[gnso-improvem-impl-sc] RE: Background on New Issues: Email Voting and Procedural Waivers

["Aikman-Scalese, Anne" <AAikman@xxxxxxxxxx>]

Thanks Julie.   I will be coming in over Adobe from Miami Beach (INTA 
Leadership) on November 16.  ( For some reason I had an SCI call on my calendar 
yesterday, but nobody was there so my mistake.)

Regarding the two new items, can you provide us with the EXISTING rules on 
(1)Voting and (2) Waiving requirements in the Operating Procedures?

Thanks and congrats to the Charter team  on the approval of the new Charter!
Anne

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Anne E. Aikman-Scalese, Of Counsel

Lewis Roca Rothgerber LLP | Suite 700

One South Church Avenue | Tucson, Arizona 85701-1611

(T) 520.629.4428 | (F) 520.879.4725

AAikman@xxxxxxxxxx<mailto:AAikman@xxxxxxxxxx> | 
www.LRRLaw.com<http://www.lrrlaw.com/>




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Lewis and Roca LLP is now Lewis Roca Rothgerber LLP.


From: owner-gnso-improvem-impl-sc@xxxxxxxxx 
[mailto:owner-gnso-improvem-impl-sc@xxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Julie Hedlund
Sent: Thursday, October 31, 2013 11:48 AM
To: gnso-improvem-impl-sc@xxxxxxxxx
Subject: [gnso-improvem-impl-sc] Background on New Issues: Email Voting and 
Procedural Waivers

Dear SCI members,

In our last meeting on 08 October Ron Andruff suggested it would be helpful to 
frame the two new issues the GNSO Council has asked the SCI to study  — email 
voting and procedural waivers --  in the format of the questions listed in the 
charter.  In addition, for future requests as Mikey O'Conner suggested staff 
will create an online form that requesters can complete when they have issues 
to bring to the SCI.  The format in the charter is:

  1.  Which group do you represent? (E.g. Council, WG.)
  2.  To which rules or processes do you refer?
  3.  Please outline the problems
  4.  What specific changes do you propose to address the identified problems?
  5.  Do you have any additional suggestion for making the rules/processes 
easier to administer?

In particular, the GNSO Council requested that the SCI should take up these two 
new issues in its Wrap Up meeting in Durban on 17 July.   Accordingly, I've 
reviewed the transcript from that meeting and pulled out the relevant 
information from the brief discussion of these topics.  I've put that 
information into the form of the questions from the charter.  Please see the 
information below and also on the wiki at: 
https://community.icann.org/display/gnsosci/16+November+2013.  These issues are 
on the agenda for the SCI's next meeting, which will be held face-to-face in 
Buenos Aires on Saturday, 16 November from 0700-0845 local time.  The GNSO 
Secretariat will send out a notice and reminders for the meeting.

Best Regards,

Julie

Julie Hedlund, Policy Director

Email voting:
1.     Which group do you represent? GNSO Council
2.     To which rules or processes do you refer? Voting
3.     Please outline the problems: The Council does not have a mechanism to 
conduct votes outside of a meeting.

  1.  What specific changes do you propose to address the identified problems?  
The SCI should consider whether and how the Council could vote outside of a 
meeting and under what circumstances.  Quote from Jonathan Robinson in the 
Council transcript at the Wrap Up Meeting in Durban on 18 July 2013: "So I 
wanted - an issue I wanted us to consider maybe giving to the SCI and then to 
the group or to a committee to look at is I’d like to rethink about whether 
potentially voting by email or something like that is a possibility? I know 
we’ve looked at it on and off over the years.…And if that would help speed 
things along it would be great to just look at that issue in just maybe we 
can’t do it first time around obviously but for future..."  He raised this 
issue because the Council was in the process of scheduling a special meeting in 
August to conduct a vote.
  2.  Do you have any additional suggestion for making the rules/processes 
easier to administer? Voting by email could in some circumstances enable the 
Council to avoid having to schedule a special meeting for a vote that has to 
occur quickly.

Waivers and/or Exceptions to the GNSO Council Operating Procedures
1.     Which group do you represent? GNSO Council
2.     To which rules or processes do you refer? Submitting a motion and 
possibly other procedures

  1.  Please outline the problems: The Council does not have a mechanism to 
waive or invoke an exception to and of its operating procedures.  An example is 
whether the deadline for submitting motions could be waived in certain 
circumstances.  Quote from Jonathan Robinson in the transcript at the Wrap Up 
Meeting in Durban on 18 July 2013: "And essentially I wasn’t empowered as chair 
by our rulebook to allow that motion to be put on the table even if technically 
although we have done it by precedent and prior practice, even if no one 
objected from the council I didn’t really - there isn’t really device in the 
rulebook to allow that to take place. So I personally I think that’s an area we 
should look at is the - when and under what circumstances - formal council 
procedure can be bypassed in the event that there is no objection from the 
council?"
  2.  What specific changes do you propose to address the identified problems?  
The SCI should consider whether and how the Council could vote outside of a 
meeting and under what circumstances.
  3.  Do you have any additional suggestion for making the rules/processes 
easier to administer? A waiver mechanism could allow the Council to consider a 
motion or document after the deadline of notice/submission to the Council has 
passed.


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