gist by PDG Tam Mustapha

1. Summary of the Council on Legislation
decisions of 2013
PREPARED BY PDG TAM MUSTAPHA,
RLI INTERNATIONAL VICE-CHAIR
The COL met in Chicago from April 21st to 26, 2013.
Here is the summary. I have grouped those
enactments into 3 sections - first
what is pertinent to clubs, second mostly for district
leadership and third for RI directors and board.
1. Pertaining To Clubs
- Every club must circulate the club report (Semi-
annual report SAR) to all its members
- The club secretary shall be a board member
- A candidate for the office of club president shall have
served at least one year in that club as a member
before being nominated -- exceptions can be made by
the DG)
- Any former member of a club shall not be required to
pay an admission fee if joining the club for the second
time
- Attendance requirement can be met for any service
project or any other activities or events by that club
- Termination for lack of attendance - the language was
changed from “shall” to “may” be subject to termination
- Medical leave can be extended beyond 12 months
and it shall not be considered as an unexcused
absence

2. - In the rule of 85 (for excused absences) the lower
age limit was taken out. Now it is total of 85 with any
age (person’s age plus years of membership)
- Excused absences (under subsection 3A) are not
reported as absences
- A partner/spouse shall be excused for attendance if
that partner is attending the duties of being a partner of
a current RI officer
- A Satellite club is a potential club whose members
shall also be members of the sponsor club
- A club can include people who have interrupted their
work or never worked in order to take care of the
children (an exception from the requirement of
employment for a classification)
- When terminating a member the vote should be no
less than 2/3 of the board members present and voting
- A current or former member of a club is supposed to
get a statement from the previous club about any
money owed to them before being accepted to the new
club. If the new club does not get the statement in spite
of the request properly made even after 30 days, then
that will be taken as no money owed
- Honorary members shall be entitled to wear Rotary
emblems, badge or any other insignia of RI so long as
the member holds honorary membership
- There is no limit to the number of e clubs a district
can have The board of e club can determine the
locality of an eclub, otherwise it is worldwide

3. - Any member all over the world can now choose to get
Rotary magazine electronically rather than printed
version
- The International per capita dues will be automatically
increased 50 cents every half year until it is changed
by the COL
The good news is now there is no minimum
membership requirement for paying the dues to RI by
the clubs (the requirement for chartering remains the
same).
Also a club can request to reduce or postpone the
dues to be paid to RI when there is a natural disaster
that has caused sustained or serious damage to the
locality
2. Pertaining To Districts
- The district assembly is going to be called District
Training Assembly for Club leaders
- All votes from a club will be cast as a single vote
- The fifth avenue of service is now going to be called
Youth Service and not New Generations
- The qualifications for a PDG to be on the nominating
committee for director can be changed by a district
vote conducted properly
- The duties of the Governor now include ensuring that
the constitution and bylaws of the clubs comply with
the R.I. constitutional documents especially following
COL meetings

4. - The district governor nominated before he/she would
be the governor-nominee will be called governor-
designate followed by the year until becoming
governor-nominee
- For governor nominee, if voting by ballot-by mail,
then each club will get one ballot
- In case there is a challenge for governor nominee
then a club can only concur with one challenger. Clubs
with multiple votes must cast all their votes for the
same person(s) or propositions
- The nominating committee for governor will elect one
PDG as Vice Governor to replace the Governor in case
of temporary or permanent disability of the governor to
continue the performance of duties
- When the R.I. board is calling a hearing in case of
charges against a club, then the governor of the district
or a PDG selected by the DG may be present at the
hearing with the cost borne by the district
- For a district resolution to endorse a club resolution a
district resolution meeting may be called
- There should be an alternate chosen or selected by
the district for nominating committee for director and
for COL delegate
3. General RI Matters
- The RI Board may eliminate or change the
boundaries of any district with less than1100 members
or 33 clubs.

5. - Pilot projects will be now up to 1000 clubs and not the
previous 200
- The board may dissolve a district if 3 or more election
complaints were upheld against it in the last 5 yr.period
- Vacancies in the position of Trustee shall be
nominated by the President and elected by the board
- Any Rotarian candidates for offices, or clubs acting
on the candidates' behalf should go through the Rotary
procedures first before seeking other outside agencies
for help. If they fail to do that, the candidate will be
disqualified from the election in question and the club
may be also subject to punitive action by the board for
a period to be determined by the board
- No Rotarian shall be a member of the nominating
committee for R.I. president for more than 3 times
unless there are no more than 2 candidates willing to
serve on this committee
- The board shall establish procedures as to
administration, leadership and representation for future
or merged districts
- The board shall appoint an Operations Review
committee to be comprised of 6 members, each of
whom shall serve a single term not exceeding 6 year
with one member appointed every year
- Strategic planning committee-no member shall be a
past president or current trustee
- The board shall oversee the Strategic plan and the
director shall oversee the Strategic plan in his/her zone
- The travel policies were deleted from the Bylaws of

6. RI and left to the board.

7. RI and left to the board.