04/27/2021 Steering Meeting
Steering Committee, April 27
Facilitator: Irene
Secretary: Ryan M
Attending: Kurtis, Ryan, Brian, Alex H, Frankie, Rachel, Stu, Irene, Alex L, Tim, Saoirse, Paola, Zuhayr (for PG)
Absent: Ali, Tom B (excused)
Minutes + Agenda
Meeting came to order at 7:01 pm. Brian reads aloud the code of conduct and land acknowledgement. Asks for any amendments to the agenda. Agenda is approved without objection. Minutes are adopted without objection.
Reports
Secretary Report (Ryan M)
Nothing to report on outside of what is contained in the section on the election.
Treasurer Report (Brian W)
Brain delivers the treasurer’s report. Allocated work for the next cycle of budgeting. Full written report can be found here.
NOVA Branch Report (Alex H)
Big thing to discuss is the PRO Act. Been great working with the other VA chapters and having rallies going on across the state. Branch working on an upcoming picnic for members.
MoCo Branch (Alex L)
Met with Adcom last week to discuss single sign on. Also working on doing candidate research for the candidates for 2022. No substantive updates from Defund. Planning May branch meeting for May 2nd.
PG County Branch (Zuhayr)
Working with Adcom on integrating into the work of the branch. Steering elections have concluded and been posted in the PG Channel.
Old Business
JWJ Steering (Stu)
Stu puts forward a resolution to fill vacancies on the JWJ Steering Committee. These names were recommended by the Labor WG. Motion is seconded and passes unanimously.
Accessibility Policy (Rachel)
Had trouble getting auto captions going at the political education event yesterday and working on integrating CC into all calls. Question whether we should have a policy and guidelines about accessability. Irene will have a draft policy to show Steering by May 4th.
May GBM (Kurtis)
The GBM this year is on Mother’s Day, so there is interest in potentially moving the meeting. Brain moves we move the GBM and all subsequent elections such as Steering and Delegate, to May 23. Motion is seconded and adopted unanimously.
HGO Process (Rachel)
Rachel delivers a summary on the HGO process so far. Rachel requests that we reopen the application period until May 9 to allow for targeted outreach to BIPOC members to apply. Motion is seconded and passes unanimously.
New Business
PRO Act (Kurtis)
Just connecting the last final dots on planning. Finalizing speakers and other logistics. Sent out a chapter spoke campaign yesterday to all members inviting them to the rally. Looking for a large turn out.
2021 Election (Ryan)
Ryan reports on the progress of the nominations process. Need a decision on whether steering can provisionally certify the results of the delegate nominations process so we can get a roster to national for pre-convention activity. The list of nominations contain no “challenges” or nominations where the validity of the nomination is in question that would affect the total count so Ryan believes its uncontroversial to simply certify them for now so we can get a list to national and have elections team review them for the formal election. Very low level of submissions to the elections team application. Ryan will meet with candidates this week and have a final roster for steering to vote on by Tuesday.
Ryan moves we provisionally certify the results of the delegate nominations so we can send a roster to national. This is seconded and passes unanimously.
Irene motions that we have Steering members who are not running for reelection to certify steering nomination results. There are objections and debate. Frankie calls for a roll call vote. The votes are as follows:
Brain votes nay, Rachel votes aye, Ryan votes nay, Frankie votes nay, Paola votes aye, Kurtis votes nay, Tim votes aye, Stu votes aye, Saoirse aye, Irene votes aye. With 6 in favor and 4 against the motion passes.
Karishma Strategic discussion (Alex)
Alex H and David W give a report on the progress of the Karishma campaign.
Defund social Media header (Frankie)
Frankie introduces a motion along side Runal and Abel about coordinating our social media in memory of the one year mark of George Floyd’s murder. This is also in coordination with several key dates along the defund campaign. Motion is to change Twitter, Insta, and FB logo for chapter accounts to this image from May 15th to June 1st. Motion passes by unanimous consent.
NEC Community Guidelines (Stu)
Stu brings forward a proposal on guidelines for non-endorsed candidates. This is based on the old rules the last steering passed as well as language in the new bylaws. It has been challenging to enforce the rules around electioneering for non-endorsed candidates and we need clear rules in place. Proposal is moved and seconded and passes unanimously.
Discussion on restarting in-person events (Saoirse)
Saoirse introduces a discussion on the idea of re-opening the chapter for social events.
Meeting adjourns at 9:22 pm.