Resolutions may be submitted to the Resolution Committee after the CEC and Senate District Committee meets to canvass primary votes after the March 4th primary election day. That primary canvass meeting occurred on Thursday, March 13, 2014. CLICK HERE to jump to the Resolution submission form at the bottom of this article. Mobile browser users, scroll down.
Democrats attending a County / SD Convention may present Resolutions at the convention for the purpose of sending instructions and comments about issues to the next higher level of convention, e.g. the state convention. Resolutions submitted to a County / SD Convention are open for debate, amendment and adoption or rejection.
Before getting to the floor of County / SD Convention, a Resolutions Committee will review all of the resolutions submitted from within the county or the district and then make a Committee report recommending the resolutions to be presented to the full body of the county or the senatorial district convention. Resolutions adopted at a County / SD Convention are then forwarded to the state convention for debate, amendment and adoption or rejection.
There will be a Temporary Platform/Resolutions Committee at the state convention that will review the thousands of resolutions adopted by counties and senatorial districts throughout the State of Texas. The Committee will report to the Permanent Platform/Resolutions Committee that is elected at the state convention. The Permanent Platform/Resolutions Committee will then offer its report containing many of those resolutions to the full body of the state convention for debate, amendment, and adoption or rejection. Because the state convention is so large, you should attend and testify before the Temporary and/or Permanent Platform/Resolutions Committee if you want to have specific input on a subject of special interest to you.
The County or Senatorial District Committee for Resolutions may meet prior to the Call to Order of the County or Senatorial District Convention to organize their work and make preliminary recommendations of submitted resolutions. Any attendee to the SD Convention may submit to the Chair, or a designee, a proposed resolution for consideration by the Convention.
Resolutions may be submitted to the SD Convention Resolution Committee after the Senate District Committee meets in CEC meeting to canvass primary votes after the March 4th primary election day. That vote canvass meeting is scheduled for Thursday, March 13, 2014, one week before Convention Day. Instructions for submitting resolutions will be posted on this blog on Friday, March 14, 2014.
The Chair shall announce at the beginning of the SD Convention where and with whom resolutions shall be filed. The period for filing resolutions shall be open for at least one hour from the time of said announcement. The Convention may waive this one hour period if there is no objection from any attendee.
Writing Your Resolution
Resolutions are the vehicles:
- To request action on a matter of concern;
- To send a message to a body regarding policy and/or actions;
- To request the sense of the group in recognizing contributions of an individual or group to the body/causes/concerns that are reason(s) for the body's existence;
- To memorialize someone recently deceased;
- To congratulate a person or group;
- To amend the Rules of the Texas Democratic Party (TDP);
- To amend the TDP Platform; and
- To urge Democratic elected officials, especially in the Texas Legislature and the U.S. Congress, to advocate certain positions on policy issues.
In the case of recognizing the contributions of an individual or group, the title would include the name of the individual / group and go something like, "Recognizing Years of Service to the Collin County Democratic community by 'Jane Doe' / 'Designated Organization.'
The form of the title can vary. Some prefer "In Support of" or "In Opposition to," each of which has a more traditional sound but does not add to the meaning. The purpose of the title is to unambiguously identify the topic.
Example:
IN OPPOSITION TO SECRET MONEY IN U.S. ELECTIONS
[Once the topic is identified, supporting information for the position in the resolution becomes the content for the WHEREAS clause(s).]
Example:
WHEREAS, unidentified sources of money in politics raise questions in the minds of voters about the loyalties of candidates receiving that money; and
WHEREAS, public trust in the political process requires an open, transparent system of paying for political campaigns; and
WHEREAS, the 5-4 Supreme Court decision in Citizens United vs Federal Election Commission allows the interests of unidentified foreign and domestic corporations and organizations to be heard above the voices of citizens in our democratic processes;
[The action being sought appears in the RESOLVED clauses.]
Example:
THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED that Texans in Collin County, Texas strongly urge the U.S. House and the U.S. Senate to restore transparency to U.S. elections by requiring disclosure of the sources of all spending in campaigns for elective office through legislation; and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that upon passage of this resolution by the Senatorial District 8 Convention of Collin County, Texas, it will be forwarded to the Texas Democratic Party for consideration by the Resolution Committee of June 2014 State Democratic Convention.
