[Massachusetts-NFB] FW: [From The January 2014 Braille Monitor, Resolutions and the Way Policies are Made in the National Federation of the Blind

Al and Masha Sten-Clanton sweeties2 at verizon.net
Mon Jun 26 22:42:54 UTC 2023


This is generally a very good article.  In 1980, when I was a summer 
intern at our headquarters, I learned much of what I did about 
resolutions straight from Jim Gashel.  I doubt very many of us had that 
privilege.


One thing it does not discuss, though, is how to get a resolution before 
the convention if the committee does not pass it.  In the old days, the 
sponsor of the resolution could still bring it to the convention session 
for a vote.  If I remember correctly, that now requires the support of 
five affiliate delegates.  Is this correct?


Best!

Al Sten-Clanton


On 6/26/23 16:22, Shara Winton via Massachusetts-NFB wrote:
>
>     https://www.nfb.org/images/nfb/publications/bm/bm14/bm1401/bm140108.htm
>
>
>       Resolutions and the Way Policies are Made in the National
>       Federation of the Blind
>
>     *by Gary Wunder*
>
>     In the August-September issue Sharon Maneki, the chairman of the
>     Resolutions Committee, wrote an article discussing the policy
>     statements the convention had adopted in July of 2013. Following
>     that article are copies of each resolution as passed. Not long
>     after this issue reached /Monitor/ readers, I began receiving
>     suggestions about how we should talk about the importance of
>     resolutions, how and why they should be drafted, and what happens
>     to them once they are passed. This is a tall order, but let's at
>     least start to answer these questions.
>
>
>           *A resolution is divided into two parts.*
>
>     In the first part a case is made that certain events have taken
>     place that require action. The events are described in short
>     statements that begin with the word WHEREAS, and they may speak to
>     some wrong that must be righted or to some good deed that should
>     be acknowledged. These statements should clearly set forth the
>     reason a resolution is being written, without being so detailed
>     that they make the reader wish the resolution had never happened.
>
>     The second part of a resolution explains what will or should be
>     done based on the argument laid out in the first section. Resolves
>     are used to say what the NFB will do or what we will try to
>     persuade others to do. Again this may be to condemn and deplore
>     actions we find objectionable or to applaud actions we find
>     meritorious. These, too, should be brief and to the point: long
>     enough that they are not ambiguous and concise enough that they
>     avoid repeating what has already been said. At the end of this
>     article, when you’ve been convinced how important resolutions are
>     and that you may want to write one yourself, we'll drop in a few
>     guidelines prepared by Barbara Pierce, using her many years of
>     experience in editing the final version of our policy statements.
>
>
>           *Who writes resolutions?*
>
>     The simple answer is that resolutions are written by anyone who
>     believes that the National Federation of the Blind should take a
>     position on something and who wishes us to make this position
>     public. Resolutions may come from members of our Advocacy and
>     Policy Department, from our national board of directors, from
>     divisions or committees of the Federation, or from members who
>     feel passionately enough about an issue to take up their device of
>     choice and write. Resolutions are submitted to the chairman of the
>     Resolutions Committee or to the president of the National
>     Federation of the Blind at least two weeks before the meeting of
>     the Resolutions Committee. They are reviewed to determine, as best
>     we can, that they are factually and grammatically correct and are
>     then presented to the Resolutions Committee on what is sometimes
>     called Registration or Resolutions Day. If they are passed by the
>     Resolutions Committee, they are then considered on the afternoon
>     of the second day of the convention and, if approved, become
>     official Federation policy.
>
>     Like every system devised by man, this one has its problems.
>     People who do not attend the meeting of the committee hear the
>     resolutions for the first time that afternoon and are then asked
>     to vote in favor of or in opposition to something they have had
>     little time to consider. We have limited time for questions and
>     discussion, and sometimes the volume of resolutions has meant we
>     have had to read the resolve clause and have omitted the part of
>     the resolution explaining the need for it.
>
>     At the most recent meeting of the board of directors, a decision
>     was made to post resolutions passed by the committee on our
>     website, clearly labeling them as resolutions being considered by
>     the convention. In this way those with devices capable of reading
>     information from the web can see what is being proposed for
>     consideration by the membership, can decide how they think and
>     feel about the resolutions, can get to the right people to ask
>     their questions, and can be in a better position to vote when the
>     resolutions are considered.
>
>
>           *So what happens to resolutions once they are passed by the
>           convention?*
>
>     To start with, all of them appear on our website and are available
>     to those wanting to know if the Federation has a position on a
>     given topic. They are published in the August-September issue of
>     the /Braille/ /Monitor,/ along with an article explaining who
>     introduced them and why they were introduced and describing
>     similar resolutions passed in the current or previous years. As
>     for implementation, some resolutions are sent to divisions of the
>     Federation for action and follow-up. Others are sent by the
>     president or his designee to the businesses and agencies they
>     affect. Most are assigned to the director of policy and advocacy
>     for action.
>
>
>           *Do the resolutions passed really make a difference?*
>
>     The answer is most assuredly yes. Our resolution on quiet cars
>     culminated in legislation, and that legislation will someday soon
>     be incorporated into binding regulations that will make travel
>     safer for the blind and all pedestrians and cyclists. Our
>     resolution about the continuing inaccessibility of the Kindle
>     resulted in a protest at the headquarters of Amazon in December of
>     2012 and subsequent improvements in the software Amazon produces.
>     Our resolution on the payment of subminimum wages caused the
>     introduction of H.R. 831 by Congressman Gregg Harper of
