Bylaws & Rules

Article V: Officers

Section 1: The Officers of the Caucus shall consist of a Chairman, Vice Chairman, Secretary and Treasurer, who shall all be voting members of Board and subject to the provisions of the preceding Article. Candidates for Secretary and Treasurer shall have been Regular members of the Caucus for at least one year prior to their nomination. Candidates for Chairman and Vice-Chairman shall have been Regular members for at least two years and a voting or alternate member of the Board of Directors for at least six months prior to their nomination.[5]

Section 2: Elected Officers shall assume office at the close of the Convention at which they are elected. Any Officer may be dismissed for misconduct or malfeasance upon thirty days notice to the Officer and a majority vote of all members of the Board. Any Officer vacancy may be filled by a majority vote of all members of the Board. New Officers must qualify under the provisions
of the previous Section and shall assume office immediately upon election by the Board. If Officer vacancies occur between Board meetings, the seceding officer listed in the preceding section, followed by At-Large Board members, shall serve as the acting Officer until the next meeting of the Board.

Section 3: The Officers shall perform such duties as are prescribed in these Bylaws.[6]

A. The Chairman shall be the primary spokesman of the Caucus; shall execute the resolutions of the Board of Directors; shall preside at meetings of the Board and official sessions of any Convention, unless absent or replaced by an Acting Chairman, and shall ensure the administration of all provisions of these Bylaws. The Chairman may appoint any Regular members as Chairs of standing committees, and special project or liaison
directors of special executive committees or projects as he deems appropriate for the performance of these duties.

B. The Vice-Chairman shall assume the duties and obligations of Chairman in his absence, and assist the Chairman in his duties.

C. The Secretary shall oversee the recording and distribution of the minutes of all Board meetings and Conventions, oversee the certification of Delegates, conduct such ballots as the Board may direct, and act as Parliamentarian for all official business of the Caucus.

D. The Treasurer shall oversee the handling of all Caucus funds, shall oversee the creation of the annual and quarterly budgets, safeguard the financial resources of the Caucus and make such periodic reports of finances as the Board may require.[7]

Article VI: Conventions

Section 1: The Board shall call and hold a Regular Convention in every even numbered year[8], at such place and time as the Board shall designate, for the purpose of adopting revisions to these Bylaws and Rules, electing members of the Board, adopting public policy statements, and conducting such other business as it deems appropriate.

Section 2: All members of the Caucus shall be notified of the Regular Convention at least sixty days prior to the designated date of the Convention. Such notice shall include the location, calendar of events, official business to be conducted and such other information as would facilitate and encourage attendance by Caucus members.

Section 3: Each chartered state shall be entitled to be represented at the national RLC convention by a number of delegates based on the number of Regular Members who reside in that state.

A. 90 days prior to the national convention, the Secretary shall oversee[9]the number of delegates assigned to each state by dividing the total number of Regular Members in that state by 4, rounding up. Each Charter shall also be entitled to any number of alternate delegates who may serve in place of absent delegates from their state.

B. These Delegates and Alternate Delegates shall be elected by their respective Charters, according to whatever rules the Charter may adopt for that purpose, and certified as Delegates by the chairs of their Charters. In addition, each officer, regional director, and at-large director of the Caucus; the chair of each Charter or his or her
designee; and the coordinator of each non-chartered state may serve as an ex officio Delegate; these ex officio Delegates shall not be counted against the number of delegates to which each Charter is entitled. Any Regular member certified by the Treasurer as having paid current dues at least thirty days prior to the Convention shall be qualified to be appointed as Delegates or Alternate Delegates.

C. At the National RLC Convention each state Charter shall vote its full delegate strength, even if fewer than the full number of delegates to which that state is entitled are present at the convention. The full strength for each Charter includes both the number of Delegates which it is authorized to elect based on its state membership and also any ex officio Delegates who are members of that Charter.

Section 4: A quorum for Regular Convention business shall be a majority of the certified Delegates who have registered as being in attendance with the Secretary, or such Credentials Committee as the Secretary shall designate. The Convention shall be governed by the latest version of Robert’s Rules of Order which are consistent with these Bylaws and Rules, unless a majority of the registered Delegates adopt special rules for the duration of the Convention. There shall be no absentee or proxy voting on any official business.

Section 5: The Board may authorize Regular Convention attendance at multiple locations, provided that immediate electronic communications of discussion and balloting is available and members at all locations are properly certified as delegates.

