Recently the membership passed an amendment altering Article VII Section 3(A) of the CEDA Bylaws. This amendment did not carry an effective date in its text and this has created some confusion as to the date it became effective. I will admit that I was fuzzy on this one too. After much discussion and consulting an old textbook, I can announce that an amendment without an effective date takes effect the moment it is passed. (While this post relates primarily to the novice eligibility rule change, let me also add that because all amendments without effective dates take effect immediately, teams that qualify as JV under the new, more liberal JV standards set by that amendment are eligible for JV regardless of when they lost their eligibility under the prior, stricter rule).
Faced with some community confusion, I presented to the EC the option to exercise our power under the Bylaws to grant waivers from the strictures of the eligibility requirements of Article VII Section 3(A), to grant a waiver to allow students who began the year eligible under the original rule to complete this season and accrue points. This does not "invalidate" or "waive" the amendment itself -- rather this would recognize that the amendment took effect and provide a limited waiver for the affected students for the next two months to finish the year. Many reasons were raised for adopting this waiver. An incomplete summary of some reasons mentioned in the discussion follows: 1) Confusion: In addition to my personal confusion, I have been approached by other coaches, including one with decades of service to the activity, who asked me why I thought the amendment took effect immediately rather than the beginning of next season. When people following the activity for some time were confused, I determined that the reasonable solution would be to explore a waiver. 2) The posted Constitution: While the amendment passed, anyone looking to our website to determine our rules will note that it is not included in the presently posted Constitution, which is the public notice of our rules. 3) Optimal compromise: It seemed to many to be the best compromise between faithfully following our rules and adhering to the general principle 'do no harm' when it comes to governing. The amendment did pass and will be in effect to the letter beginning next season, but for now there will be waiver to allow those excluded by the new rule to finish the season. 4) EC responsibility: There were either unspoken assumptions or a lack of communication with regards to the effective start date. As the EC it was our duty to accept the responsibility for the mistakes we made, specifically not having an effective date that was explicit and publicly noticed. We apologize for this misunderstanding. To prevent future such episodes, I am going to propose an amendment requiring all of our amendments to include "effective dates" (like real legislation). As always, individual tournaments can set stricter requirements for novice eligibility than allowed by the constitution. If a tournament expressly wishes to exclude those teams that met the old rule but not the new rule, please inform me and more importantly make this move explicit to all attending. 10 FOR: Baker Buescher Davis Dillard Kephart Patrice Peterson Rubino Silber Stables 3 OPPOSED: Elliott Green Jarman 1 ABSTAIN: McDonald Not Voting (Majority was reached before collecting these votes): Brossman Gerber Partlow-Lefevre Steinberg North Central Rep (presently vacant)
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