Recent News

November 6, 2009

Summary of Changes to the Code of Regulations

On November 2, pursuant to Article III of the Columbus Bar Association Code of Regulations, a special meeting of the membership convened to address proposed changes to the Code of Regulations.

Pursuant to a 2/3 vote of eligible members present during the meeting, the following actions were taken:

Article III
Section 1. The word “Membership” was added before the phrase “Rules of Association” to make this title consistent with the title of the Membership Rules document.

Section 2. Was amended to eliminate a requirement of new CBA members to complete a professionalism program by the end of their first year of membership. This requirement has not been followed for many years.

Section 5. Language was modified to include references to Ohio’s Model Rules (not the Code) and clarify that the committee referenced in this section is the “Ethics Committee.”

Article IV
Article IV. The title of the article was changed to “Board of Governors and Officers” to more accurately reflect the contents.

Section 1. Grammatical changes were made to eliminate a run-on sentence that appeared to have been misplaced in the Code of Regulations and shorten a sentence regarding election of Board members.

Section 1. In combination with changes made to Section 2.3 and Article VI, Section 1, sets forth that the Secretary/Treasurer assumes the position of President-Elect at the end of his/her term as Secretary/Treasurer.

Article VI
Section 1. Denominates the short name of the Nominations and Elections Committee as the “Nomination Committee.”

Section 4. Combined with changes made to Article VI, Section 5, these changes shorten the time to vote for candidates for the CBA Board of Governors. Voting will now commence on a Wednesday and end on the following Friday, allowing ten days for voting. Because of the shortening of this time, additional nominations must be submitted in seven – not ten – days.

NOTE: A proposed change to Section 4 was withdrawn by the Board, which would have removed the option of allowing second-term Board members to seek nomination to the position of Secretary/Treasurer by means of a nominating petition after nominee(s) had already been submitted by the Nomination Committee.

Article VII
Section 2. Adds language indicating that Officers’ Meetings are scheduled at the direction of the President and Board.

Various places
Throughout the Code of Regulations changes were made capitalizing the word “officer” and “president” when referring to the Officers of the Association and the President of the Association.

The following proposed changes were not approved by the members present and eligible to vote:

Section 2.4. This was a new provision that would have more fully defined the role of the Officers (including having the Officers act as a “Finance Committee,” responsible for reviewing financial considerations of the Association, and an “Emergency Committee,” authorized to make emergency decisions when it is not feasible to convene a Board meeting).

Instead, a modified amendment was offered by the floor. This modified amendment, which passed by a two-thirds majority of those present, would include the following language in (new) Section 2.4 of the Code:

2.4 Other Duties of Officers and Officers’ Meetings. The Officers of the Association may meet and discuss the business of the Association; set an agenda for the meetings of the Board of Governors; and conduct other business of the Association consistent with their responsibilities as set forth in Article 2. As set forth below, however, the Board of Governors of the Association is responsible for the administration of the affairs of the Association.

Because this amendment was not published in accordance with Article IX of the Code, this amended provision was not enacted, and will be reconsidered by the Board of Governors at a later date to address the concerns raised by the members present, The Board may issue an alternative provision for reconsideration by the membership pursuant to Article IX of the Code.

A complete copy of the Code of Regulations with the revisions can be found here.