Mesa County Democratic Socialists of America

Processes for Amendment and Enforcement of Authorized Documents

Adopted 2025-10-26

Article I. Standard of Authority.

The Processes for Amendment and Enforcement of Authorized Documents shall be considered a Tier III document with respect to Article II of this document.

Article II. Amendment.

Section 1. Definition.

Documents authorized under the bylaws shall be subject to one of three standards of authority. If no standard is provided within the document, it shall be considered a Tier III document with regards to amendment, and a Tier I document with regards to enforcement, with the exception of branch charters, which shall be considered Tier II with regards to amendment, and committee and formal working group charters, which shall be considered Tier I.

Section 2. Standards.

These standards shall be as follows:

For documents with Tier III authority, the final pre-meeting versions of any proposed amendments must be made by written resolution, endorsed by five (5) members of the Chapter, and submitted to the Steering Committee at least seventeen (17) days in advance of a Chapter Meeting. The Steering Committee is required to provide the Chapter membership with at least ten (10) days physical or electronic notice of the proposed amendments. The Chapter Meeting may then adopt amendments to these proposals by simple majority vote, and may adopt such proposals under this Article by a vote of two-thirds (⅔).

For documents with Tier II authority, the final pre-meeting versions of any proposed amendments must be made by written resolution, endorsed by five (5) members of the Chapter, and submitted to the Steering Committee at least seventeen (17) days in advance of a Chapter Meeting. The Steering Committee is required to provide the Chapter membership with at least ten (10) days physical or electronic notice of the proposed amendments. The Chapter Meeting may then adopt these proposals and amendments to them by a simple majority.

For documents with Tier I authority, proposed amendments must be made by written resolution and endorsed by five (5) members of the Chapter. The Chapter Meeting may then adopt these proposals and amendments to them by a simple majority.

Article III. Enforcement.

Section 1. Bylaws.

Any authority given to a document ultimately derives from the Chapter’s bylaws. In the event of conflict between provisions of the bylaws and an authorized document, those of the bylaws shall prevail.

Section 2. Authorized Documents.

Tier III documents are second only to the bylaws. Conflicts between authorized documents shall be decided in favor of the document with a higher standard of authority, if applicable, and the document with the earliest date of adoption, otherwise.

Section 3. Other Documents.

Documents which are not authorized through the bylaws to affect their operation are only applicable to members and working bodies within the already-existing scope of authority of the members and working bodies in question.

Section 4. Document Nullification.

Any document adopted by the Chapter, its committees, working groups, or branches, which is in contradiction with the bylaws, the Declaration of Principles and Aims, or any other document with a higher standard of authority; or any document in contradiction with itself can be determined to be null and void by a vote of the Chapter officers, pursuant to Article V, Section 2 of the bylaws.

Document nullification requires that a member of the Chapter submit written notice to the Steering Committee of the incongruence between the document in question and a relevant authoritative document and the reason for such notice. Deliberations on the subject by the Steering Committee must be held no more than fourteen (14) days after the written notice has been received. Document nullification requires a two-thirds (⅔) vote of the officers.

Any document determined to be null and void by a vote of the Chapter officers is immediately put on the agenda of the next Chapter Meeting, at which the membership shall vote to carry or overturn the decision of the officers by a simple majority.

Section 5. Member Discipline.

If a member acts in a way that consistently violates the National Code of Conduct, the Meeting Code of Conduct, the Chapter bylaws and Code of Conduct, and/or any other document adopted democratically by the Chapter, they may be subject to disciplinary action under the Disciplinary Provisions document.