East Bay DSA 

April 18th, 2021

2-4 pm

Introductions/Opening Statements

Call to Order

Approval of Agenda

1. Consent Agenda approved

Committee Reports

1. Finance 
2. Recording Secretary’s Report

Discussion items

1. Police violence/BLM response 
2. Electoral Committee Update 
3. PRO Act Update
4. Local Convention Update
5. Timeline for the rest of SC term 

5 min break 

New Business

Vote to Adopt East Bay DSA 2021 Convention Rules

1. Resolutions: Per our normal General Meeting protocols, an agenda with all relevant resolutions will be circulated to membership at least two weeks in advance of the meeting. 
2. Motivation and Q&A: Each resolution will be motivated by one of its drafters, and there will be a short time agendized for clarifying questions and answers.
3. Motions: Procedural motions will be taken through the Voting Interface at vote.eastbaydsa.org. Motions must be seconded by another member through the Voting Interface.
4. Debate: Stack for debate will be taken in the Voting Interface as well. Members should indicate if they intend to speak for or against the motion (e.g. “Stack in favor of the motion”). Speakers will be given 90 seconds to speak on the resolution or motion on the floor.
5. Amendments: Amendments must be submitted by the Friday, May 7th deadline at the latest to be considered for the agenda. The Convention Organizing Working Group will agendize as many amendments as feasible. In the event of too many amendments being submitted, the COWG will prioritize agendizing amendments based on political substantiveness and minimal redundancy. There will be no floor amendments (or amendments to amendments) allowed during the meeting.
6. Consent Agenda: The Convention will vote on a Consent Agenda to pass priorities proposals with strong support based on the Consent Agenda straw poll circulated to the Chapter Membership. The Consent Agenda will be passed by a simple majority. Members will not be allowed to pull items from the Consent Agenda from the floor.
7. Chat Box: During floor debate, the chat box may not be used for debate points, comments/questions, or other conversation.
8. Voting: Members must be present in the meeting to vote, and no proxy votes will be allowed. Votes will be conducted through the Voting Interface, which will only be accessible to dues-paid members.
9. Expulsion: If a member consistently does not follow the special protocols and/or code of conduct, harasses the Chairs or other members, or otherwise is disruptive during the meeting, they may be removed from the Zoom meeting, per the Chairs’ discretion. Members will receive at least 1 warning before being removed from the meeting.
10. Styles Committee: After the Convention, the Convention Organizing Working Group will serve as a Styles Committee to standardize language across the 2021 Chapter Platform and Priorities Resolution. The Steering Committee will vote to ratify the final language of the Platform and Priorities Resolution.

PASSED

Resolution to Form an EBDSA Branches Working Group

Aaron H, Michael K, Katie F, Susan S, Benny Z, Zach W, Daniel E, Erica W, Isaac H, Jen E  

Whereas our EBDSA bylaws, Article X, currently state:

"It is the intent of the Chapter to create categories of Branches that may enhance the democratic functioning of the Chapter;"

Whereas Article X was adopted in early 2018;

Whereas our chapter's membership has grown to thousands since those bylaws were written three years ago;

Whereas several of the largest DSA chapters in our country already have various kinds of branches;

Whereas there are currently multiple groups of members that have worked on visions for branches that are quite different;  

Whereas members would benefit from an opportunity to discuss branch structures in a chapter-sponsored, low-stakes environment that is not centered around a specific proposal; 

Whereas not everyone who wanted to speak on branches at the April GM was able to, therefore evidencing a real desire among chapter members to discuss how branches should be established and function;

Whereas branches can be formed in a wide variety of ways, and it is clear from the work that has been done so far that further discussion and membership participation is needed before a branch structure can be successfully implemented;

Whereas the whole chapter membership should be involved in a discussion on the nature of branches within EBDSA since it is a structural change that will affect all members.

Therefore be it resolved that various structures should be discussed in a series of two or three EBDSA chapter-wide forums on branches to conclude within no longer than a four month time frame.

Be it further resolved that the EBDSA Steering Committee form a Branches Working Group to shepherd the creation and holding of such forums. 

Be it further resolved that after the series of forums on branch creation, the membership will have an opportunity to vote on (a) proposal(s) for the creation of EBDSA branches.

PASSED

Resolution to Have a 24-hour Buffer on Steering Committee Email Votes 

Submitted by Benny Z.

Whereas EBDSA is a completely volunteer organization;

Whereas in most workplaces a reasonable response time for emails is a day or two;

Whereas we should not expect out leadership to immediately respond to emails;

Whereas it is important for Steering Committee members to be able to review resolutions, follow up with resolution authors, ask questions, have debate, and present amendments for email resolutions in the same way as in a Steering Committee meeting;

Whereas Steering Committee members regularly vote “for the record” on email resolutions because by the time they saw it the resolution had already passed;

Therefore be it resolved that Steering Committee members will have 24-hours after receiving an email resolution to reply to the email to ask questions, debate, and submit amendments;

Be it further resolved that questions will be answered before voting opens;

Be it further resolved that voting on email resolutions will start no sooner than 24-hours after the resolution has been sent to the entire Steering Committee by the chairs.

PASSED