Bylaws Proposal votes and additions

[Starchild]

Here are my votes on the measures listed in the current draft preliminary report at https://dehnbase.org/lpc/temp/bylaws-draft.html.

I also move to submit my three proposals which were not considered, as an attached minority report, noting the date they were submitted, and that two other members of the committee refused to consider them on the grounds that there was insufficient time:

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2025 LPC Bylaws Committee Minority Report

1) Proposed rewording of Bylaw 2: Mission Statement

Bylaw 2: Mission Statement

Advancing individual liberty through peaceful, political action by any peaceful, ethical means. 

2) Proposed rewording of Bylaw 3: Purpose

Bylaw 3: Purpose (3/4 required to amend)

The Party exists to implement libertarian policy through political activities designed to win political office and implement libertarian policy, to uphold, promote, and disseminate the philosophy and principles of libertarianism as described in the Statement of Principles of the national Libertarian Party, in order to build a society based on consent, not coercion. To that end, it shall engage in political activity we seek to elect persons who hold these ideas to public office, and to engage in political, informational, and other activities designed to secure freedom for everyone in California, and elsewhere so far as our influence may extend. Also, it shall proclaim and implement the Statement of Principles of the national Libertarian Party by engaging in political and informational activities in California.

The Party shall do so by These activities may include, but not be limited to:

A. Developing an on-going political strategy to identify, expose, combat, and defeat the opponents of liberty in the political arena;

BA. Engaging in political activity in organizing and raising awareness among all segments of the population;

B. Identifying influential supporters and opponents of freedom in California, in order to aid those working to advance policies consistent with libertarianism, and counteract the influence of individuals promoting authoritarian ideas and policies; 

C. Registering eligible Californians to vote as Libertarians, and Iidentifying, persuading, and recruiting influential like-minded individuals and opinion leaders to become members of the Party;

D. Identifying and developing Working in coalitions with other organizations in order to

realize the ideas of liberty as proclaimed in the Statement of Principles;

ED. Employing media experts, political tacticians, field workers and others, Hiring employees and/or paying contractors as needed; when volunteers are insufficient to carry out projects;

F. Preparing a statewide political environment to enhance the election of Party candidates pledged to the Statement of Principles for the singular purpose of abolishing statist law, and restoring civil and economic liberty and property rights as proclaimed in the Principles and defined in the Platform;

GE. Nominating, endorsing and promoting registered Libertarians who pledge to proclaim and implement the Statement of Principles of the Libertarian Party of California support abolishing statist laws, and restoring civil liberties and economic freedom including property rights, as candidates for public office in California; and

HF. Promoting, cChartering, and coordinating, and promoting County Central Committees throughout the state.;

IG. Promoting Supporting initiatives, and referenda, and legislative or regulatory changes conducive to securing liberty;realize the ideas of liberty as proclaimed in the Statement of Principles.

H. Opposing initiatives, referenda, and legislative or regulatory changes at odds with a libertarian, consent-based society; and 

I. Developing and implementing strategies to achieve these and other objectives consistent with the Statement of Principles.

3) Proposed rewording of Bylaw 17: Committees

Bylaw 17: Committees

Section 1

The Executive Committee shall have the power to create and appoint committees, 

but may delegate the authority to make such appointments as it deems

appropriate. No standing committee created by the Executive Committee can be

appointed until 7 days after the committee’s creation if it is created without

notice. All special committees must have a targeted end date for their final report.

Section 2: Bylaws Committee

Not later than sixty days following the close of each convention, the Executive

Committee shall appoint a Bylaws Committee of five State Central Committee

members to recommend changes in these Bylaws and Convention Rules. The

Bylaws Committee shall adopt its initial report not less than seventy days prior to

the convention and the Secretary shall cause it to be published on the Party's

website not less than sixty days prior to the convention. The Bylaws Committee

shall adopt its final report, which may include corrections or improvements to

proposals in the initial report but shall not introduce new proposals, not less than

twenty days prior to the convention and the Secretary shall cause it to be

published on the Party's website not less than fifteen days prior to the convention.

After each Party convention, a new Bylaws Committee shall be constituted, with the power to create a report to be considered at the following convention of proposed additions, deletions, and/or changes to the Party’s Bylaws. Each active county shall be entitled to appoint a Party member in good standing of its choosing to the Bylaws Committee, by communicating the individual’s name, phone number and email address to the Secretary, who shall maintain a public list of committee members on the state Party website. Such appointments may be made at any time between conventions. At any time following 30 days after each convention, persons appointed to the Bylaws Committee may elect a committee chair or other positions from among their number, and begin to vote on proposals. All Party members shall be entitled to fully participate in committee discussion and debate, but only committee members shall be entitled to make motions or vote. Eligible counties who have not yet made appointments to the Bylaws Committee may continue to do so at any time prior to the start of the next convention. Proposals from the committee shall be added to a report published on the committee page of the Party website as soon as possible after they are voted out of committee.This report shall be subject to change up to the final meeting of the Bylaws Committee, which shall be held in person at the state convention prior to the discussion of its report in the business agenda, with Party members given the opportunity at that meeting to discuss and modify the committee’s proposals. Proposals adopted by the Bylaws Committee and published on the Party website may be modified or rescinded at any time up to the end of the final committee meeting at convention.

