This proposal was not selected for the 2020 National Council Session agenda. It is unknown if this was officially submitted.
From the Girl Scouts of Utah website: http://www.gsutah.org/en/our-council/news/2018/utah_national_delega.html
The Utah National Delegates have created a proposal for the National Council Session agenda for the 2020 Girl Scout Convention and are asking GSU Council Delegates to endorse it!
The proposal reads:
It is the recommendation of the Girl Scouts of Utah National Delegates that every chartered Girl Scout council should be required by GSUSA to elect AT LEAST one girl National Delegate to serve during National Council Session.
- Girl is defined as age 14-17 at time of convention
- Applicable to Girl Scouts Overseas and Puerto Rico
Rationale:
- Girl Scouts is a girl-led organization
- Shows a deepened commitment to girl leadership and empowerment
- Goes hand in hand with our resolution to engage older girls
- Opportunity for girls to grow and develop life skills
- Girls offer a valuable perspective in the discussions
Girls are directly affected by the decisions made at National Council Session - The National Delegates will continue to lead work on the proposal and gain support from chartered GSUSA councils around the country.
For more information, visit the link referenced on the Girl Scouts of Utah website.
I see this was posted on their website in March 2018, before GSUSA issued proposal forms and instructions. I surely hope GS Utah is in the process of updating this and getting board approval. Could anyone from GS Utah update us?
I know this sounds like a nice idea since we say we are “girl led,” but I don’t think forcing councils (I’m assuming via a Constitutional amendment) to do this is in their best interest. I believe some states have limitations on what those under 18 can do, and I think councils should have the flexibility to decide who they want to bring to represent them.
Jane Bly brings up a response that is often heard — “I believe some states have limitations on what those under 18 can do” Let’s see if we can do some group “member sourced” research and fact finding ….
– What councils do not have girls as part of their National Delegation? (Please comment below if you can name some of these councils so we can concentrate our research on these councils and their respective states.)
– What states are those councils, who do not have girl national delegates, incorporated in? As several councils has more than one state in their geography it is critical to know which state the council is incorporated in as those are the laws that need to be followed by the council.)
– What do the laws of these states say on the subject of girl delegates? (Share if you can point to the state statutes – preferable with a link we can all reference.)
Also be aware as we look at state laws that the term “delegate” has a wide range of meaning. We are not addressing convention delegates for representation of political parties for presidential elections. We are talking about delegates representing membership of a nonprofit organization at a convention.
Further as we are discussing here, not council delegates, but rather national delegates, please explain how/why state law trumps the laws of the District of Columbia (DC) which is where GSUSA is chartered as these girls are serving as representatives as part of GSUSA.
Per the GSUSA Constitution – Only citizens of the United States who are members of the Girl Scout Movement in the United States and who are 14 years of age or over may be members of the National Council.
https://www.girlscouts.org/content/dam/girlscouts-gsusa/forms-and-documents/about-girl-scouts/facts/GSUSA_BlueBook_May%202018-E.pdf
DC code on nonprofit corporations and delegates can be found here
https://code.dccouncil.us/dc/council/code/titles/29/chapters/4/subchapters/IV/parts/D/
Overall code on Nonprofit incorporation in DC can be found here
https://code.dccouncil.us/dc/council/code/titles/29/chapters/4/
Looking forward to increasing my knowledge as we all share our expertise and learn from each other in this discussion.
I personally agree with this proposal’s intent. Obviously I would not want a council to violate state law. However, I would expect National to help councils reach out to lawmakers and attempt to clarify laws. I am pretty sure all the council’s from California had girls as part of their delegation. Instead of relying on second hand information, could I (or any member) contact councils and ask them point blank… 1) did you send girls as delegates to Ohio? 2) if no, why not?
In Girl Scouts of Kentuckiana, girls canNOT be voting members on our board of directors (because state law of Kentucky, where we are incorporated, allows “reversability” of any vote by a minor at any time until that minor reaches age of majority, and clearly a board of directors can’t have that happen in a close vote). Girls CAN be non-voting members of our board, and girls CAN be elected as NATIONAL delegates where their vote is counted as the vote of any other delegate.
On an issue related to another proposal on this website — whether there can be electronic voting at a special session of the National Council — a local attorney (Sharon Handy, who has been our council’s board chair) told me the following:
“I wanted to share with you my legal analysis and what I found:
1. Any reasonable business lawyer will tell you that how to hold member meetings for a nonprofit corporation is governed by the law where the nonprofit organization is incorporated or domiciled, and by the corporation’s articles and bylaws, NOT by the law of the place where the members are located during the meeting, nor by the law of the place where the meeting is “held.” It is just too confusing to do it any other way. The law likes certainty when possible, and this standard rule for what law governs holding corporate meetings is broadly accepted throughout the country.
2. The Girl Scout Congressional Charter passed by Congress clearly indicates that even though GSUSA has a Federal Charter and was formed by an Act of Congress (36 USC §803), it is “A BODY CORPORATE AND POLITIC OF THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA” and “THE DOMICILE OF THE CORPORATION IS THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA.” That means GSUSA is governed by the nonprofit corporation laws of the District of Columbia as if it had been formed in and by the District of Columbia (the same way GSK is governed by Kentucky law for nonprofits since it was incorporated in and by the Commonwealth of Kentucky).
3. Looking at DC statutes governing not-for-profit corporations (D.C. Code §29-405.02), they indicate holding special meetings by electronic means without a geographic location is fine, so long as the corporation’s articles or bylaws say it is. So the proposal sounds like a totally acceptable way to go about making such a change.”
Echo Reardanz posted a link to the D.C. laws about delegates in her comments above on this thread, and it’s clear from those that delegates qualifications are specified in the organization’s governing documents, just as it would be true should GSUSA amend its constitution to allow for special meetings.
Regarding eligibility of delegates, the GSUSA Constitution, Article IV, Section 3, says:
“3. Only citizens of the United States who are members of the Girl Scout Movement in the United States and who are 14 years of age or over may be members of the National Council.”
Bottom line: It seems that regardless of state law governing individual councils, legally it is the regulations of Washington, DC, where our congressional charter says we are incorporated and domiciled, and our GSUSA Constitution’s delegate eligibility criteria, which are applicable to the National Council. And the governing documents of GSUSA clearly state that girls who are 14 years of age or over may be members of the National Council.
Those who are in councils who refuse to allow girl delegates might take the above quotes (including Echo’s reference) and send them to their council boards, asking the council boards to first double check with their local attorneys (as any good council should do) and then do what is needed to change their local policies to allow girl delegates to the National Convention.