February 16, 2010: Overtures
We'll resume the Acronym of the Day later in the week. For today, I just want to cover the life of an overture.
Today, San Diego Presbytery will be meeting. On the docket are three overtures regarding amendments to the Constitution; specifically, the Book of Order. I am only going to use one for illustration purposes.
An Overture Concerning the Number of General Assembly Commissioners:
The Presbytery of San Diego overtures the 219th General Assembly (2010) to replace G-13.0102b with the following language: “When the General Assembly meets biennially, it shall consist of equal numbers of elders and ministers from each presbytery, in the following proportion: each presbytery consisting of not more than 15,000 members shall elect one elder and one minister. Presbyteries consisting of more than 15,000 members shall elect one additional elder and one additional minister for each additional 15,000 members, so that:
Presbyteries of 15,001 to 30,000 members shall elect 2 elders and 2 ministers; Presbyteries of 30,001 to 45,000 members shall elect 3 elders and 3 ministers; Presbyteries of 45,001 or more members shall elect 4 elders and 4 ministers.
Rationale: When the General Assembly voted to move from annual assemblies to biennial assemblies, one of the reasons given to make the change was to save the denomination money. However, the move to biennial assemblies was also accompanied by an increase in the number of commissioners. The extra expense in paying for these additional commissioners meant that no financial savings were ever realized. The promise of reducing expenses never materialized. In the economy in which we live, we must continually look for ways to save money. While it may be nice to have extra commissioners, we can no longer afford this unnecessary luxury. It is time to return to the original, yet never realized, promise. As the income of the church continues to decline, we must look to reduce costs in unnecessary areas, so that funds can be directed toward more necessary areas. Because we live in the worst economy since the Great Depression, it is time to return to a leaner number of commissioners.
What happens now?
1. Assuming that the presbytery votes to approve, the overture will be sent to the Stated Clerk. It must be postmarked no later than 120 days prior to the convening of the General Assembly on July 3, 2010 (the 120 day deadline is March 5, 2010).
2. The Stated Clerk will refer the overture to the ACC (aren't you glad we're covering the acronyms?). ((see Book of Order, G-13.0112d and G-18.0300) Standing Rule A.3.c.(2).
3. The presbytery will name an overture advocate; that is, someone to speak on behalf of the presbytery in favor of the presbytery's overture. Standing Rule E.2. provides some of the detail about the privileges and responsibilities of an overture advocate.
4. Standing Rule A.5. covers what happens next:
a. The Advisory Committee on the Constitution shall report to the General Assembly its findings along with its recommendations on all questions requiring an interpretation by the General Assembly of the Book of Order, including proposals for constitutional change. “The General Assembly shall vote on the recommendations, and may amend or decline to approve them” (Book of Order, G-13.0112d). The Advisory Committee on the Constitution shall report any editorial changes made to the Book of Order since its last report to the General Assembly.
b. The report of the committee shall be presented directly to the General Assembly. The General Assembly may take action on the recommendations immediately, or it may refer them to an assembly committee for consideration by that committee and report to the General Assembly for action later during the same session of the General Assembly.
In other words, the Assembly may act on the recommendations of the ACC or refer the recommendations to an assembly committee for consideration (to be brought back to the floor for action.) Let's say, for the sake of argument, that the ACC report recommended approval of this overture. It could be placed on the consent docket and approved during the first plenary session of the Assembly. (Likewise, if the recommendation were to disapprove, the same process could be followed.)
I am dwelling on this to demonstrate how quickly things move if you are unfamiliar with the process. Though it is not the most likely course for this as-yet un-delivered overture, if something like this did happen and you were really interested in talking about this overture, it could be done before you ever got to speak.
5. Assuming that the ACC recommendation would not put it on the consent docket for final approval/disapproval, the next step would be for the Assembly Committee on Referral (Standing Rule C.1.d.) to recommend distribution. This is not a random kind of process and this overture would most likely end up in a committee named "Church Polity." At the 218th General Assembly, the description of this committee was, "Consider matters related to: amendments to Chapters I, III–V, VII–XIV, XVI–XVIII of the Form of Government with Advisory Committee on the Constitution advice; requests for interpretation; amendments to the Rules of Discipline with Advisory Committee on the Constitution advice. Marriage and Civil Unions. Advisory Committee on Litigation." (The important part of that is to see which sections of the Form of Government (G-sections) are covered.)
6. The recommendation from the Assembly Committee on Referral is one of the first items of business approved by an Assembly. Since the introduction of this committee (as task formerly handled by the Bills & Overtures committee), I cannot recall a single item pulled for distribution for a different committee.
7. Assume that it would be distributed to Church Polity. Commissioners and advisory delegates on that committee would have a chance to hear from the Overture Advocate from San Diego, would discuss it, and would vote to approve, disapprove, amend, or answer it. The committee's final action would be reported as a recommendation to the plenary floor.
8. Standing Rule E.7.b talks about how the action of the committee would come back to the plenary floor:
b. The reports of assembly committees shall contain only (1) the recommendations to be submitted to the General Assembly, and, where necessary, a brief statement of the committee’s reasons for such recommendations, and (2) the actions taken by the committee on items referred to the committee for action. Material necessary to identify the item of business and brief explanations may be included in the report. Extensive background information and detail contained in other documents in the hands of the commissioners shall not be included.
Most times, there is a consent agenda (which is approved as a block unless an item is pulled); then a listing by item number.
9. Assume that the overture makes it through committee as-is (remarkable though such an assumption is) and is approved by the Assembly without modification. Then, it would be forwarded to the presbyteries for their affirmative or negative votes. A simple majority yes (87 presbyteries) would mean that the constitutional amendment is approved.
Follow on RSS
Back to 219th General Assembly Prep Index
Posts older than June 20, 2008: Archives