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For further information contact the Secretary of Convention or call 973-430-9919. |
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The 135th Annual Convention of the Episcopal Diocese of Newark will be held on Friday, January 30 and Saturday, January 31, 2009 at the Hilton Hotel, One Hilton Court, Parsippany NJ. |
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RULES OF ORDER The Committee on Rules of Order and Elections will meet in the fall of 2008 to review and propose rules for adoption at the 135th Annual Convention. The recommended Rules of Order adopted for the 134th Annual Convention were as follows. Convention Committees A. Arrangements II. The President, Vice President, and Secretary of the Convention shall be members, ex-officio, of all Convention Committees. III. The Convention Committees shall be empowered to take appropriate action prior to, and during, the next Annual Convention, as well as any Special Convention held during their year of appointment. Arrangements A. To the Ecclesiastical Authority: recommendations pertaining to location, date and length of sessions. B. To the Committee on Rules of Order and Elections: recommendations pertaining to the legislative procedure. C. To the Nominations Committee: recommendations pertaining to nominations and election procedure. D. To the Committee on Resolutions: recommendations pertaining to the resolution process. E. To the Committee on Dispatch of Business: recommendations pertaining to the agenda and calendar of business. F. To the Budget Committee: recommendations pertaining to the budget procedure. The Committee shall recommend to the Diocesan Council the procedures and arrangements for the pre-Convention meetings of deputies, and shall be responsible for all physical arrangements of the Convention. Rules of Order VI. The Committee on Rules of Order and Elections shall be responsible for the following nomination and election procedures at the Annual Convention: A. By April 30th a nominations committee of clergy and lay members from different congregations shall be elected by the districts consisting of: - one member of the clergy from each district The Secretary of Convention is also on the committee. Committee members will serve for two years with clergy and lay members rotating off in alternate years. Odd numbered districts will elect a lay person whose term ends in an even year; a clergy person whose term ends in an odd year. Even numbered districts will elect a lay person whose term ends in an odd year; a clergy person whose term ends in an even year. In the event any district fails to provide its representatives, on May 1st the Bishop will make the appointments to fill vacancies from within the district. B. The Committee will meet no later than June 30th to elect its own chair, not to be the Secretary of Convention, and to set up procedures for evaluating and nominating candidates. The committee will nominate at least one more than the number of vacancies in each category with the exceptions of Secretary of Convention, Treasurer, Diocesan Review Committee and Ecclesiastical Court. C. The Secretary of Convention shall send out in the Call to Convention the time and place of the Convention, a list and job descriptions of the offices by classes to be filled by election, the names of the incumbents of these offices, and an official nomination form. This Call shall be sent out at least one hundred (100) days before the date of the Convention to each clerical member of the Convention and to each lay deputation whose certificate has been transmitted to the Secretary, as provided in Canon I. The Call shall be printed in The Voice. 1. There will be a notice in the June Voice asking for recommendations to be sent to the Nominations Committee by November 30. Recommendations may be made in the following ways: (a.) Any person eligible to run may recommend him or herself. (b.) Any person in the Diocese may recommend some one else who is eligible to run. (c.) Members of the Committee are strongly encouraged to present names of possible candidates from their own districts particularly, as well as suggestions from other areas of the Diocese. The Nominations Committee will evaluate recommendations and present a report to the Secretary of Convention and Committee on Rules of Order and Elections by November 30th for distribution with the pre-convention mailing at the end of December. Any nominees not accepted by the Nominations Committee shall be informed in writing by December 1st in order to allow for nomination through other methods. 