UPDATE: On February 2nd, the Bylaws and Rules Committee adopted its amendments to the Forbes amendment, and has submitted these to the PCOs for consideration. PCOs will vote on whether to adopt the amendment at our Bylaws and Kickoff Meeting at 9 AM on February 23rd at the Machinists Hall (9125 15th Pl S).  

At this point, we are no longer able to incorporate feedback, but you can still ask the committee questions in our public discussion group.  Join the discussion here.  You can also make an amendment from the floor, but you must submit it in writing. See the link below for more info!

Here are the key links for the 2/23 Bylaws Meeting: 

  • The Committee’s proposed amendments to the Bylaws can be viewed here.  PCOs will vote on whether to accept the language in Column B of this report. 
  • The  Transition Plan, which explains how we will manage any conflicts that may result if the bylaw changes are adopted.  PCOs will be asked to adopt this transition plan with the bylaws. 
  • The proposed rules, as approved by the Bylaws and Rules Committee. We will vote to adopt these at the start of the meeting. 

Need Help? Read the Shorter Summary: For members with limited time, we’ve drafted a short summary of the major changes, which you can skim through here.

Watch the webinar walk through: A recording of the webinar walkthrough is available here. Thank you to everyone who joined us!

How to make an Amendment: If you wish to make an amendment to the proposed bylaws, you can do so from the floor. Amendments from the floor must be submitted in writing. They may be submitted prior to 2/9 using this form:  https://www.kcdems.org/bylaws-floor-amendments  You can also submit an amendment at the meeting, but it must still be in writing (materials will be provided).

Your Feedback Wanted

King County Democrats is reviewing and updating its Bylaws to better serve the PCOs, Legislative Districts and Democratic voters of King County. This is your opportunity to share your hopes for how we organize, operate and support your great work.

Background

At this year’s Reorganization Meeting, King County PCOs considered a proposal (the “Forbes revision” ) to revise the KCDCC Bylaws. After receiving an initial report from the Bylaws and Rules Committee and at the recommendation of that committee, the PCOs referred the Forbes revision back to the committee with instructions to conduct a thorough, open, inclusive review, and to issue a final report including its recommendations on whether to adopt it. The PCOs further instructed the Executive Board to call a special PCO meeting on or after February 9, 2019 to consider the committee’s full report.

As part of this review, the Bylaws and Rules Committee is seeking feedback from PCOs and other interested Democrats on the Forbes revision. The committee may recommend that this proposal be adopted, that it be adopted with amendments, or that the proposal be rejected and the current bylaws remain in effect unless otherwise amended.

Your feedback will help to determine the committee’s recommendation.

We’re especially interested in feedback from Legislative Districts and PCOs on the Forbes revision, but other feedback on the existing bylaws or from other interested Democrats or organizations are also welcome.

Please be aware that we are still operating under the existing bylaws, which were not amended at the Reorganization Meeting. Under Section 14.2 of the current bylaws, an amendment to the bylaws must be submitted in writing by 50 voting members of KCDCC to be considered at a special meeting. (Voting members of KCDCC are elected and appointed PCOs whose precincts are within King County.) At this time, only the Forbes revision has met this requirement. Thus, while feedback and amendments to the Forbes revision can be considered by the BRC and the PCOs, we cannot review other proposed amendments to the existing bylaws (i.e., proposals that do not use the Forbes revision as a starting point) for consideration at a PCO meeting unless they are accompanied by 50 signatures. We are considering a proposal to change this requirement, but cannot guarantee that the proposed solution will be in effect before the next meeting of the PCOs.

Links

Draft Workplan

Dec. 7: Launch input website (i.e., this website) and call for submissions from all King County PCOs and other King County Democrats
Dec. 15/16: First public RBC meeting with initial review of feedback received
Dec. 17: Refine call for input based on initial responses, and reach out again to KCDCC members
Dec. 24 – 31: Identify sections of no conflict and sections needing matrix of solutions
Jan. 2: Post work-in-progress draft report for comment
Jan. 12/13: Second public RBC meeting, workshopping
Jan. 17: Launch survey for sections with conflict
Jan. TBD: Workshopping event
Jan. 25-27: State Committee Meeting – informal review by State Rules Committee
Feb. 2/3: Third public RBC committee meeting to finalize report and recommendations
Feb. 4: Publish final report and recommendations
Feb. 9 or later: All-county PCO meeting and vote

Submitting Feedback

We really want to hear from as many PCOs as possible, either general input or specific.

  • You can submit feedback using the form below, by emailing it to the committee at bylawsfeedback at kcdems.org with your commentary in the email (no attachments), or by attending one of the committee’s upcoming meetings.
  • If you are emailing, please let us know your precinct or Legislative District.
  • If you are commenting on specific sections, please reference the section.
  • If your feedback is more general about the direction of the County party, please let us know that in your comment.
  • You will get a confirmation that your input was received and we may also follow up with questions or clarifications.
  • NOTE: This is not a confidential process. All feedback submitted will be made available to committee members and PCOs for use in their evaluation.