an item for the agenda, please submit it to the Committee Chair or designee.
Please give a clear enough description of the item so that those reading the agenda can actually figure out what we are going to talk about and whether they are interested.
In addition, if your item is an action item, you should write out a resolution and an adequate statement of background information – and get it to the Chair or designee in time to mail out with the agenda. The hope is that members can be adequately informed beforehand so that we don’t have to waste time at the meeting.
Obviously there will be situations when late-breaking issues cannot be handled this way. Nonetheless, agenda materials should be submitted on-time.
Also, if an item is important enough to be on the agenda, it is probably important enough to be in the Yodeler. When you submit an item, please take the responsibility to write or arrange for the writing of an appropriate article. If you need assistance, speak to the Conservation Staff in the Chapter Office.
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Role of Subcommittees – Don Forman – 12/27/83
Because we have so many new members, and because there have been questions raised about the responsibilities and authority of subcommittee chairs, etc., I urge you to read III.5 and 6 of the Conservation Committee Standing Rules, which specify powers and responsibilities of subcommittees, coordinators, task forces, and any committee members acting in the name of this committee.
[copies of those rules elided]
Some additional points to be aware of:
If a matter falls entirely within the boundaries of a regional group, that group should be consulted before any action is taken. if a matter extends beyond the boundaries of the Bay Chapter, other concerned chapters must be consulted before action is taken, and the final authority rests with the Northern California/Nevada Regional Conservation Committee or higher levels of the Club.
The Conservation Chair and Coordinator should be informed of all public conservation activity in the name of the chapter. Advance authorization is not required simply to restate already adopted policies of the chapter or higher Club entities. But if your public statement involves interpretation of policy to a new situation, or stretching, or likely controversy either within our outside the Club, clear it first. Yes, this guideline is fuzzy. There is no way to spell it out precisely; use your good judgment, and when in doubt, check with others.
If it’s illegal, don’t do it. The Club endorses nothing illegal; no civil disobedience, no posting flyers on telephone poles, no attempts to conspire to commite jaywalking – nothing.
When you speak out on a given issue as a Club representative, you are taking on an ongoing responsibility. You must not at a later date speak out on your own on the same matter with a position at variance with Club policy.
At times, these requirements may be a nuisance. They may be time-consuming, or even prevent the Club from speaking out in a timely fashion on a given issue.
There is a reason for this. There have been incidents in the past where someone has (in good faith) spoken out as a representative of the Club and voiced policy that went against Club policy. There have been incidents when two different Club entities voiced opposite positions on the same issue. The rules are designed to prevent this kind of situation.
One other important rule: Before you spend any substantial sum of money that you want to be reimbursed for – get authorized. You don’t have to get pre-clearance to xerox a few copies of a statement for city council members and reporters, or to do a mailing to your committee members, but when in doubt: ask first, spend later.
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SF Bay Chapter SC Conservation Committee Standing Rules — Additions May 1992 and September 1995
Membership of chapter Con Com
"The membership of this Committee shall consist of two representatives of each currently recognized subcommittee and each regional group; in addition, upon concurrence of the Committee, the Chair may appoint as Committee members any Chapter members who have a demonstrated interest and/or expertise in Chapter conservation affairs. One representative from each sub-committee shall be the subcommittee chair or his designee. One regional group representative shall be the group conservation chair or his designee. Each subcommittee and regional group shall select its second member with the concurrence of the particular chair. At least once each year the Committee Secretary shall review the membership list and, with the concurrence of the Committee, drop from the list those members who have indicated, by non-attendance or otherwise, that they are no longer actively interested in being involved in the work of the Committee."
1) Subcommittee Chairs and Group Conservation Chairs are voting members no matter how often they have attended Conservation Committee. If a Group does not yet have a Conservation Chair, their Ex Com Chair is their voting member.
2) If Subcommittee Chairs or Group Conservation delegates can not attend chapter Con Com regularly, or must miss a meeting, s/he should designate another attendee.
3) Prospective members-at-large must have attended at least three previous chapter Con Com meetings within the previous twelve months, and apply to the chapter Con Com chair for formal admission to membership. Membership will be confirmed by consensus of the chapter Con Com. Each year the list of members-at-large will be culled and those not regularly attending dropped; if such persons which to become members again, they must re-apply.
4) Chapter Ex Com members and RCC delegates are voting members of chapter Con Com.
Subcommittee Chair appointments
"The Committee may by resolution establish and abolish standing subcommittees. The resolution establishing the subcommittee shall specify its purpose, duties, and authority. The Committee shall elect the person to serve as Chair of newly established subcommittees. Existing subcommittees shall nominate a person to serve as Chair, for appointment by the Committee. These appointments shall be reviewed annually at the February meeting of the Conservation Committee."
1) Existing subcommittees shall nominate a person to serve as Chair. The chapter Con Com must confirm this appointment. If existing subcommittees fail to suggest a Chair, the chapter Con Chair shall appoint a Chair, subject to chapter Con Com confirmation.
2) Subcommittees of the Chapter Conservation Committee which suggest environmental policies for the Club must have occasional announced meetings so that any member of the Club who is interested may have a chance to participate in the policy-setting discussions of that subcommittee. The Conservation Committee or its chair may, while considering any policy resolution presented to it by one of its subcommittees, request the attendance list for the meeting(s) at which said policy was generated.
"Occasional" should be at least twice a year.
"Announced" shall include an announcement of the meeting in the issue of the Yodeler which goes out before the meeting date.
Note: at the discretion of the Conservation Committee chair, subcommittees which only advocate existing policy and do not propose new policy may be excused from this requirement.
3) The topics and range of material to be covered by any subcommittee is set by the Conservation Committee, although suggestions for its enlargement or reduction may be proposed by the subcommittee.
4) Every subcommittee chair is required to turn over a copy of their current membership mailing list to the Conservation Committee chair at least once a year, if requested.
Topic Areas Covered by chapter Conservation Committee
"The purpose of this Committee is to identify, gather and disseminate information, and take action on all conservation matters within the scope of the Chapter's area and concern, in accordance with the policies of the Executive Committee. It shall fully research, evaluate and make appropriate recommendations to the Executive Committee on conservation matters for which new policy should be established or actions taken requiring new policy."
1. Policies on all conservation matters adopted by Regional Groups shall be reported to the chapter Conservation Committee through presentation of meeting minutes or at "list of resolutions adopted" to the next chapter Con Com. At the request of the chapter Con Com chair or of any member of chapter Con Com they may be reviewed as an agenda item. Policies on all other Regional Group matters, including but not limited to membership, finances and activities, shall be reported directly to chapter Ex Com.