2. In addition to the slate presented by the Nominations Committee, additional nominations will be received in the following ways: (a.) Any five (5) deputies to Convention may nominate a candidate to any office. Nominations post marked not later than December 15th will be included in the pre-convention mailing and publicized in the Voice along with the nominations received from the Nominations Committee. (b.) Late nominations will continue to be accepted until noon on the Friday of the week before the start of the Annual Convention. E. By the close of the opening session the Nominations Committee shall report to the Convention in the form of an official ballot the names listed by Contest. The arrangement of such names received by January 18th shall be determined by lot in each order. Names received through late nominations shall be added in order of receipt. On the ballot in those contests which require candidates for more than one class, all candidates will be listed as a group by order and length of terms will be determined by ranking of the vote results. G. For the election of General Convention Deputies, beginning with the fourth ballot and for all succeeding ballots, the name of the candidate (or candidates) with the lowest number of total votes from both orders on the previous ballot will be withdrawn from consideration, such that the number of candidates remaining shall be equal to the number of vacancies plus two. (For example, if after the third ballot, seven candidates are standing for election and there are three vacancies to be filled, then the names of the two candidates with the lowest number of votes on the third ballot will be withdrawn from consideration by the Convention, leaving five candidates remaining for consideration on the fourth ballot.) All candidates who were not elected as Deputies shall be eligible for consideration as alternate Deputies. The Committee on Resolutions shall be responsible for receiving all resolutions except those provided by standing committees and bodies required to report to this Convention. B. The Committee shall hold hearing(s) prior to Convention on all resolutions submitted timely. The Committee shall publicize at least eighty-five (85) days prior to Convention dates, place and time of its hearings, inviting submitters of all resolutions to attend. The Committee shall collate all resolutions dealing with obviously similar subjects and shall discuss such collation with the submitters. C. Upon submission of any resolution that in the Secretary's opinion after consultation with the chair of the Committee may have financial implications if adopted, s/he shall submit a copy to the Treasurer or Chief Financial Officer for review and comments. Upon submission of any resolution that in the Secretary's opinion after consultation with the chair of the Committee may affect insurance, s/he shall submit a copy to the Chair of the Diocesan Insurance Committee for review and comments. Upon submission of any resolution that in the Secretary's opinion after consultation with the chair of the Committee may have canonical or legal implications if adopted, s/he shall submit to the Chancellor for review and comments. Review and comments will be requested in time for the initial meeting of the Committee. D. The Committee shall have the power to revise or modify any proposed resolution, and shall have the power, by a two-thirds vote of all committee members present and voting, to determine not to offer any proposed resolution on the floor of Convention. E. The Committee shall submit its report to the Secretary sixty (60) days before the date of Convention with its recommendations for action upon each resolution as proposed or as amended or collated by the Committee. This report shall be mailed by the Secretary to each deputation during the first week of January. All resolutions considered by the Committee will be included in the report, unless withdrawn by consent of the sponsoring deputy. If a resolution to be offered to Convention has been amended by the Committee without the consent of the sponsoring deputy, such amendment(s) will be clearly shown. F. Any resolution which the Committee determines not to offer on the floor of Convention shall be permitted on the floor of Convention only by a majority vote of all Convention deputies at the start of the first business session of convention. G. Resolutions not previously submitted to the Committee for this Convention will be permitted from the floor upon a two-thirds vote only at the start of the first business session of Convention and only when they carry a clear statement in writing of the circumstances that led to the request for their consideration. Such resolutions should be duplicated in advance by the presenter(s) with sufficient copies available for distribution to all convention deputies (550 copies are needed). H. Consent Calendar. It is recognized that certain resolutions may not require full debate prior to action by Convention. Accordingly, the Committee on Resolutions may propose that certain resolutions be included on a "Consent Calendar". Exclusion of any resolution on the Consent Calendar requires agreement of any three congregations to remove it, and the Secretary of Convention must receive exclusion requests before the start of the first business session in writing, signed by at least two lay deputies from each of three congregations and at least three clergy listed on the roll of Clergy entitled to vote in the Convention. Any resolution included on the "Consent Calendar" shall not be subject to amendment or debate, except that the sponsoring deputy or his/her designee may speak to the resolution for a period not to exceed