Every three years, Rotary International convenes a Council on Legislation (COL). The next Council will meet in Chicago in April 2019. During this meeting the representatives will review, debate and vote on proposed changes (Proposals) to the legislation that governs Rotary – the Rotary Constitution, Rotary Bylaws, and the recommended Club Constitution. This is how the “Rotary Rules” for the world are changed and updated. The approved changes are published in the Manual of Procedures.
The last COL meeting was held in April 2016. Our representative for that session was PDG Tom Kent of RC Brookhaven. It was a very powerful Council and they made some amazing changes to how Rotary works. They reviewed and voted on 181 pieces of legislation. One of the enactments that was approved by the COL was the creation of the Council on Resolutions (COR). The COR will meet every year online during the month of November to review and vote on proposed Resolutions. Resolutions are recommendations to the RI Board of Directors, but do not change any governing documents.
The Council consists of one representative from every District in the world – all 534 of them. The elected representative for our 2016-2019 is PDG Margie Kersey of the RC of Stone Mountain. Her job is to ensure the Rotarians of District 6900 have a voice in the proceedings.
Proposals and Resolutions come from Rotary Clubs around the world. Rotary Clubs like yours. The COL and the COR are your opportunity to build a better Rotary! Rotary clubs like yours submitted proposals to the 2016 COL to remove the distinction between traditional Rotary Clubs and E Clubs. Their proposals opened the way for clubs to decide how often they would meeting and what those meetings would look like.
Consider inviting PDG Tom Kent to speak at your club about the 2016 Council on Legislation. Or if you have questions about how you and your club can submit a proposal or resolution, contact PDG Margie Kersey.
Submitting a Proposal or Resolution isn’t difficult. The forms can be found on the Rotary.org website (link below), but there are deadlines:
Annual Deadline for Resolutions: June 30
Deadline for Proposals to 2019 COL: December 31, 2017
Link for info & forms:https://my.rotary.org/en/learning-reference/polici...