Formatting will affect how the resolution looks in print. The recommended format uses all capital letters for the WHEREAS introducing each supporting clause. The same is true for the RESOLVED clauses. To create a bridge between the last WHEREAS and the first RESOLVED sections of a resolution, use "...therefore be it..." By double spacing between the clauses, the separate elements of the resolution are easy to follow.
[Include the required identifying information at end of the resolution.]
Submitted by, _______________________ from Precinct, _____ in Collin County, Texas, Senatorial District 8, on this _____ day of March, 2014.
Structure of a resolution
- Give the resolution a title that indicates not merely the topic, but also the position to be advocated (i.e., instead of "Resolution on Private Heath Insurance Industry Reform," it would be better to put "Resolution For Private Heath Insurance Industry Reform").
- List the reasons for the resolution at the beginning, each reason being in a separate paragraph beginning with the word "whereas" (capitalized, italicized or in boldface).
- List each action to be taken in separate paragraphs introduced by the words "be it resolved" (capitalized, italicized or in boldface).
- Use semicolons to separate each paragraph, and avoid periods. A well-written resolution should consist grammatically of a single sentence.
- Keep the resolution brief. It should fit easily on a single page.
- At the end of the resolution, write: "Submitted to and Adopted by Precinct ____ in ____ County, Texas, Senatorial District ___, on March 2, 2010" and leave a signature line for the precinct convention secretary, who will sign it if the precinct convention adopts the resolution.
- Anyone wishing to submit a resolution show bring three printed copies of each resolution to the precinct convention
- Someone has an idea for a resolution and writes it up.
- The resolution is forwarded to the Resolutions Committee during the two weeks prior to the March 22, 2014 Senatorial District 8 Convention - OR - at convention during the designated period.
- The Resolutions Committee will meet prior to the Senatorial District 8 Convention. They can amend a resolution submitted before convention day, combine it with other similar resolutions, or vote it down.
- The Senatorial District 8 Convention will consider all the resolutions recommended by the Resolutions Committee during its report to the main floor of the convention. Those that pass will proceed to the state convention.
- Resolutions that are not statewide in significance (except for memorial or congratulatory resolutions) will not be considered at the state convention.
- At the state convention, each senatorial district elects one member for each of various committees, such as the Permanent Resolutions Committee, the Rules Committee, and the Platform Committee, and others.
- If the Permanent Resolutions Committee works expediently, they will consider all of the submitted resolutions, combine them with others as possible, and then refer them for a vote on the convention floor.
- At the state convention, other resolutions may be introduced that haven't come through a county or senatorial district convention by petition of 20% of the delegates (using the proper form).
- Resolutions passed by the state convention will be sent by the SDEC to the Democrats elected to the Texas Legislature and U.S. Congress, as appropriate. Hopefully our representatives, whom we work so hard to get elected, will pay attention to us!
Example 1:
ENDING THE SEQUESTER IMPACT ON VETERANS
WHEREAS, at discharge from military service, veterans are not automatically enrolled in the Veterans' Administration; and are poorly informed of VA services and locations, and face an inordinate delay in the processing of their claims, in some cases as long as two years, and
WHEREAS, more than 2.2 million troops returning from Afghanistan and Iraq face new battles as they transition back to civilian life including physical, mental and emotional wounds such as PTSD which if not treated, can lead to troubled relationships, lost jobs, substance abuse, homelessness and even suicide, and
THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED, that County County Texas Democrats of Senate District 8 supports the immediate implementation of the following by the Department of Defense and the Veterans' Administration:
- Promptly develop a system of concurrent physical exams and enrollment in the VA system, with issuance of a VA ID Card at the time of discharge, and
- Provide Permanent Supportive Housing with robust individualized and comprehensive services to promote independent living leading to an early return to the community life, avoiding the more expensive institutions such as jails, hospitals, and homeless shelters, and
Submitted by, __________________ from Precinct, ____ in Collin County, Texas, Senatorial District 8, on this 14th day of March, 2014.