Section 3: Platform Committee

After each Party convention, a new Platform Committee shall be constituted, with the power to create a report to be considered at the following convention of proposed additions, deletions, and/or changes to the Party’s Platform. Each active county shall be entitled to appoint a Party member in good standing of its choosing to the Platform Committee, by communicating the individual’s name, phone number and email address to the Secretary, who shall maintain a public list of committee members on the state Party website. Such appointments may be made at any time betweenconventions. At any time following 30 days after each convention, persons appointed to the Platform Committee may elect a committee chair or other positions from among their number, and begin to vote on proposals. All Party members shall be entitled to fully participate in committee discussion and debate, but only committee members shall be entitled to make motions or vote. Eligible counties who have not yet made appointments to the Platform Committee may continue to do so at any time prior to the start of the next convention. Proposals from the committee shall be added to a report published on the committee page of the Party website as soon as possible after they are voted out of committee.This report shall be subject to change up to the final meeting of the Bylaws Committee, which shall be held in person at the state convention prior to the discussion of its report in the business agenda, with Party members given the opportunity at that meeting to discuss and modify the committee’s proposals. Proposals adopted by the Platform Committee and published on the Party website may be modified or rescinded at any time up to the end of the final committee meeting at convention.

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My votes and additions on existing proposals currently listed in the draft report:

Budget Ratification – yes

Appeal of Program Planks – yes

Reinstatement of Resigned Members – yes

But there may be room for improvement. Sandra Kallander writes: 

"The only thing [Mimi] has not clarified is what the associate non-voting member is a member of. 

My questions:

 

Do associate non-voting members have any of the rights that central committee (voting members) have?  Do they have access to the Judicial Committee, for example?  Almost nothing in the bylaws applies to non central committee members.

 

By definition, 'associate non-voting membership' is for those who DO NOT QUALIFY or don’t wish to be a member of the organization (not sure if this is bigger than the Central Committee).  This change still does not fix the Bylaw 6 claim that resignees seeking to rejoin ARE central committee members (as soon as they rejoin and pay dues).

 

For this reason and others including the apparent punitive thrust of the intent of ‘vetting' someone who resigned for 12 months? Doing what?  Purity tests?  And after they pay for a whole year, they can get back in?  What is the delay for?  If it is to discourage resignations, then why doesn’t the Secretary tell them about this rule before accepting the resignation?  It can’t be a deterrent if nobody knows about it.

 

The truth is, any stranger willing to pay $25 and say they take the pledge and the other stuff can be a member of the Central Committee.  If somebody resigns (as an act of speech) or for any other reason, why can’t they rejoin at will?”

Executive Session 

I move to add this language at the end of this sentence about there being no requirement to make records public (replacing the period with a comma), so it will read “Nothing in this section shall require the Executive Committee to ever make these records public, but all Libertarian Party of California records shall be considered public 10 years after their creation unless the Executive Committee votes to keep particular records secret for a specified longer or shorter period of time.” 

I also move to change the summary to read, "Specify rules and procedures relating to the use of secret meetings, including limiting them to specific types of issues, being for discussion only, requiring recordings, and setting rules for the non-disclosure period of those recordings.”

Allow for State Platform Planks - part A – yes

Allow for State Platform Planks - part B – yes

State Convention Delegates – yes

Eliminate EC In-Person Meeting Requirement 

I move to add this language to Bylaw 13, Section 3, where the sentence proposed for deletion is now (Notwithstanding the foregoing, the Executive Committee shall hold at least one in-person session per year that shall not be within six weeks of an LPCA convention.): “The Executive Committee shall hold two in-person meetings at each convention, once prior to the start of convention business, for members of the outgoing committee, and once after the close of convention business for members of the newly seated committee. Each Executive Committee meeting shall allow any Party member wishing to give public comment, a reasonable opportunity to do so.”

Suspension of Officers and Other Executive Committee Members – yes

Operations Committee - part A – yes

Operations Committee - part B – yes

Operations Committee - part C – yes

Love & Liberty,

((( starchild )))

LPC Bylaws Committee member

(415) 573-7997

[Mike Van Roy]

It's 3 other committee members of a 4 person committee actually.

I don't know what the official rules are as to who has access to the Judicial Committee but as a practical matter everyone has the Judicial Committee email alias. It's up to them to decide if an issue is worth considering. 

Mike

Sent from Proton Mail for Android.

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[Starchild]

If Joe wants to also be on record as saying Thursday afternoon was too late to consider any of my proposals for the report – even something as brief as my Proposal 1 below, striking four words and replacing them with five – that’s up to him. I only saw comments from you and Mimi specifically saying you thought it was too late to even consider them.

I don’t understand what you’re saying here about the Judicial Committee or what the relevance is. I wasn’t talking about appealing anything to the Judicial Committee. I’m just disappointed in our procedures and not feeling the love. It’s the kind of thing that sometimes makes me question why I bother.

Did you get the voicemail message I left you on Monday, by the way? Or the email I sent you earlier today asking about it?

Love & Liberty,

((( starched )))

[Joe Dehn]

On 2025-12-05 20:19, Starchild wrote:

Here are my votes on the measures listed in the current draft preliminary report at https://dehnbase.org/lpc/temp/bylaws-draft.html.

Thank you for your votes. It is clear that all of the proposals have sufficient support to be included in our preliminary report, and so they shall be.

Updated table of votes on the posted proposals:

Joe	Mike	Mimi	Starchild	Proposal
yes	yes	yes	yes	Budget Ratification
yes	yes	yes

yes	Appeal of Program Planks

yes	yes	yes

yes	Reinstatement of Resigned Members

yes	yes	yes		Executive Session
yes	yes	yes		Financial Standards Committee Membership
yes	no	yes	yes	Allow for State Platform Planks - part A
yes	no	yes

yes	Allow for State Platform Planks - part B

yes	no	yes	yes	State Convention Delegates
yes	yes

yes

Eliminate EC In-Person Meeting Requirement

yes	yes	yes	yes	Suspension of Officers and Other EC Members
yes	yes	yes

yes	Operations Committee - part A

yes	yes	yes

yes	Operations Committee - part B

yes	yes	yes