Constitution and Bylaws

Oregon Pirate Party: Bylaws

Article I - Basic Foundations

A. Name, Boundaries, & Affiliations

1. The legal name of this organization is the Oregon Pirate Party, hereinafter also referred to as "OPP", "Oregon Pirates", or “Arregon”.
2. The legal area of this organization is the State of Oregon.
3. The Oregon Pirate Party operates as an autonomous organ of the United States Pirate Party.

B. Purpose

1. The Oregon Pirate Party is established to work for innovation, access, and the Internet through the electoral system.
   1. Addressing barriers to and promoting innovation in areas such as patents, copyrights, and trademarks.
   2. Addressing access to government and grassroots democracy in areas such as government transparency, voter engagement, and separating corporations from political power.
   3. Addressing Internet use and health by working towards basic Internet access for all, maintaining Net Neutrality, and promoting Internet literacy.

C. Membership

1. Member – A resident of Oregon who identifies themselves as a member of the Oregon Pirate Party.
2. Participating Member - A Member who has participated in meetings and has paid dues or volunteered as defined below:
   1. Having attended two official Oregon Pirate Party meetings.  Meetings must follow consensus as stated in Article V - A. of these bylaws, and have a record such as minutes, chatlog, or video available.  A meeting may be made official by an attending officer or upon review by an officer of the record at their discretion.
   2. Paid $25 in dues in the last 12 months or volunteered for at least 2 hours in the last 12 months.  The volunteering must be approved by an officer or the Board.
3. Board Member - A participating member who has been elected to a responsible position on the OPP Board.

Article II - Participating Member Meetings

A. Scheduling and Meeting Places

1. The Board shall provide for regular participating member meetings at least once a calendar quarter, preferably once a calendar month.  When possible the next member meeting details will be announced at the end of the meeting and will have the Board’s tacit approval.
2. Participating member meetings may take place via the Internet with tools such as IRC, but at least one meeting a calendar quarter should be in person if possible.
3. In the event of a sixty day interval between participating member meetings, three participating members may call a participating member meeting provided there was notice given ten days previous to all participating members or their best attempt at doing so.
4. At least once a year a participating members meeting may be designated by the Board or by a two thirds vote at a prior participating members meeting as a state convention.
   1. State conventions are in person meetings that will try to accommodate virtual participation.
      1. If the Commodore judges virtual participant viable for the meeting then those participating members may vote and must be duly accommodated in the consensus process.

B. Duties

1. Electing Board members.  See Article V - B. for electing, and Article V - C. for removal.
2. Endorsing political initiatives and causes, and nominating or endorsing candidates.
   1. Candidates seeking nomination may get a preliminary nomination at meeting, but this isn’t final until a vote as described in Article V - B. 1. of these bylaws occurs.
   2. Endorsements of candidates don’t require solicitation.
   3. Appointing an Election Administrator for the candidate nomination process.
3. Appointing standing and ad hoc committee members.
4. Making changes to these Bylaws.

C. Meeting Details

1. For in person participating members meetings all members and staff are invited and may bring guests.  People interested in joining and new members are particularly welcome.  Others such as media must get permission from an officer.
2. Virtual member meetings are public, though non members may be blocked from posting at the discretion of the facilitator.

Article III - Board

A. Membership

1. The Board shall consist of minimum of three members and a maximum of seven.  One of which is the Treasurer who is appointed by the Board and removed at their discretion.  The rest are elected at a general meeting.
   
   1. The Treasurer is the legal filing officer with the State of Oregon.
      1. He/she will ensure that the books are kept as required by law and that all statements are filed appropriately under state and federal campaign finance, business, employment, tax, and any other requirements.
      2. The Board may not instruct the Treasurer to abrogate legal, fiduciary, and filing requirements.
   2. Elected Board members are participating members that have been elected to available Board slots.
      1. They must announce that they are interested at a prior participating members meeting.
2. Board members serve two year terms.
3. The Board may appoint replacement Board members in the case of a vacancy, though such appointments must be ratified by the next Participating Member meeting.
   1. Any Board member absent without leave for two consecutive Board meetings may be removed upon two-thirds approval of the remaining members of the Board.

