Every three years Rotary International’s Council on Legislation meets to debate and vote on legislation submitted by clubs, districts, and the RI Board. The Council has the authority to amend RI’s constitutional documents, as well as adopt resolutions. Every district sends a representative to the Council, and every club and district may propose legislation. If your club or district is considering proposing legislation for the Council, follow the guidelines below.

The 2007 Council made a number of changes to the legislative process for the 2010 Council, including changing the deadline to receive legislation, the deadline for amendments, the definition of defective legislation, and the number of recommended legislative items per district. Further information on these changes can be found below and in the What’s New for the 2010 Council document.

Clubs, districts, the RI Board, and the general council or conference of RI in Great Britain and Ireland (RIBI) may submit legislation. However, club proposals must first be endorsed by the district in order to be presented to the Council.

In addition, all districts should forward to RI Headquarters all legislation proposed by or endorsed at a district conference within 45 days of the conclusion of the conference or the date fixed by the governor for receipt of the ballots for a ballot-by-mail.

Legislation, along with its certification form, may be mailed, faxed or e-mailed to:

Council Services
Rotary International
One Rotary Center
1560 Sherman Avenue
Evanston, Illinois 60201
U.S.A.

When a club proposes legislation, the club’s board of directors must first submit the legislation to the membership for adoption at a regular club meeting. If adopted, the proposal must then be forwarded to the district with a letter signed by the club president and secretary certifying that it has been adopted.

The next step is for the district conference to vote on the piece. If the piece receives the conference’s endorsement, the governor completes the certification form that verifies this (the form is available from the Secretariat office serving your area or online on the Council on Legislation page of the Rotary Web site, www.rotary.org ) and sends both items to RI Headquarters in time to meet the 31 December 2008 deadline. If there is not time for the district conference to consider a piece, the governor may alternatively conduct a ballot-by-mail of the clubs in the district.

The Council will consider only those club pieces that receive district endorsement.

A district conference (district council in RIBI) may also propose legislation. When this occurs, the governor should submit the piece, along with the form certifying that the conference/council proposed it, to RI Headquarters in time to meet the 31 December 2008 deadline. (The certification form is available either from the Secretariat office serving your area or online on the Council on Legislation page of the Rotary Web site, www.rotary.org. ) The legislation may either be submitted with your district conference report, or sent separately to the Council Services Section. If submitting legislation with a district report, please be sure to check the appropriate box on the conference report form.

The RI Bylaws encourage districts to submit no more than five pieces of legislation in total. It is hoped that if there is less legislation, the Council will have more time for in depth examination of legislation.

There are two types of legislation: enactments and resolutions. Enactments seek to change RI’s constitutional documents (the RI Constitution, RI Bylaws, and the Standard Rotary Club Constitution); while resolutions do not.

First and foremost, remember that enactments may only amend the

They may not amend the Recommended Rotary Club Bylaws or The Rotary Foundation Bylaws; only the RI Board and the Foundation trustees can change those documents. Text of the constitutional documents can be found either in the yellow pages of the 2007 Manual of Procedure, or online at the Council on Legislation page of the Rotary Web site, www.rotary.org. 

When preparing an enactment, first search all three constitutional documents for all references to the text relating to the desired change. Ensure that the proposed changes are made in all appropriate

places. Search for keywords relating to the proposed change and also for references to the section of the constitutional document being amended to determine if those words or references may also need to be changed. Otherwise, the proposed change may be contradicted by text in another constitutional document, or even later on in the same document. However, it may be that the proposed change will only occur in one place.

Once it has been determined that all the required changes have been identified, either re-type or electronically copy and paste the affected parts of the constitutional documents onto a new document. Clearly label which document is being changed (RI Constitution, RI Bylaws, or Standard Rotary Club Constitution). Then simply strike through any text that is to be deleted and underline any new text that is to be added. It looks something like this:

To (state concisely the purpose of the proposal)

Proposed by (the Rotary Club of ______ or the Conference/Council of District ______)

IT IS ENACTED by Rotary International that the (name of the constitutional document) be and hereby is amended as follows

Yes. Here is an example of a proposed enactment in proper form submitted to a past Council:

Resolutions do not seek to change the RI constitutional documents. When considering a resolution, determine whether the issue involved affects Rotarians on a global level, or is more local in scope. Also determine if the resolution would require or request an administrative act that is within the discretion of the RI Board or the general secretary; if so, the Constitution and Bylaws Committee may determine that it is defective and, therefore, recommend that it not be transmitted to the Council. If any of these situations apply, perhaps the issue may be better handled through a Memorial to the Board. Otherwise, a resolution looks something like this:

To (state concisely the purpose of the proposal)

Proposed by (the Rotary Club of ______ or the Conference/Council of District ______)

IT IS RESOLVED by Rotary International that the Board of Directors of Rotary International consider (provide the wording of the resolution)

OR

IT IS RESOLVED by Rotary International that, in the opinion of the 2010 Council on Legislation (provide the wording of the resolution)

Yes. Here is an example of a proposed resolution in proper form submitted to a past Council:

Instead of proposing a resolution to the Council, a club or district may wish to consider submitting a memorial to the RI Board. (RCP 28.005.) The RI Board hears memorials at every meeting, and there may be a more rapid response through this action than by submitting a resolution. A memorial to the Board is a petition to the Board for action on a specific matter. In many cases where amending the constitutional documents is not necessary, the proposer’s purpose can be more efficiently and quickly accomplished by a memorial.

Staff first reviews the legislation to ensure that it is has been endorsed by the district, certified by the governor, and has arrived by the 31 December 2008 deadline. Legislation that arrives after the deadline, even if it is postmarked prior to 31 December, will not be considered.

Staff then prepares the legislation for review by the Constitution & Bylaws Committee. The Constitution & Bylaws Committee usually meets monthly for a period of four or five months. At the meetings, they review each piece of legislation to determine whether it is correctly drafted. The Committee, working with staff, also develops Purpose and Effect statements and Financial Impact Statements for each piece. Where pieces are similar, the Committee often recommends a compromise piece to the proposers. The work of the Council is greatly facilitated when proposers agree to compromise proposals, as it allows the Council to examine a single proposal in depth, as opposed to rapidly moving through multiple proposals on the same topic. For those pieces that require further drafting, the Constitution & Bylaws Committee may make recommended changes working through staff and district Council representatives or proposers. Ultimately, however, it is the proposers’ responsibility to submit legislation that is properly drafted. The Committee then reports its findings to the RI Board, which makes a final determination as to whether the legislation is:

If points 2 or 3 apply, the legislation may not be presented to the Council.

Chapters 10 and 18 of the 2007 Manual of Procedure, article 10 of the RI Constitution, articles 7 and 8 of the RI Bylaws, and article 59 of the RI Code of Policies.