1. The email list, cic@lists.iww.org, is a perpetual meeting of the CIC, which is always in session, except when the CIC is actually meeting in person or by telephone or other instantaneous medium.
2. Meetings shall be conducted according to Robert's Rules of Order, Newly Revised (9th ed., 1990), except as otherwise provided in these by-laws.
3. Every member of the CIC agrees to read all committee-related email at least weekly, and to respond promptly, particularly with respect to matters requiring a vote.
4. Every member of the CIC shall report officially to the committee at least once per month. Official reports shall contain the words, "CIC Official Report" in the subject line of the email message, and shall be in substantially the following form:
CIC Official Report
Name:
Date:
Last Report:
Reports Received:
Vote on Pending Motion:
Other business:
5. Official reports shall include votes on, but not discussion of, pending motions.
6. Any member whose report is more than seven days late without prior excuse shall be delinquent. The chair may grant prior excuse for one such failure upon request , but further excuses must be granted by the committee. Members must request such excuses before their reports are late (i.e., within a month of their last report). Members whose reports are late three times in a row, or more than five times between General Assemblies, shall be delinquent even if the several latenesses have been excused. Delinquent members shall be automatically suspended from the committee, pending excuse by the committee or removal by the GEB, and shall have no vote in any decision of the committee, including whether the committee should excuse their delinquency or request their removal. Delinquent members shall have a voice as to whether or not their delinquency should be excused, but not on any other business. If the GEB votes not to remove a delinquent member from the committee, such member shall be restored to full, active membership.
7. Between reports, members shall participate in the committee's business as may be necessary to the efficient accomplishment of the committee's work. If a member persistently fails to take an active part in the committee's business, whether or not she or he reports as required by these by-laws, a majority of the other members of the committee may declare such member delinquent and request the member's removal from the committee by the GEB.
8. Rules of procedure for meeting via email
a. Main motions shall be made in separate email messages, one motion per message. Each motion shall be designated by the initials of the person making it and a serial number, which shall appear in the subject line of the message, with a short description or title of the motion, as well as in the body of the message. The message by which the motion is made, if the motion is debatable, shall include the facts and arguments on which the motion is based.
b. Subsidiary and procedural motions may be made in messages relating to other matters, but shall be clearly identified as motions. Subsidiary motions shall be made within the thread concerning the main motion.
c. Main motions shall expire after thirty days unless sooner adopted or defeated, and debate shall be closed no later than one week before the expiration date. Subsidiary and procedural motions shall expire after fourteen days unless sooner adopted or defeated. Motions which are unopposed within seven days may be ruled adopted by consent. The chair may extend the life of a motion and the time for debate at its option, and shall extend it by fourteen days upon the timely request of any member. The life of a motion and time for debate shall not be extended by more than twenty-eight days without a majority vote. The chair may close debate and call for a vote whenever it appears that further debate is unnecessary or unwanted; but upon the timely objection of any member debate shall remain open for seven more days. A motion that expires shall not be made again, unless two members join in making it.
d. If a motion seems, in the judgment of the chair, to be uncontroversial, the chair may provisionally rule it passed or defeated without a vote; but in that case any two members may within seven days of such ruling require a vote, without the necessity of a formal appeal.
e. Discussion of main motions, including related subsidiary motions and discussion thereof, shall be carried on in separate threads consisting of the original message and replies to the original message. Each message in such discussion shall begin with a statement that the writer supports or opposes the motion. Members are encouraged to keep their arguments brief. Excessively long arguments and unnecessarily cumulative messages may be ruled out of order.*
f. Motions shall not be amended. Alternative motions may be proposed in discussion, and the sponsor of the original motion may withdraw it in favor of the alternative. But if the original motion is not withdrawn, members who prefer the alternative should vote down the original and then move the alternative.
g. Members shall cast their votes only after debate has been closed and only in their official reports, which may be filed more than once per month.
9. Rules applicable to all proceedings
a. A quorum shall consist of three members or a majority of the committee, whichever is greater.
b. No measure other than procedural motions shall be adopted without favorable votes from two members if the committee has five members or fewer. If the committee has more than five members, no measure shall be adopted without favorable votes from three members.
c. All rulings of the chair are subject to appeal to the full committee, without exception. Appeals shall be carried by vote of a majority of the members of the committee. Appeals in a live meeting (i.e., in person, by telephone, or by other instantaneous medium) shall be made immediately following the ruling appealed from. Appeals to rulings made by email shall be made within seven days of the ruling appealed from and shall fail after fourteen days unless sooner adopted or defeated.
10. Meetings by Internet Relay Chat
Weekly chat sessions will be held on Thursdays at 9:00pm EST, on #cic, server: irc.irchat.tv, in order to discuss the work of this committee. On the last Thursday of every month the online session will be a business meeting, which all members of the committee are strongly encouraged to attend. If a member of the committee cannot attend, notice will be given to the chair. These sessions, both discussions and business meetings, will be held to one hour, though additional conversations can of course continue between interested parties. Guidelines for the sessions will be straightforward; those attending will become familiar with the format which includes being mindful of others contributing to each conversation (a simple "good" or "okay" lets others know you are there and reading along, even if there is nothing else in particular to say on the topic), awareness of concluding one topic before moving to another, and simple notation as to when a participant is finished speaking ("GA," which means, go ahead).
Footnote:
* As a guideline, but not a rule, here is the language John Hollingsworth proposed: Members shall endeavour to not report more frequently than one post per day in the case of a committee online dialogue, and no more than once per week on their committee work activities. . . .Members will also endeavour to keep dialogue posts to under 500 words, and reports on activities to under 1000 words, with the use of appended documents (e.g. NAICS excerpts, member feedback, etc.) where necessary.