Bylaws

Bylaws are not a necessary requirement for your constitution; however, they do provide the opportunity to be more specific regarding constitutional requirements.

Typically, bylaws are intended to establish rules or procedures necessary to carry out the constitution. It is important to note that your bylaws must not change, amend, or conflict with your constitution. Examples of the types of information that might appear in by-laws:

1. More detailed material concerning members, rights, duties expulsion, and resignation procedure.
2. Provisions for honorary/associate members, if the group so desires.
3. Provisions for membership fee, dues and assessments, if there are to be any, should be outlined in detail.
4. Detailed description of the officer positions, if desired.
5. Duties, authority, and responsibility of the Executive Committee.
6. Name of the standing committees, if any, and the method of selection of committee chair:
7. The duties of the committee(s) should also be stated.
8. Provisions for creation of new committees
9. A provision for some accepted rules of order for parliamentary procedure (i.e. Robert’s Rules of Order).
10. A method to amend the by-laws, typically a majority vote (**Required should you choose to have bylaws).