Housekeeping changes:

      Article VI - Section 3 - Voting Body
      Change - "the Field Service Directors" to the "Department Representatives at the State Veterans Homes"

In the District Bylaw Template:
      Article IX Finance:
      Now reads: Section 4 - Department President Travel Expense - The District shall, by February 15th, sends the sum of ten dollars ($10.00) to the Department Treasurer for the traveling expenses of the Department President.

      We are wanting this to be deleted.

    Rationale: At the present time it is felt that the money would be better used in the Districts promoting our mission. Many hours are spent chasing down the travel money and almost half of it has not been received the past 2 year.

The Constitution & Bylaws committee will “Keep Smiling While giving Hugs For Our Heroes.”

There is an awesome template available on the Department website for updating constitution and bylaws for Units, Districts and Divisions. I strongly encourage all units, districts and divisions to check and make sure you have up to date documents. Using that template, the documents on file at Department are more consistent in structure.

As you review the template available on the website for your use, notice the change in the Eligibility section. “Wives” has been changed to “spouses” and the eligibility dates have been updated. This is important. Don’t forget to include your Standing Rules.

You need to send your constitution and bylaws to me for review. If there are any questions, I will contact you. They will no longer be marked “approved,” they will be marked “received.” After receipt and review, you will be notified that I received them and I reviewed and sent them to Department for filing.

At the July 2022 Department Convention, we voted on the proposed changes to the Constitution & Bylaws and approved the following changes. There were housekeeping changes from Committeewoman to Committeeperson. Other changes were on the representation and length of term for the National Executive Committeeperson and the Alternate National Committeperson. The Department Constitution & Bylaws will be updated and posted on our Department website.

At the National Convention, there was a vote on raising the membership dues. Starting the membership year of 2024 you will need to send to Department Headquarters $29.00 instead of $23.00 for senior members. Please remember to keep this in mind as it will help you decide if you need to vote to raise your unit dues to cover the National dues increase for the 2024 membership year.

“Hugs for our Hero’s” is the theme this year for our Department. The Constitution & Bylaws committee will “Keep Smiling While giving Hugs For Our Hero’s.” Having updated constitutions, bylaws and standing rules will help strengthen our units, counties, districts and divisions and give them a firm base of rules and guidelines to be successful.

Department Standing Rule #25 reads: All Units will have a current copy of their Constitution, Bylaws and Standing Rules on file in the Department Office.

And Standing Rule #26 reads: All Units will follow the format adopted by the Department in writing their Constitution and Bylaws.
There is an awesome template available on the Department website for updating constitution and bylaws for units, districts and divisions. You have, available to you, video and written instructions on how to complete that template! We have members that have put many hours into making this project easier for you, and, by everyone using that template, the documents on file at Department are more consistent in structure.

As you review the template available on the website for your use, notice the change in the Eligibility section. “Wives” has been changed to “spouses”, and the eligibility dates have been updated. This is important. You may think, ‘why bother to update them now, when there might be more changes next year’. Do it now and make it easier to update next year.

In prior years, unit C&B’s were sent to the Department C&B chairman, or a committee member for review and approval. You will still send them to one of us: Ann Flanagan, Pat Kranzow or me, for review. If there are any questions, we will contact you. They will no longer be marked “approved,” they will be marked “received.” After receipt and review, you will be notified that we received them and sent them to Department for filing. You are responsible for your unit documents and making sure they do not conflict with Department or National governing documents.

I encourage all of you to go back to your units and make sure your constitution, bylaws and standing rules are up to date, and if not make sure your unit works on them and send to me or one of my committee members to be received and reviewed and sent to Department for filing. This should be also done by the District and Division.

In the May 22, 2022 American Legion Auxiliary magazine there is an article on page 22 telling you what not to do in your C&B. It is interesting, so I have made copies for you to share with your Divisions, Districts and Units. This concludes my report.