NCRA members voted on seven amendments to the association’s Constitution & Bylaws during the organization’s Annual Business Meeting at the 2015 Convention & Expo being held in New York July 30-Aug. 2. Online voting opened after the Annual Business Meeting adjourned and was open for 12 hours. Overall, 612 members cast votes. To pass, bylaws amendments must receive at least two-thirds (2/3) affirmation by the Voting Members who are voting by electronic mail or other authorized means of electronic transmission.
All seven amendments passed with the exception of Proposal 2 and 3 for Amendment #2, which covered voting rights for CLVS Associate Members. The full text of the amendments is available here.
The specific results were as follows:
Amendment #1: Due to the changes in the CBC/CCP certification programs, Article III, Section 4, of the Constitution and Bylaws requires amending the section to ensure that Certified Realtime Captioners be considered Registered Members. In addition, the phrase, “or who was a Professional Member in good standing on July 21, 1993” is no longer needed in the bylaws.
- For 532 (91.7%); Against 48 (8.3%)
Amendment #2: Proposal 1) is to add the formal name of the CLVS certification. Regarding 2) and 3), the Board of Directors charged the Constitution and Bylaws Committee with exploring the possibility of allowing voting rights by Certified Legal Video Specialists who are NCRA members, without changing the Associate Member category. Proposal 4), Section 9, subsection d), is a revision of current Article III, Section 10, subsection b), which more appropriately belongs in Section 9. Since Proposal 2 and 3 are conforming amendments and cannot stand without the other, the amendments were voted on together as one amendment.
- Proposal 1: For 409 (68.4%); Against 189 (31.6%)
- Proposal 2 and 3: For 247 (42.7%); Against 332 (57.3%)
- Proposal 4: For 384 (68.1%); Against 180 (31.9%)
Amendment #3: This section is being amended to clarify and define present procedures as it relates to the directory. The current directory contains a listing of nonmember Certified Legal Video Specialists, who are not reporters, and other information. The current subsection on the use of appellations does not belong in this section and has been changed and moved to Article III, Section 9. The Board previously voted to no longer list state and USCRA certifications because there is not a way to verify such certifications.
- For 487 (86.2%); Against 78 (13.8%)
Amendment #4: This is a housekeeping matter and is proposed for the purpose of clarity. Since subsection a) already states that the dues shall be recommended by the Board of Directors, it’s confusing to also state that the dues will be set by the Board of Directors.
- For 549 (95.1%); Against 28 (4.9%)
Amendment #5: This amendment is being proposed to clarify that voting takes place online.
- For 557 (96.4%); Against 21 (3.6%)
Amendment #6: To be consistent throughout the bylaws, it is recommended that the specific date by which an action must take place be removed and replaced with a set number of days prior to the annual convention. Currently, material on all candidates is available upon request by the Board. The proposed revision removes having the Board receive the information on all candidates considered. The DSA Committee only submits one name to the Board which the Board may accept or reject.
- For 521 (94.9%); Against 28 (5.1%)
Amendment #7: The committee believes that it would make sense to have all members of NCRA committees, councils and task forces, and not just the chairs, become familiar with these laws and requirements of the Association before they begin their committee work.
- For 563 (96.7%); Against 19 (3.3%)
In addition, Voting Members present at the Annual Business Meeting voted to increase dues, which will go into effect in 2016.