Example 2:
RESOLUTION ON U.S. SUPREME COURT’S DECISION EFFECTIVELY GUTTING THE VOTING RIGHTS ACT
WHEREAS, the Voting Rights Act (VRA) is one of the most effective, and necessary, pieces legislation passed by Congress in the last fifty years; and
WHEREAS, despite achievements and advances we've made collectively as a nation over the past fifty years, in red states like Mississippi, Alabama, Texas and others, work remains to be done so that all Americans can enjoy their voting rights without discrimination; and
WHEREAS, the U.S. Supreme Court recently struck down the existing coverage formula used to determine which states and electoral subdivisions are subject to the preclearance requirement of Section 5 of the VRA, effectively gutting the Act by taking away the Department of Justice's strongest tool to prevent voter disenfranchisement;
THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED, the Texas Democratic Party forcefully condemns this 5-4 ruling by the U.S. Supreme Court which is bound to set back the cause of voting rights for years to come, and strongly supports efforts to mitigate the damage the court's decision is likely to inflict on voters who are registered in preclearance districts; and
AND BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that County County Texas Democrats of Senate District 8 send a copy of this resolution to the 2014 State Convention of the Texas Democratic Party.
Submitted by, __________________ from Precinct, ____ in Collin County, Texas, Senatorial District 8, on this 14th day of March, 2014.
Example 3:
RESOLUTION TO SAVE SOCIAL SECURITY
WHEREAS, the Social Security program does not add to the federal deficit and, in fact, the Social Security Trust Fund lends money to the federal government through the purchase of government bonds;
THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED, cuts in Social Security should not be part of any deficit reduction program because Social Security does not add to the deficit;
AND BE IT ALSO RESOLVED, the Texas Democratic Party opposes any effort to reduce Social Security under the guise of budget cuts that would help reduce the federal government deficit.
AND BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that County County Texas Democrats of Senate District 8 send a copy of this resolution to the 2014 State Convention of the Texas Democratic Party.
Submitted by, __________________ from Precinct, ____ in Collin County, Texas, Senatorial District 8, on this 14th day of March, 2014.
Example 4:
SINGLE PAYER HEALTH CARE
WHEREAS, the new health care system passed under President Obama is a step in the right direction and Single Payer Health Care or Medicare for Everyone would be a further improvement, and
WHEREAS, the advantage of Single Payer Health Care is that insurance companies along with their profits and overhead would be replaced by the federal government as the single payer for health care services as is now the case with Medicare, resulting in huge savings in health care costs, and
WHEREAS, Single Payer Health Care is not socialized medicine because the hospitals, doctors and other providers would not work for the government but would remain in the private sector,
NOW THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED, that County County Texas Democrats of Senate District 8 supports a further evolution of our health care system into a Single Payer system, or Medicare for All, and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that County County Texas Democrats of Senate District 8 transmit this resolution to the 2014 State Convention of the Texas Democratic Party with the request to forward it to President Obama and to all the Democrats in the Texas Congressional delegation.
Submitted by, __________________ from Precinct, ____ in Collin County, Texas, Senatorial District 8, on this 14th day of March, 2014.
Example 5 - Expression of appreciation resolution:
VOTING SUPPRESSION
WHEREAS, the U.S. Constitution gives States the right to determine their voting procedures, but some States have misinterpreted and abused this power, creating obstacles to voting by eligible citizens, and
WHEREAS, the citizens of those States lack the power to reverse voter suppression laws precisely because many citizens who would reverse them
are prevented from voting, and
WHEREAS, the U.S. Justice Department is responsible to defend the Voting Rights Act and citizens' Constitutional right to vote,
THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED, that County County, Texas Democrats of Senate District 8 congratulates the Obama administration for vigorously opposing all forms of voter suppression and enforcing all eligible citizens' right to vote, urges the administration to redouble its efforts, and requests the members of Congress to publicly support such action, and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that County County, Texas Democrats of Senate District 8 transmit this resolution to the 2014 State Convention of the Texas Democratic Party with the request to forward it to President Obama
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