B. Duties

1. Being transparent
   
   1. The Board shall operate in a manner open to all members except when discussing or handling personnel matters, legal issues, proprietary policy or strategy documents, or necessarily private identification credentials.
   2. The Board shall normally operate via an electronic form except where unresolved concerns are raised, then an in-person meeting should be called
   3. To enhance the consensus decision-making process:
      1. The Board shall allow all participating members access to its electronic discussions by subscription.
      2. Decisions of any in-person Board meetings or participating member meetings shall be reported electronically to subscribing participating members within seven days of any decision.
2. Interpreting organizational documents.
3. Proposing, approving, and publishing rules to implement these Bylaws.
4. Approving internal policies to ensure compliance with election, employment, and any other laws.
5. The Board shall appoint an Advisory Board that serves at its pleasure.  The members of the Advisory Board shall provide non-binding advice to the Board.
6. The Board shall appoint the Commodore who will serve at their leisure.  If the Board fails to appoint a Commodore the founder of the OPP may make the appointment.
7. Approves officer appointments of the Commodore.
8. Appoints committee chair and in so doing make the committee official.
9. The Board shall approve spokespersons for the Oregon Pirate Party specific to narrow areas of expertise. The Board itself shall act as general spokespersons for the Oregon Pirate Party.
10. The Board shall by rule provide for elections to county central committees (CCCs) within the Oregon Pirate Party boundaries as needed.  Once created and functioning the Board may:
    1. Appoint to fill vacancies to a County Central Committee within its borders between elections.

Article IV - Commodore

A. Duties

1. The Commodore is the administrative officer of the Oregon Pirate Party.
   1. The decisions of the Commodore may be reversed for cause by the Board.
   2. Once appointed the Commodore may only be removed by the Board.
2. The Commodore is responsible for:
   1. Hiring, firing, and managing staff to carry out the business of the Oregon Pirate Party.
   2. Operating Participating Member meetings and managing their agendas.
   3. Recording and reporting decisions of Participating Member meetings as needed.
3. The duties of the Commodore may be fulfilled by officers appointed by the Commodore.  If the Commodore then resigns from his/her position then these officer(s) may act as the Commodore until such time as the Board or OPP founder appoints a new Commodore.

Article V - Processes for Decision-Making, Elections and Removal

A. Decision-making Process using Modified Consensus

1. The Oregon Pirate Party is established as a participatory democracy following the consensus model described by C. T. Butler's "On Conflict and Consensus".
   1. Except that if the consensus process fails after two attempts, the majority approval of a public vote cast carries the decision.
2. A person is ineligible for decision making or being elected, appointed, or hired, if the person has ever been convicted for a criminal offense involving fraud, forgery or identification theft in the last five years.
3. At least two eligible decision-makers present constitute a quorum of any committee or meeting.  Minutes must then be taken.
4. Any committee member absent without leave may be removed upon two-thirds approval of the remaining members or the Board.
5. Any Board member may be expelled for cause by two-third affirmative support of all votes cast at a Participating Member meeting for offenses set by rule.  "Cause" does not include policy disagreements with Board members who were legitimately elected using a system of proportional representation.

 B. Elections

1. Candidate nominations and endorsements
   1. Non-partisan candidates seeking Portland Green Party nomination or endorsement should notify an officer designated to function as the Election Administrator as soon as possible.
   2. The Election Administrator must notify each filed or declared opponent and provide all an opportunity to also seek a nomination or endorsement.
   3. Candidate nominations and endorsements must be open to all participating members.
   4. Candidate nominations and endorsements must provide for secrecy and may (at Board or participating member meeting request) include mail or electronic balloting as determined by rules established by the Board.
   5. At least one nomination and two endorsement candidate participating member votes shall be scheduled per two year election cycle, a first for the primary election for nomination and endorsement, and a second for the general election just for endorsement.
   6. Candidate nomination and endorsement votes shall use preference voting and none-of-the-above whenever possible.
2. Board election process
   1. The Board shall be elected using a system provided for by Board rule that ensures proportional representation such as single-transferable voting.
   2. Until such time as Board rules otherwise, OpenSTV (use OpenSTV default, which is Meek Droop dynamic fractional counting) shall be used to tally secret-ballot STV Board elections (with coin toss tiebreaks), and if there are not more candidates than seats available on the Board, the Board may be elected by consensus, forgoing a secret ballot.
   3. The Commodore, Treasurer, and elected Board member are positions that may be held by one person only if this person is the founder of the Oregon Pirate Party.  Otherwise no more than one of these positions may be held by one person.  Note that the Treasurer is a Board member but is appointed, not elected.

