Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Section Viability Review topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Governor says Animal Law section will undergo approved viability review; governors debate whether triggers belong in bylaws
Summary
At the governors' roundtable, a governor who identified themself as co-chair of the Volunteer Engagement Committee announced that the Animal Law section triggered the previously approved section viability review; staff explained a membership-counting discrepancy, and governors debated whether the review criteria should remain in the bylaws or be moved to policy.
A governor who identified themself as co-chair of the Volunteer Engagement Committee told the Washington State Bar Association governors' roundtable that the Animal Law section has been flagged to undergo the association's recently adopted section viability review.
"This is not, you know, any sort of punitive action. This is just simply to offer support to the sections to make sure that they are serving the membership," the governor said, and directed questions to Kevin, the staff member overseeing membership data.
Kevin explained the technical trigger: the staff previously tracked all section members rather than voting members, and when nonvoting members are removed from counts, Animal Law falls below the threshold that initiates a viability review. "We weren't tracking voting members. We were tracking all members," Kevin said, describing an internal information discrepancy that produced the trigger.
Governors discussed whether the viability-review mechanism should remain in the association's bylaws. One governor suggested updating the bylaws to prevent future discrepancies and proposed that Governor Faye serve as a liaison to coordinate any changes. Others urged waiting for feedback from sections and from the initial reviews before altering governance documents.
A member of the governance committee argued the bylaw-based trigger may be redundant because the Board of Governors can make decisions about sections without a separate bylaw procedure, and recommended considering moving the review trigger into policy rather than leaving it in the bylaws.
The governors did not take a formal vote during the roundtable. Several participants said they would place the matter on the governance committee agenda or otherwise follow up so that sections can provide feedback after the review process is carried out.
Next steps: the co-chair and staff will proceed with the viability review for Animal Law under the criteria previously approved by the board, governance members will collect feedback from reviewed sections, and governors signaled interest in a governance-committee review of whether the trigger should remain in the bylaws.
