Section 1. Organization
1.1 Name. The name of this Sierra Club unit is Loma Prieta Chapter.
1.2 Establishment. This Conservation Committee (ConsCom) is established by action of Sierra Club Loma Prieta Chapter, and is governed by these Standing Rules, consistent with the provisions of the Bylaws and Standing Rules of the Loma Prieta Chapter and by the Club, by applicable law, and by the policies and directives of Sierra Club National’s Board of Directors.
1.2.1 ConsCom is an integral part of the Loma Prieta Chapter and the Sierra Club and is not a separate political or legal entity.
1.3 Purpose. The purpose of the Loma Prieta Chapter ConsCom is to help the Loma Prieta Chapter in its efforts to conserve, restore, and protect the environment through nonpartisan grassroots public education, advocacy and lobbying. ConsCom activities also include evaluating current Chapter Conservation policies and proposing new policies for review by the Executive Committee (ExCom).
1.4 Regular meetings. The Conservation Committee should meet regularly, at least ten times a year.
Section 2. Composition and Membership
2.1 Conservation Committee Members include both Issues Committee members and Special Category Committee members that have reporting and voting privileges but are not under the jurisdiction of the Conservation Committee. Voting members of the ConsCom are:
- Conservation Committee Chair
- Issue Committee Chairs or their alternates
- Regional Groups Conservation chairs or alternate as chosen by the Regional Group Excom
- Special Category Committee Chairs or their alternates
2.1.1 The Chapter Conservation Chair shall be appointed by the Chapter ExCom annually. Issue Committees and Issue Committee chairs as well as alternates may be directly chosen by the Chapter ExCom or by the Cons Com Chair subject to subsequent approval by the Chapter ExCom. Nominations, appointments, and confirmations of the ConsCom Chair and Issue Committee chairs/alternates should occur annually at the first and/or second ExCom meeting in a given year.
2.1.2 Only Excom-confirmed voting members of ConsCom can vote at ConsCom. Each confirmed Issue Committee, Special Category Committee, and Regional Group has only one vote, and each confirmed voting member can only vote once per voting item. If an Issue Committee has multiple alternates, only one of them gets to vote; if a member is an alternate for multiple Issue Committees, they can only vote on behalf of one. A quorum will consist of one half of the total confirmed voting members including the Chair, the regional group representatives, and confirmed Chairs or alternates of Issue Committees.
2.1.3 A Chapter member may only chair a single Issue Committee.
2.1.4 If the Chapter Compliance Officer is not otherwise a member of the Conservation Committee he or she shall serve in an ex-officio capacity. The Chapter Compliance Officer will be provided the agenda for all Conscom meetings.
2.1.5 All Sierra Club members participating in ConsCom or its issue committee shall become familiar with and follow Sierra Club policies, including Compliance policy, these Chapter Conservation Committee Standing Rules, Code of Conduct, Sierra Club California Conservation Committee Resolutions, Communications, Jemez Principles, One Voice, and other applicable Sierra Club Standing Rules and ByLaws.
2.2 Issue Committees work on conservation and climate issues. Environmental justice is an important consideration in all climate and conservation work. The ConsCom chair may create new Issue Committees or cancel existing Issue Committees with the approval of ExCom and Excom may create and cancel Issue Committees as necessary.
2.2.1 Issue Committees must have a Chair and an Alternate.
2.2.2 Issue Committees should communicate their activities and accomplishments to ConsCom on a regular basis.
2.2.3 Since many conservation issues intersect, when possible Issue Committees should advise the rest of ConsCom of actions they are planning to take or issues and agencies they are following. This enables other Issue Committees to coordinate actions. This is especially important for comments on Environmental Impact Reports, as comments should cover the full scope of environmental issues.
2.2.4 Some activists may have specialized expertise in specific issue areas. These issue experts are important to the Chapter as they help develop policy in their issue areas. They may be invited to and participate in ConsCom meetings, but they need not participate on a regular basis. To gain voting privileges, they will need to form a committee.
2.3 Agendas and management of meetings The ConsCom Chair will manage the monthly ConsCom meeting, will prepare and share agendas 48 hours in advance and will ensure that each commenting member is given appropriate opportunity in discussions.
2.3.1 Before agendizing discussion items that are in the purview of other chapter committees (PolCom, Finance, Elections, etc), the ConsCom Chair should secure the approval from the chair of the relevant committee.
2.3.2 The ConsCom Chair or designee should provide the meeting agenda and action minutes to the ExCom ahead of ExCom’s monthly meeting.
2.4 Collaborating with other organizations Chapter Standing Rules on Collaboration were adopted by ExCom December 2022 and can be found on the web page with the Sierra Club Loma Prieta Standing Rules.
Section 3. Standing Rules
3.1 Interpretation of Standing Rules. All questions as to the interpretation of these Standing Rules are to be referred to the Chapter Compliance Officer for decision.
3.2 Participation/Conflict of Interest. All Sierra Club members in good standing are entitled to participate in the activities of the Conservation and Issue committees. Members with a conflict of interest, however, shall abide by Sierra Club Standing Rule 16-1-1 and recuse themselves from voting. Conflict of interests may be arbitrated by the Chapter Compliance Officer. Members should disclose their conflicts of interest prior to participating on a topic and the Chair should request recusal where appropriate. Conflict of interest rules should be reviewed at the first meeting after the beginning of the calendar year by each Issue Committee.
Section 4. Amendment
4.1 The Chapter ExCom may amend these Standing Rules by a majority vote at a regular meeting.