ALL-SIS Chair Michael Slinger tasked the ALL-SIS Bylaws Committee (Jennifer Wagner, Hollie White, and me, as Chair) with the job of comparing the SISs bylaws with those of AALL, reviewing the SISs bylaws, and offering revisions to the ALL-SIS bylaws. The bylaws comparison and review process has been completed as of May 16, 2006. The proposed revision of the bylaws has been memorialized in the material which follows. Deletions of material have been indicated by striking through the deleted text. Language added has been bolded and rendered in red. If a change was made to a section, the reason for the change follows the section changed in brackets. The revision has been approved by the ALL-SIS Executive Board and has the preliminary approval of the AALL Bylaws Committee.
Respectfully submitted,
Thomas L. Hanley, Chair
ALL-SIS Bylaws Committee
The name of this special interest section of the American Association of Law Libraries (AALL) shall be the Academic Law Libraries Section.
The Academic Law Libraries Section is established:
It shall conduct its affairs in conformity with the Constitution and Bylaws of the American Association of Law Libraries.
Membership shall be open to any AALL member requesting affiliation with the Academic Law Libraries Section as provided in the AALL bylaws. Membership is effective upon payment of additional SIS membership dues. The year for dues begins on June 1. [This is additional wording to clarify what is already in effect.]
There shall be an annual meeting of the Academic Law Libraries Section, held in connection with, or during, the annual meeting of the AALL.
The officers shall consist of a Chair, a Vice-Chair/Chair-Elect, and a Secretary/Treasurer. The Vice-Chair/Chair-Elect shall automatically become Chair one year after being elected Vice-Chair, and shall serve as Chair during the second year following that election. The Secretary/Treasurer shall be elected biennially. These officers shall serve without compensation but shall be reimbursed for any expenditures incurred in the discharge of their duties. [This is additional wording to clarify what is already in effect.]
The Chair, Vice-Chair/Chair-Elect and Secretary/Treasurer shall perform the duties usually pertaining to their respective offices, and such other duties as may be assigned by the Executive Committee of the membership.
In the event of the disability or withdrawal of the Chair, the title, duties, and obligations of the office shall be assumed by the Vice-Chair, who shall then serve until the end of his or her own term as Chair. If the vacancy occurs more than twenty weeks before the next election, a special election shall be held to fill the office of Vice-Chair/Chair-Elect upon the assumption of the office of Chair by the Vice-Chair.
There shall be such standing or special committees as the Executive Committee, or the membership of the section, shall create. There shall be a standing Nominating Committee, appointed by the Executive Committee, to consist of three members, no one of whom shall be a member of the Executive Committee, and no one of whom shall be a candidate for office at the succeeding election. Each member of the Committee shall serve for a term of one year.
(Revised Article V. adopted at the Section’s Annual Meeting in Orlando, Florida, July 21, 2002.)
The Nominating Committee shall submit the names of candidates for the office of Vice-Chair/Chair-elect, Secretary/Treasurer, and the elected member, together with their written acceptances, to the Chair by January 30.
In the event that the Vice-Chair/Chair-elect cannot assume the duties of Chair, and such fact is known prior to January 15, the Committee shall also submit the names of candidates for the office of Chair for the term of one year.
The Executive Committee shall notify membership of the candidates proposed by the nominating committee by February 28. Notification to the membership can be by mail, ALL-SIS newsletter or broadcast email as the Executive Committee decides.
Additional nominations may be made upon written petition of five (5) members of the Section. Such petitions, accompanied by written acceptance of the nominees, must be filed with the Chair by March 20 February 15. [The date must be modified to allow the Chair time to verify the petitions in advance of the March 1 deadline for the election issue of the SIS newsletter.]
The Secretary/Treasurer will notify the candidates, whether proposed by the Nominating Committee or by petition, that they must deliver their candidate biographical statements to the Secretary/Treasurer, to arrive no later than March 1. [This section was added to make certain that candidate biographical statements would be received by the March 1 deadline for the election issue of the SIS newsletter.]
The Secretary shall prepare an official ballot, including nominations by petition. The professional position of each nominee shall appear on the ballot. Voting shall be by secret ballot. [This is additional wording to clarify what is already in effect.]
The Officers of the Section shall be elected by ballot. The Secretary shall distribute ballots to each member of the Section by April 1. Ballots shall be marked and returned to the Secretary by April 25. The candidates receiving the largest number of votes for each office shall be declared elected, and shall be reported by the Secretary at the annual meeting of the Section. All candidates shall be notified of the results of election by May 5.
(Revised Article VI, Section 5, adopted at the Section's Annual Meeting in Boston, Massachusetts, July 11, 2004.)
In case of a tie vote, a run-off election shall be held at the business meeting of the Section at the annual AALL convention. Run-off elections shall be by secret ballot. The ballots shall be immediately counted, and the candidate with the largest number of votes shall be declared elected.
If there are no challenges to the results of the an election conducted by paper ballot, the ballots may be destroyed by the Secretary after the annual meeting. [This is additional wording to clarify what is already in effect.]
Bylaws of the Section may be adopted, amended or suspended at the annual meeting of the Section by a majority vote of the members present and voting. Or, bylaws may be adopted, amended, or suspended through a distributed ballot. Whenever the bylaws are to be changed by a distributed ballot, the Secretary shall distribute ballots to every member in good standing of the Section. Such ballots shall state the text of the proposed change, the purpose of the change, and the date by which ballots must be returned to the Secretary. Proposed changes in the bylaws by distributed ballot must receive a majority vote of the ballots returned to the Secretary in order to pass. Tie votes shall be considered failure to pass.
(Revised Article VII, Section 1, adopted at the Section's Annual Meeting in Boston, Massachusetts, July 11, 2004.)
Any amendment shall take effect after it has been approved by the AALL’s
Bylaws Committee Executive Board. [Changes to the SISs bylaws
must be approved by the AALL Bylaws Committee rather than the AALL Executive
Board, as explained by the Chair of the AALL Bylaws Committee upon review
of this draft.]
[This change was made to parallel the corresponding material in the AALL Bylaws.]
Sturgis Standard Code of Parliamentary Procedure, in the latest edition, shall govern all deliberations of the Section when not in conflict with the bylaws of the Section.