Current petition process working fine.

• Author: Katz, Harold
• Position: Speakout! - Members encouraged to vote no on the proposed bylaw change to Article12 - Brief Article

We encourage all members to vote NO on the proposed bylaw change to Article 12. This change increases the number of signatures required for a member-initiated bylaw change from 50 to more than 800.

It also requires that bylaw changes initiated by petition cannot pass without approximately 2,800 votes, instead of just a majority of the voting membership. This is a nearly impossible standard to meet. Historically, less than 500 members have ever voted on anything--traditionally, less than 200 members elect our leadership positions.

If the existing rules had been abused, there might be a basis for this change. However, in recent CalCPA history, there has only been one bylaw change initiated by the membership--a proposal to make AICPA Council appointments more open. It was opposed by most of the current leadership, but was passed by the general CalCPA membership. Interestingly enough, a similar change was subsequently adopted into the AICPA Governance report.

This proposed bylaw change, if passed...