Author: cathyd
Last saved by: Tom & Irene
Company: Hewlett-Packard Company

AUTOMATIC AMENDMENT PROCEDURE for SO Bylaw Updates

Some state organization bylaws do not have a provision for automatically updating the SO bylaws and standing rules to bring them into conformity with the DKG Constitution and International Standing Rules. Therefore, at their state conventions members  go through the tedious process of proposing and voting on each conforming amendment separately.

Here is a way to streamline the process of making all of the amendments necessary to bring the state organization’s governing documents into compliance with the Constitution and International Standing Rules.

If the convention adopts an amendment to the state organization’s bylaws that states, "Changes in the Bylaws and Standing Rules of __(insert your SO name here)___  necessitated by amendments to the DKG Constitution and/or International Standing Rules shall be made by the __(insert the name of the authorized board or committee here)___ and then reported to  members ___(indicate how, when and where___, " the state organization will not have to approve each change individually. 

Note that the amendment needs to state who has the authority to make the conforming amendments and to indicate when and how members are to be informed of the changes.

If such an amendment is proposed and adopted at a 2019 SO convention, it will take effect immediately.  Therefore, if it is adopted before any conforming amendments are proposed, the members will not have to consider those conforming amendments. They can simply be made by the authorized board or committee and reported to the members in the prescribed manner.

Helen Popovich, Ph.D., PRP
International Parliamentarian
January 15, 2019