>     Mississippi and the publicity we have received on the NBC
>     television network and other media outlets.
>
>     Now that you know why we draft, discuss, and pass resolutions and
>     what happens to them once they become Federation policy, here are
>     some guidelines to use in creating them:
>
>
>           *Guidelines for Resolution Writing*
>
>     Writing resolutions is a specialized skill. The resolution is one
>     very long sentence directing the organization to take a stand or
>     engage in some action. It can also commend or take exception to
>     actions of other entities. It cannot provide direct instructions
>     to any group other than the NFB or its president and board of
>     directors. However, it does call upon those entities to make
>     changes. The actions or other recommendations are contained in the
>     RESOLVED clauses at the close of the resolution. The argument for
>     taking the action is laid out in a series of WHEREASes. Ideally
>     each argument, and only one argument, should be placed in a single
>     WHEREAS. These should be arranged in the most logical order.
>
>     The most efficient way to write a resolution is to make a simple
>     outline or list of premises which you will turn into the WHEREAS
>     clauses and a similar simple list of phrases for the RESOLVED
>     clauses. In fact, you should begin by determining what your
>     RESOLVED clauses are, that is, how many there should be and what
>     their basic thrust is. You will know how many by the number of
>     entities we need to address or the number of problems we need to
>     fix. After you decide specifically how you want the problem fixed,
>     determine the smallest number of concepts you need to explain to a
>     person unfamiliar with the problem that there is a problem. The
>     best resolutions can be picked up by a person unfamiliar with the
>     issue and hold that person's attention (in other words, they are
>     as short as possible) while still actually explaining the problem
>     and the solution or solutions. This method, deciding the ending
>     first and then crafting the arguments to reach it, will result in
>     the simplest and clearest resolution. Then, when you actually
>     write the formal resolution, you can focus on the writing and the
>     style, having already done the planning part.
>
>     Here are the punctuation and layout rules for writing resolutions:
>
>      1. Each argument begins with the word WHEREAS, indented and all
>         caps. BE IT RESOLVED and BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, which
>         introduce the RESOLVED sections, are also indented and written
>         in all caps. Note that WHEREAS is followed by a comma, but the
>         two versions of BE IT RESOLVED are not.
>      2. Each WHEREAS before the final one ends with a semicolon and
>         the word "and." This is true of the word "RESOLVED" as well.
>      3. The final WHEREAS ends with a colon, the words "Now,
>         therefore," and a hard return. Please note that “Now” is
>         capitalized.
>      4. The final RESOLVED ends with a period. This reflects the fact
>         that the entire resolution is a single sentence. Sometimes one
>         is taxed to refrain from writing sentences within WHEREASes,
>         but inserting a complete sentence is not playing the game fairly.
>      5. A blank line separates the elements of the resolution.
>      6. In the beginning of the first RESOLVED, surround the year and
>         the state with commas. The formula looks like this: “BE IT
>         RESOLVED that the National Federation of the Blind in
>         Convention assembled this eighth day of July, 2000, in the
>         city of Atlanta, Georgia,” Note also that the c in city is not
>         capitalized.
>
>     Remember that the resolves are couched in the subjunctive mood,
>     which is rarely used in English. This means that the third person
>     singular verbs look like plurals when they are actually singular:
>     the organization urge, the NFB condemn and deplore, etc.
>
>     The rather strained form of the resolution makes it sound
>     unnatural and formal. Do not attempt to add to this effect by
>     indulging in jargon and verbosity. Even though resolutions are
>     frequently long, brevity is a virtue. Each argument should be made
>     concisely but clearly. Jargon never helps this process.
>     Substituting "utilize" for the short, vigorous word "use" and
>     always referring to people as "persons" or "individuals" are good
>     examples of counterproductive inflation of the pomposity quotient.
>     On the other hand, because resolutions are formal statements of a
>     policy position, you should avoid slang or informal words like
>     "exams" instead of "examinations" or "quotes" for "quotations."
>     Verb forms like "hunker down" or "get going" are also a bit too
>     casual for use in resolutions.
>
>     You will remember that the NFB is on record as opposing
>     people-first language, except as it happens for some reason to
>     sound euphonious. Despite this fact, we are increasingly saddled
>     with awkward people-first language in our resolutions that serves
>     no function but to lengthen the argument, sound pompous, and
>     contradict our own policy. Remember that there is nothing wrong
>     with the terms "blind people" or "blindness field." Yet
>     increasingly our resolutions are cluttered with "persons who are
>     blind" or “individuals with blindness or visual impairment."
>
>     Capitalization should be consistent. Do not capitalize words for
>     emphasis. Quotation marks should not be used for this purpose
>     either. "Federal" is not capitalized unless it is part of an
>     actual title or is the first word of a sentence. Since WHEREASes
>     begin with capital letters, federal is almost never capitalized in
>     resolutions. "Congress," on the other hand, is, as are "House of
>     Representatives" and "Senate." Names of departments and
>     organizations are capitalized, but terms like "departments of
>     education" or "vocational rehabilitation agencies" are generic and
>     should not be.
>
>     Resolutions often pile up nouns as adjectives. When this happens,
>     the terms should be hyphenated: access-program producers.
>
>     Bill numbers are written H.R. 0000 or S. 0000.
>
>     There you have Barbara Pierce’s sage advice about the content and
>     format of resolutions. So now you know why we have resolutions,
>     the process we go through to consider and pass them, what happens
>     once they are passed, and the way you can author one. When
>     resolutions are being considered in 2014, make sure you are a part
>     of the process, and be sure to meet the deadlines.
>
>
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