Bylaws

The current version of the bylaws was approved by the Board of Directors on March 4, 2009. History The Bylaws, derived originally from those of the ACEC, have changed fairly dramatically since their inception.

Originally, NSCSS was a society of member organizations. Today, we are a society of individual members. Originally, only consultants could be full voting members. Today, all soil scientists qualify for full membership, although only consultants can hold elected office.

Bylaws and Resolutions Committee

• Phil Scoles, President, normally ex-officio but also, in this case, a committee member
• Tom Flack, Chair (term expires 2010)
• Phil Scoles (term expires 2011)
• Jim Fincham (term expires 2012)
• Barrett Kays (term expires 2013)
• Bob Kendall (term expires 2014)

Amendment Process

Amendments are initiated by the Bylaws and Resolutions Committee, the membership at the annual meeting, or the Board of Directors. The Bylaws and Resolutions Committee then prepares a draft amendment for consideration by the Board of Directors.

Committee Activities

The Bylaws and Resolutions Committee initiated the following six (6) proposed amendments on September 16, 2008 and submitted them to the Board on November 19, 2009

The following proposed amendments were APPROVED by the Committee in September 2009:

#007. Eliminate Board appointment of Nominating Committee members. (Article XI.A.2.)

Supports current practice and gives authority to the Past President to select whomever he/she needs to assist in nominations.

#008. Eliminate Professional Conduct, a standing committee. (Article XI.B.3.)

Consolidates ethics issue functions with the Board of Examiners. Goes hand in hand with #009 below.

#009. Move professional conduct and ethics responsibilities from Directors to Examiners. (Article XIV.A.6.)

Consolidates ethics issue functions with the Board of Examiners.

The following proposed amendments were APPROVED by the Committee in October and November 2009:

#015. Specify Board voting eligibility. (Article VI.C.1.)

Clears up any source of confusion by specifying a Board meeting and not an annual meeting.

#016. Allow annual meetings in March. (Article X.A.)

Supports current practice and establishes a narrower meeting period, but allows the President-Elect flexibility in selection of meeting dates.

The following proposed amendment was initiated for review and FAILED TO PASS (4-1 against):

#012. Reduce regional representation from 6 to 4. (Article VI.A.)

Consolidation of NW and SW regions to West Region, and SE and SC regions to South Region. The new alignment better represents the membership distribution, allows for more at-large directors from member-heavy regions, and now matches the regional representation of NCSS and SSSA.

The following proposed amendment was discussed, not initiated for review and REMANDED to the Board for further discussion:

#017. Refund policy (Article V.B.)

Issues related to our current refund policy as posted at : http://www.nscss.org/content/nscss-obligations-and-refunds-policy