one minute. On Dispatch of Business To Certify Minutes On Decorum and Debate XI. No motion shall be considered as before Convention unless seconded, and, when required by the President, reduced to writing and signed by the mover, whose name shall be entered on the journal. XII. Any member about to speak shall, with due respect address the President, and in speaking confine comments to the point in debate. XIII. No member shall speak more than once and for no more than two minutes in the same debate without leave of the Convention (except the mover who is entitled to reply). XIV. If any member by speech or action transgresses the rules of the Convention, the President shall call the member to Order, and the member shall immediately take his/her seat, unless permitted by the Convention to explain or proceed in order. XV. The motions below have priority in order listed. The mover - cannot interrupt a member who has the floor, A. To Adjourn or to Recess On the Budget 1. The tentative budget be adopted by the Diocesan Council and proposed to the Convention. 2. Copies of said budget to be sent to convention deputies and available for discussion at January pre-convention meetings. The last pre-convention meeting shall be held no later than one week prior to the deadline for budget resolutions. 3. Once adopted by Diocesan Council, proposed changes will be in order. All proposed changes to the budget will continue to be accepted until noon on the Wednesday (a) To add an additional line item 4. Proposed changes will be referred without debate to the Diocesan Council Budget Committee. 5. Line items about which no proposed change is offered will be considered non-debatable by Convention unless upon resolution by the Diocesan Council Budget Committee. 6. The Diocesan Council Budget Committee will hold open hearings on these proposed budget changes on the first day. Anyone wishing to do so may appear to speak for or against any proposed change. After all speakers are heard, the Diocesan Council Budget Committee will go into executive session to consider its report to the Convention. The Committee may at its discretion invite expert witnesses. 7. The Diocesan Council Budget Committee will present its recommendations in the form of a separate resolution on every line item for which changes have been suggested, its only mandate that the budget must not be in deficit. Changes up will have to be balanced with changes down, additions offset by deletions, subject to the discretion of the Diocesan Council Budget Committee. 8. The Convention will vote on every Diocesan Council Budget Committee resolution either to approve or not to approve. These resolutions are subject to amendment by the Convention. Each resolution must be considered individually. 9. When all Diocesan Council Budget Committee resolutions have been dealt with, a motion to approve the budget will be offered and voted. The following rules of debate shall be used by debate of the Budget: 1. The Diocesan Council Budget Committee shall have FIVE MINUTES to speak in respect to the Committee's report on the Budget. 2. ONE HOUR shall be allotted to the debate, divided equally by the number of resolutions to be considered with a maximum of one hour. 3. Of the time allotted to the consideration of each resolution, the recommendation of the Diocesan Council Budget Committee concerning the resolution shall be limited to ONE MINUTE or less. 4. During the debate on each resolution each speaker shall be limited to ONE MINUTE and no speaker shall speak more than once. 5. To the extent possible, the Chair shall recognize speakers of opposite views in alternate succession. 6. No motion to lay on the table or otherwise to terminate debate on each resolution shall be entertained during the allotted time period. 7. After the consideration of all resolutions and the termination of debate TEN MINUTES shall be allotted for the Budget Resolutions as finally perfected by the Convention to be considered and adopted as a unit. Committee of the Whole A. A motion to rise and to report to the Convention, with or without leave to sit again, may be made at any time, and shall take precedence of all other motions, and shall be decided without further debate. No such motion once made shall be renewed until further proceeding shall have taken place in the Committee. B. A motion that a vote be taken at some designated time may be made and be disposed of without debate at any time, but as before provided a motion to report to the Convention shall take precedence. C. No motion to lay on the table shall be entertained. Reports XIX. All reports shall be in writing, and when made shall be the property of the Convention without any motion for acceptance. All reports recommending Convention action shall be accompanied by a resolution to that effect. XX. All reports requiring Convention action shall be in writing and, at least, one complete copy and, if available and appropriate, four synopses shall be in the possession of each deputation prior to Convention. All other reports submitted to Convention shall be read by title only. |
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