C. Removal Authority

1. Any non-elected officer, committee chair, advisory committee member, or approved spokesperson associated with the Oregon Pirate Party shall serve at the pleasure of the Board.
2. Any Board member may be expelled for cause by two-third affirmative support of all votes cast at a Participating Member meeting for offenses set by rule.  "Cause" does not include policy disagreements with Board members who were legitimately elected using a system of proportional representation.

Article VI - Chapters, Coordinating Committee, and Central Committees

A. Chapters (Until the establishment of two OPP chapters the coordinating committee shall be the OPP Board)

1. Chapters are the primary grassroots organizations of the party. As such, they are the primary catalysts for grassroots political change. The state party shall supply chapters with information and expertise upon request.
2. Any five participating members may apply to form an OPP chapter, by sending the following information to the Commodore:
   1. The names of those 5 supporting members;
   2. The proposed chapter’s name;
   3. The proposed chapter’s geographic boundaries;
   4. The name of a designated liaison to the coordinating committee; and
   5. Either the name of a designated treasurer, or a statement that the chapter won’t deal with money.
   6. The coordinating committee shall either accept or reject the chapter application. A rejection shall be for written cause, and if the rejection is not ratified at the next state convention, the chapter application is approved.
   7. The coordinating committee may revoke an existing chapter for written cause. The revocation is effective immediately, but must be ratified at the next state convention or the chapter becomes reinstated.
3. Chapters shall notify the Commodore of any changes to the information listed in number 2. above, within two weeks of the change.
4. The coordinating committee may require chapters that deal with money to form PACs prior to fundraising or receiving contributions.
5. There is no prohibition on people joining multiple chapters.
6. A person may choose not to be a member of any chapter.
7. A chapter may set its own membership requirements.
8. Each chapter shall submit a roster of its members to the Commodore every six months.
9. Chapter activities may be restricted only by the party supporting membership per se, e.g. by changing the bylaws at a convention. Therefore the coordinating committee may not directly prohibit specific chapter activities, although it retains total discretion in such potentially-related areas as allocating state funds and interpreting the bylaws.
10. Chapters shall not endorse different candidates for an election or series of elections for a particular public office, or take conflicting positions on other electoral matters such as endorsing ballot measures and the associated petitions and campaigns. If two conflicting endorsements are simultaneous, they shall both be void; if consecutive, the first shall be valid and the second void.
11. Prior to endorsing a candidate for public office, or taking a position on another electoral matter such as endorsing a ballot measure or an associated petition or campaign, a chapter must determine whether the district in which people may vote for that office in the public election (”voting district”) overlaps any other chapters. If so, the first chapter must contact each of those other chapters that is active in any county containing any portion of the overlap, and offer them the option to participate in a joint decision. If any of those other chapters accepts that option, the following subsection (a) shall apply.
    
    1. Joint decisions by chapters considering endorsement
       1. The collection of chapters participating in the endorsement shall specify a joint decision procedure for the purpose of determining which candidate(s) are suitable for endorsement. The joint decision procedure must be acceptable to each participating chapter.
       2. Any participating chapter may appeal to the state coordinating committee, in which case the state coordinating committee shall specify a binding joint decision procedure.
       3. The joint decision does not, in and of itself, endorse any candidate. Each chapter (participating or not) has the right to decide for itself whether to endorse a candidate approved by the joint decision or to take no position. A chapter may make this independent decision in advance of the joint decision and `trigger’ it to take effect when the joint decision has been made.
       4. Prior to the joint decision, all chapters (participating or not) are prohibited from endorsing any candidate. Thereafter, all chapters (participating or not) are prohibited from endorsing any candidate deemed unsuitable by the joint decision.
       5. At any time, a chapter may permanently remove itself from the joint decision procedure.
       6. At any time, the chapters participating in the joint decision procedure may by unanimous agreement abort the joint decision process.

B. Upon the establishment of a second OPP chapter a coordinating committee must be formed, and these bylaws adjusted.

C. County Central Committees

1. An organization may be both a chapter and a county central committee, so long as it satisfies the criteria for each such classification.
2. County central committees that are not chapters may engage only in activities that are permitted to them by the state party.

Article VII - Bylaw Changes

A. Changes to these bylaws must be:

1. Proposed by either unanimous consent of the Board or via a petition signed (verifiable virtual signatures allowed) by at least ten participating members,
2. Introduced at a participating members meeting, and
3. Ratified by the next participating members meeting, either by consensus or, if consensus is not achieved, by a 2/3 vote of Voting members attending.