2024/2025 Proposed Changes/Revisions to the Maryland NOW Bylaws
Starting about three years ago, the Bylaws Committee began the huge task of reworking the Maryland NOW Bylaws. We say “reworking” because our state’s structure was not in any way struggling or ineffective. However, our bylaws were first written in 1973 and over time our leadership used the “band aid” approach, going in from time to time to change things that seemed not to be working. It was becoming clearer that this patchwork approach had produced several places where language in some bylaw articles appeared to be in conflict with other articles. Re-typing the document over the years also produced some curious wording we suspect may have been unintended. We knew all along that serious work needed to be done on the document as a whole. It was a huge undertaking and we are grateful to the committee for its work.
All units of NOW share a basic structure – chapter/state/district/national – with the members electing leaders but also having roles in issue and administrative work through task forces and committees at each of the levels of the organization. In our state, the State Council has fiduciary responsibility (approving and overseeing the finances of Maryland NOW) and the officers, acting as the Executive Committee, take on the day-to-day administrative responsibilities of the organization.
All that said, the women who initially wrote these bylaws created a very sound structure which didn’t need much serious revision. For many of the proposed rewordings, we have just added language to address changes that have taken place in our culture today. We also had to address changes that have taken place in our national organization’s structure. Communication among council members and state leaders outside of state council meetings 50 years ago mostly involved postage stamps. Our electronic image on our website, in electronic newsletters, and actions announced in email alerts are all very critical today and not something that anyone even envisioned in the 1970s.
So why are we doing this again?
Last year, the state council held discussion sessions to review initial drafts, incorporating many suggestions and ideas into the document. We discussed these bylaws and voted on them in sections at the 2024 State Conference. All proposed changes but one passed at that time. We had several problems getting our conference notice out last year and we did not meet the deadline required of 30 days’ notice to our members. We decided this major update was too important to leave anything to question. So we decided to ask the 2025 State Conference to vote again on these changes. We only made two changes from last year (other than punctuation): one was to the Grievance article, into which we added language addressing the use of public online communication and social media to air internal disputes within Maryland NOW. The other was a small clarifying change in the Diversity article.
We are again sharing the proposed amendments as we did last year, producing a document that shows all deletions and additions or changes. However, once again it is ten pages long and so we are sending you a summary of the changes with links and QR codes to where you can find the complete document on our website. If you want to receive a paper copy of all the changes we proposed, please contact us at info@marylandnow.org and we will send you a paper version immediately.
We will vote on the document at the state’s annual conference on June 7 during our morning business session. A detailed notice of our 2025 State Conference will be in the mail soon. This mailing will serve as our 30-day notice for both the state conference and these proposed bylaws revisions to our membership.
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Summary of Proposed Maryland NOW Bylaw Changes
Article I. Name. This clarifies that we are not incorporated.
Article II & Article IV. Purpose and Diversity. These two sections have been updated with language written by state council members. The language as to our purpose includes a listing of Maryland NOW’s priority issues, and proposed revisions to our Diversity article incorporates DEI language.
Article III. Membership. Maryland NOW allows full participation in our decision-making for any member whose dues have been received by Maryland NOW, and/or paid to National NOW, regardless of whether their names have been added to the National NOW database. Voting requirements may apply.
Article V. Structure. This clarifies Maryland NOW’s decision-making structure.
Article VI. Meetings. The meetings section was added about 3 years ago at the request of the national organization that oversees Robert’s Rules compliance. It specifically authorizes virtual meetings and says that decisions reached at virtual meetings are equally as valid as those reached at in-person meetings but states that the same requirements, such as for notice, that apply to any in-person meeting would apply to such a meeting held virtually.
Article VII. State Conference. Secs A, B, and F remove language no longer relevant as per changes in the National NOW Bylaws regarding delegated national conferences. Sec C moves the financial review language to the Treasurer’s responsibilities section. (See Article IX. Officers>Sec. F. Treasurer>No. 5). Sec F is a sound business practice for membership organizations, but also complies with the provision that the State Council votes to approve any fiduciary action or changes to our budget in Article VIII.
Article VIII. State Council. Sec A clarifies the role of the state council and its relationship to decisions that might be reached by the State Conference in any implementation measures. Sec B clarifies that “member chapters” can include a convening chapter that may participate (vote) at State Council meetings once they have completed their convenor form, and that form has been approved by the National NOW office. This signifies that they are starting to work toward completing requirements of the National organization’s Chapter Services office and Maryland NOW (that they will have bylaws, an EIN number, bank account, etc.).
Sec D includes language about meetings (virtual meetings counting toward the required number which are to be held), No. 2 defines access to meetings by all members, but gives the Executive Committee the ability to go into Executive Session, meaning only council members can be present during that discussion. An example of this action would be during budget discussions or financial reports to the State Council. No. 6 repeats the requirement for virtual meetings and removes some confusing language about council voting. Electronic communication has essentially eliminated that need, and provides resolution of this question.
The bylaws committee and executive committee of our officers are seeking to remove the option of having co-presidents from our bylaws. We have only had the office of president filled by two people once, and it did not go well at all. There is no other language anywhere in our bylaws describing how this would work, whether people seeking this position would have to seek it as a team or whether any two candidates getting the most votes among a field of candidates would then share the office. There is no other language anywhere in our bylaws that even references this option, and we urge removing it until, at some point in the future if we choose, the issue can be addressed more definitively.
Article X. Executive Committee. This acknowledges that task force and committee chairs may be included in Executive Committee sessions when needed. It clarifies communication between the Executive Committee and the State Council as “reporting decisions and discussion” and that records of meeting will be kept.
Article XI. Task Forces and Committees. Sec E language was added to clarify that, once established with leadership by the State President and approved by the State Council, the task force or committee itself can at some point decide to disband or may become inactive (they are not removed when new officers are elected at the state conference). The state council can remove a Task Force or Committee chair for cause.
Article XIII. Finances. This article defines the Budget Committee and creates a timeline for the passage of Maryland NOW’s Budget each fall so our budget for the coming year is approved by the end of our fiscal year. In budget matters and in work to increase income, this committee works with the Treasurer. Sec D adds some responsibilities for involvement in our fundraising and for the Finance Committee to be involved in financial management and fundraising, as well as sharing bookkeeping responsibilities within the Finance Committee. It gives responsibilities for investing any funds the organization might have into sound accounts. For several reasons, Maryland NOW has not done very much fundraising in recent years and recent efforts, especially for our PAC, show that we need to do more.
Article XIV. Grievance. The Executive Committee had occasion this past year to work with a grievance committee and so decided to re-work this article to reflect what we learned in that process. A grievance is much like a lawsuit where someone cites violation of our policy or bylaws, and a committee is formed to conduct a review of these charges of violations, sharing all communication with each side and the members of the committee. This ultimately results in a hearing, followed by deliberation of the committee members. The committee members are much like a “jury” and while each side chooses a person for the committee, that person does not represent them in the process – they are there to hear “evidence.” The side filing the grievance seeks “remedies” to the violations they claim have happened, and must prove that the violations have occurred. Very important: The process is designed so that it remains confidential or internal and is not publicized outside the organization. We added language that specifically prohibits using online communication or social media to share a “side” or view of the grievance charges.
Article XV. Amendment of the Bylaws. Sec A Existing language was confusing, and has been changed to two options for amendment: the Bylaws Committee and chapters. Sec B changes language so that regardless of origin, bylaw amendments have to be turned into the Executive Committee and the Bylaws Committee for review 60 days prior to the state conference. This was changed from 45 days because of the time and work involved in creating the state conference mailing and including a proposed change, printing and mailing.
Bylaws changes are not approved by the state council, but go directly to the state conference for a vote; however, there is no reason proposed changes can’t be reviewed by the council, task forces, and committees prior to submission to the state conference plenary.
ARTICLE XVI. Rules of Order. Changes to this article reflect the fact the Robert’s Rules frequently updates their manuals, and rather than updating this document with a different edition number when that happens, we would just insert the words “most recent edition” into our article.
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