No resolution presented herein reflects the policy of the Minnesota State Bar Association until approved by the Assembly. Informational reports, comments and supporting data are not approved by their acceptance for filing and do not become part of the policy of the Minnesota State Bar Association unless specifically approved by the Assembly.
REPORT AND RECOMMENDATION TO
THE MINNESOTA STATE BAR ASSOCIATION
to amend the MSBA Bylaws
RECOMMENDATION
. . .
The President shall annually appoint representatives to the committees subject to the approval of the Assembly. Only representatives from the Assembly may serve on Assembly committees, unless otherwise approved by the Assembly. Each Voting Representative shall serve on at least one committee. Each Assembly committee shall comprise no fewer than 15 representatives and no more than 40 representatives, unless otherwise approved by the Assembly. The chair of each Assembly committee shall be a representative from the Council unless otherwise approved by the Council. The President shall select the chair of each committee. A meeting of an Assembly committee shall be held at the call of its chairperson. Notice of the committee meeting shall be given to all representatives on the committee at least 10 days prior to the meeting. Notice may be by regular mail, facsimile, e-mail or telephone. Each committee shall keep a record of its meetings and proceedings and promptly file minutes of each meeting with the MSBA office. A majority vote of those in attendance at the Assembly committee meeting is sufficient to take action.
REPORT
The current Bylaws provide that the chair of all Assembly Committees must be members of the Council. The requirement was created as part of the 2004 restructuring of the MSBA and its purpose was to provide for the coordination of the activities of the Assembly Committees within the Council.
Every year since 2004 at least one Chair of an Assembly Committee has not been a member of the Council. Those chairs were selected in contravention to the Bylaws because of some unique skill or interest or experience he/she brought to the position. The Assembly was notified of this deviation on each occasion. After a sufficient number of years experience with the new structure, it was agreed to recommend a change to the Bylaws to allow for an exception to the general rule that Assembly chairs also hold membership on the Council. The specific language providing for Council approval of the exception was chosen because the purpose of the rule was to benefit the Council as it coordinated the activities of the Assembly.
Respectfully submitted,
Aaron Biber
Chair, Governance Committee of the Assembly