Section 6: In the event of an emergency, the Board may, by a two-thirds vote, postpone a Regular Convention for no more than ninety days and shall notify members by the best means available.

Section 7: The Board may call a Special Convention at any time by a majority vote. Special Conventions may only conduct such official business as may be explicitly authorized by a two-thirds vote of the Board. If such official business is authorized, the preceding sections of this Bylaw relating to notice, Delegate status and proceedings shall apply to official sessions of the Special Convention. Special Conventions may include such events and services as the Board deems beneficial to the Caucus and attractive to the members.

Article VII: Statements of Principles and Positions

Section 1: Statements of Principles and Positions may be adopted by a two thirds vote of the certified and registered Delegates at any Regular Convention, or the official sessions of any Special Convention which may be authorized by the Board under these Bylaws.

Section 2: Statements proposed by a majority vote of the Board or in a Petition signed by no less than twenty-five Regular members at least forty-five days prior to the Convention date may be submitted to the Delegates for adoption.

Section 3: Notice of all proposed Statements shall be distributed to Regular members with the notice of Convention.

Article VIII: State Charters

Section 1: The Board shall encourage and certify the Chartering of state Caucus organizations in the United States of America which qualify under the provisions of these Bylaws and Rules. A State Charter may be granted to any group of ten or more Regular members who are residents of the subject state and who have signed a Petition for Charter and submit it in writing to the Board of Directors. The Board may certify qualified State Charters by a majority vote at its next regular meeting. Charters for the District of Columbia or any United States territory or possession may be approved by the Board and granted the same status as State Charters.

Section 2: The Board may set such minimum criteria for State Charter Bylaws and require such verification of Regular membership as it deems appropriate for certification. State Charters must submit an annual certification due every December 31st with the number of members for the state, officer’s names, phone numbers and email addresses, the mailing address, banking
establishment, domain registration and social media accounts of the State Charter and any information needed for continued support for the membership by electronic forms. Charters must submit new leadership information within 30 days of any convention of leadership changes in the Charter,[10]

Section 3: The Board may suspend or revoke a State Charter by a 3/4 vote whenever a Charter is shown to be in violation of its own, or National, Bylaws and Rules. If a Charter’s membership is below the 10 members needed to qualify for charter certification for a consecutive six (6) calendar months, the charter will be considered decertified as a state Charter until such time as members of the state petition to charter again. [11]

Section 4: The Board may appoint Coordinators for any unchartered state or territory of the United States for the purpose of facilitating the development of a local Caucus organization.

Article IX: Amendment

Section 1: These Bylaws may be amended by a two-thirds vote of the certified and registered Delegates at any Regular Convention, or the official sessions of any Special Convention which may be authorized by the Board under these Bylaws. Amendments proposed by a majority vote of the Board or in a Petition signed by no less than twenty-five Regular members no less than forty-five days prior to a Convention may be submitted to the Delegates for adoption. Notice of proposed amendments shall be distributed to all Regular members with the notice of Convention.

Section 2: Amendments shall go into effect immediately, unless otherwise stated in the proposed Amendment.

Section 3: Caucus Rules may be amended by a majority of the certified and registered Delegates, or by a two-thirds vote of the Board, after at least thirty days notice.

[1]Changed to add Student Membership at Convention 2017

[2]Changed for readability and grammatical errors at 2019 convention

[3]Changed to elect regional directors at the national convention instead of 30 days after it’s conclusion at the 2019 convention.

[4]Changed for readability at the 2019 convention.

[5]Changed to clarify the different requirements between candidates for Chair and Vice Chair as opposed to candidates for Secretary or Treasurer at the 2019 convention

[6]Changed to clarify officer roles.

[7]Changed to allow staff to perform functions previously done by board members with their oversight at the 2019 convention.

[8]By a 2/3 vote at the 2006 Convention, delegates authorized the Board of Directors to call conventions in either even or odd numbered years

[9]Changed to allow staff to perform functions previously done by board members with their oversight at the 2019 convention.

[10]Changed to include an annual requirement for information from state charters and leadership change information at the 2019 convention.

[11]Changed to make the process easier to build state Charters when one has gone dormant for an extended period of time at the 2019 convention.

[Bylaws and Rules Revisions Adopted in Convention 08/10/2002; Amendments 05/22/2004, 09/16/2006, 03/28/2009, 02/12/2011, 5/11/2013 and 5/27/2017]

Caucus Rules

Rule 1. Standing Committees

Standing committees include: