BUFLA Constitutional Amendment

BUFLA

Bangladesh Unity Federation of Los Angeles

BUFLA Constitutional Amendment – 2009

First Amendment

Contents:

Item - 1:     BUFLA Cabinet Officers:
Item - 2:     Disciplinary Action:
Item – 3:     Replacement of BUFLA Cabinet Officers, BOT members and AC Chair:

Item – 4: Terms of Cabinet Officers:

Item – 5:     Board Of Trustees (BOT):
Item – 6:     Advisory Council (AC):
Item – 7:     Minimum Qualification for the office of Cabinet/AC/BOT:

Item – 8:    BUFLA Membership Category:
Item – 9:     BUFLA Membership Region:
Item – 10:   BUFLA Cabinet Plus Team:
Item – 11:   BUFLA Election Procedure (Annexure A):
Item – 12:   Exclusions from Constitution:
Item – 13:   Audit/Accounting:

Item – 14: Web Master:

Item – 15: BUFLA Office // Locker // Storage

Item – 16: Transfer of Records/BUFLA Properties:

Item – 17:   Special Clause:
Item – 18:   BUFLA Fund Raising Events:
Item – 19:   Confidentiality:
Item – 20:   Liability Insurance:
Item – 21:   The 501(c)(3) Application and IRS Recommendation:
Item – 22:   Language and Text

Annexure A (Election Procedure)

Attendees of the BUFLA GA Meeting at Shatto in Los Angeles (Sept 13, 2009)
BUFLA Constitutional Amendment – 2009

First Amendment

Item - 1: BUFLA Cabinet Officers:

i) The Officers elected by the EC, pursuant to Article VI (B) of the BUFLA Constitution, will be collectively called as “BUFLA Cabinet Officers”.

ii) Two additional Cabinet Officers will be added as follows:

Cultural Secretary: Will organize the BUFLA Cultural program
Organizing Secretary: Responsibilities will be as appropriate for an Organizing Secretary as defined by the Cabinet.

iii) Secretary will be renamed as General Secretary

Item - 2: Disciplinary Action:

i) BUFLA Team members include the Cabinet Officers, the EC, the BOT, the AC, the Associate members and the Honorary members.

ii) In case of violation of BUFLA constitution, or degradation of honor of BUFLA and its team members in any way, by any BUFLA team member of any category, the President, with the majority approval of the Cabinet officers, can do the following:

a. Invite the violator for a meeting with the Cabinet officers in order to discuss and resolve the issue.

b. If that does not resolve it, then issue a 30 days show cause notice to the individual, with a confidential copy of the notice to the President of the relevant organization, or to the Secretary, if the individual is the President of that organization. The individual can defend himself/herself to the Cabinet within that time.

c. In case of non-response or unsatisfactory response to the show cause notice, the President can suspend the individual for up to 3 months with the simple majority vote of EC in an EC meeting.

d. The President can also suspend the individual for longer than 3 months, or expel permanently, with two thirds majority vote of the EC in an EC meeting.

iii) The EC may take other appropriate actions as permitted by the law that governs a non profit public benefit organizations against any individual for any relevant wrong doings.

iv) The President will take immediate action on any BUFLA team member by expelling him/her, if the individual (a) uses foul language or offensive language in a formal event, or (b) repeatedly disrupts a meeting in spite of warnings by the Presiding officer, or (c) assaults any team member physically in a BUFLA event.

Item – 3: Replacement of BUFLA Cabinet Officers, BOT members and AC Chair:

i) In case of vacancy in the Cabinet or BOT or the AC Chair during the term, the EC can select/elect the replacement by a simple majority vote in an EC meeting. The President will conduct the selection/election process.

ii) The oath of office of the newly elected Cabinet officers will be administered by the Chief Election Commissioner.

iii) The oath of office for the BOT members and the AC Chair will be administered by the President.

iv) If any of the Cabinet officers, BOT members or the AC Chair does not perform adequately, or distinctly underperforms, then the President, with the majority approval of the Cabinet officers, can do the following:

a) Invite the individual for a meeting with the Cabinet officers in order to discuss and resolve the performance issues.

b) If that does not resolve it, then issue a 30 days notice to the individual for performance improvement, with a confidential copy of the notice to the President of the relevant organization, or to the Secretary, if the individual is the President of that organization. The individual can show the improvement in performance to the Cabinet within that time.

c) In case of continued performance issues, as determined by the majority of the Cabinet officers, the President can replace the individual by a simple majority vote of the EC, in an EC meeting.

Item – 4: Terms of Cabinet Officers:

i) The President can not be re-elected as President within 5 years. No one else from the same organization can be elected as President within 5 years.

ii) The restriction of re-election of the President within 10 years per Article VI (B) is removed.

iii) General Secretary can not be re-elected for the same positions for two consecutive terms.

~~iv)~~ The restriction of re-election of General Secretary within 10 years per Article VI (B) is removed.

v) No cabinet officers can be re-elected for the same positions for two consecutive terms.

Item – 5: Board Of Trustees (BOT):

i) The 5 members of the Board of Trustee (BOT) will be elected by the EC for 3 years’ term or less.

ii) The BOT members will elect the BOT-Chair and Vice Chair for one year term. The BOT-Chair can not be re-elected within two years.

iii) BOT members can not maintain EC membership.

iv) BOT Chair will maintain a neutral position in the community. However, if the BOT chair does not perform his duties properly, becomes controversial due to misjudgment, wrong policy or unable to keep neutral position, or the EC brings complains against the BOT Chair, then the BOT members will elect a new Chair. This item is of particular significance, because the BOT Chair acts as the Chief Election Commissioner during the BUFLA election.

v) The immediate family members of a BOT member can not be a candidate in BUFLA election, and vice-versa. Immediate family members mean spouse, children, parents, and siblings.

Item – 6: Advisory Council (AC):

i) The Chair of the Advisory Council (AC) will be elected by the EC.

ii) The AC members will be approved by the EC.

iii) The AC members do not have the term limit.

Item – 7: Minimum Qualification for the office of Cabinet/AC/BOT:

The following persons are not eligible to hold the office of BUFLA Cabinet/AC/BOT:

i) A convicted felon

ii) One who is generally known to have repeated misappropriation of funds collected from the community

iii) Less than 18 years of age

Item – 8: BUFLA Membership Category:

A new category of BUFLA Membership will be added as follows:

BUFLA Honorary Member

All Bangladeshi organizations of the greater Los Angeles area, as well as the entire State of California which meet the BUFLA definition and criteria of organization, as stated in the BUFLA Constitution, Article V, Section A, can be given the BUFLA Honorary Memberships.

Benefits and Limitations of BUFLA Honorary Members:

i) No Membership Fee for Honorary Members.

ii) Can attend the Executive Committee meeting and the General Assembly meeting, at the discretion of the EC.

iii) Will be seated in a designated area in the EC meeting, separate from the EC members.

iv) Can give only written feedback in an EC meeting and GA meeting, but can not give verbal feedback in an EC or GA meeting.

v) Cannot vote in an EC meeting or GA meeting.

vi) Cannot participate in the BUFLA election as voters or candidates.

vii) Can become an EC member or Associate member, after paying the BUFLA membership fee, depending upon the age of the organization.

viii) Associate members will enjoy all the privileges of the EC members, except that they can not vote.

Item – 9: BUFLA Membership Region:

Bangladeshi Organizations in the greater Los Angeles area, as well as within the entire State of California, who meet the Organizational criteria of BUFLA, per Article V (A) of the BUFLA Constitution, can be BUFLA members.

Item – 10: BUFLA Cabinet Plus Team:

The Cabinet officers may invite some additional EC members and AC/BOT members to their periodic Cabinet meetings and other activities, who can help the Cabinet members in their various activities. This team of Cabinet Officers and the EC/AC/BOT members can be referred to as Cabinet Plus team.

Item – 11: BUFLA Election Procedure:

Election Procedure is annexed as “Annexure A”, which may be changed from time to time by the EC with a simple majority vote in an EC meeting, depending on the need. This document will have legal force as bylaws and will be obligatory on the part of the BOT / Election Commission to follow.

Item – 12: Exclusions from Constitution:

BUFLA Constitution: Article VIII - Section A, Item 5

Any member of the EC failing to attend three consecutive meetings of the EC shall be subject to removal from the committee by a two-thirds vote of the EC, unless the absentee can provide a satisfactory reason for such absence.

Item – 13: Audit/Accounting:

Audit and Account must be maintained as per Standard Accounting Principles and Standard Audit Procedures practiced in the State of California.

President and the treasurer may appoint CPAs to assist on such functions.

Item – 14: Web Master:

President will hire/appoint a Web Master to develop and maintain the web site that would be updated regularly. The important items are all the historic records of the Parades/EC/Cabinet/AC/BOT/magazines/photos/events/agenda/minutes etc., speeches of every President, planner showing dates of Parades for next 10 years, ad materials inviting Booths, advertisements, sponsorship, membership form, Contact information, etc.

No important record should be permanently deleted.

Item – 15: BUFLA Office // Locker // Storage

BUFLA should maintain an office in Los Angeles. However, until an office is established, a Bank Locker or a suitable storage should be maintained in Los Angeles. President and Secretary will have access to this safe box/storage which will preserve, precious items/documents i.e., Original Constitution, Seal, Certificates, pre-formation or pre-registration historic documents, Minutes, Attendance list medals, trophies, Pictures, CD, DVD, negatives, letters of Awards and appreciations & other such items of value.

Item – 16: Transfer of Records/BUFLA Properties:

Outgoing officers of BUFLA must hand over all records, mailing lists and labels of organizations & individuals, email addresses, List of Donors, list of Patrons, Forms, seals, stamps, banners and any other items belonging or relating to BUFLA in their possession to the newly elected officers of respective positions. Non-compliance may be a cause for disciplinary action.

Item – 17: Special Clause:

i) Only for 2009-2010 term, the EC can select/elect the Cultural Secretary and the Joint Secretary, during an EC meeting, by a simple majority vote.

ii) For 2009-10, the EC will dissolve the current BOT, and will elect 5 members of BOT for 3 years term, within 30 days after the approval of this amendment, or in an earliest possible EC meeting. The BOT members will be elected in an EC meeting, by a simple majority vote.

iii) These amendments (First Amendment) will be retroactively effective from the date of BUFLA Cabinet Officers’ Inauguration – 2009 (June 28, 2009).

Item – 18: BUFLA Fund Raising Events:

BUFLA may hold one or more Fund Raising Dinner or events per year for the Parade, and for multipurpose items as follows: Local Charity, Bangladesh Charity, any major community project like Nazrul Endowment fund, Shaheed Minar Monument, Little Bangladesh, Community Center, Job training projects, and other significant community development projects as described in Article VI, Section E, item 2 of the BUFLA Constitution.

Item – 19: Confidentiality:

i) The BUFLA Cabinet officers will sign an Oath of Confidentiality Statement to maintain the secrecy of sensitive decision or proceedings that may create chaos, or hindrance in executing such decisions, by the affected parties.

ii) The BUFLA cabinet officers will not spread misinformation or proceedings of internal meetings.

iii) Breach of confidentiality would be subject to disciplinary action.

Item – 20: Liability Insurance:

BUFLA will maintain the liability insurance for about $1,000,000.

Item – 21: The 501(c)(3) Application and IRS Recommendation:

The Articles of Incorporation (AI) is to be written as follows:

AI-FIVE: This corporation is organized for charitable, religious, educational, and scientific purposes under Section 501(c)(3) of the Code, including, for such purposes, the making of distributions to organizations that qualify as exempt organizations under section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code, or corresponding section of any future federal tax code.

AI-SIX: No part of the net earnings of this corporation shall inure to the benefit of, or be distributable to its members, trustees, officers, or other private persons, except that the organization shall be authorized and empowered to pay reasonable compensation for services rendered and to make payments and distributions in furtherance of the purposes set forth in the purpose clause hereof. No substantial part of the activities of the organization shall be the carrying on of propaganda, or otherwise attempting to influence legislation, and the organization shall not participate in, or intervene in (including the publishing or distribution of statements) any political campaign on behalf of any candidate for public office. Notwithstanding any other provision of this document, the organization shall not be conducted for any purposes not permitted to be conducted (a) by an organization exempt from federal income tax under section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code, or corresponding section of any future federal tax code, or (b) by an organization, contributions to which are deductible under section 170(c)(2) of the Internal Revenue Code, or corresponding section of any future federal tax code.

AI-SEVEN: Upon dissolution of this corporation, the assets shall be distributed for one or more exempt purposes within the meaning of section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code, or corresponding section of any future federal tax code, or shall be distributed to the federal government, or to a state or local government, for a public purpose.

Item – 22: Language and Text

In case of any conflict between the Constitution and the First Amendment, in terms of language or text, First Amendment will be considered as the guiding document.

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Annexure A

(Re: Item – 11)

Election Procedure

1. Election will be conducted by the BOT, acting as the Election Commission. The BOT Chair will act as the Chief Election Commissioner.

2. Election Commission can be abbreviated as ElC.

3. Election will take place annually by May 31. In case of special circumstances, the election date can be extended by up to a maximum of another 4 weeks.

4. Any of the 4 representatives of the individual organizations can be a candidate.

5. If multiple candidates from one organization are elected, then only the candidate with the highest number of votes can retain the position.

6. If the number of votes is the same for more than one candidate from the same organization, then the higher position will prevail.

7. In case of tie for the same position, there will be lottery.

8. (a) One organization one vote, (b) One person one vote, and (c) One Organization one Cabinet officer.

9. Declaration of Candidacy is mandatory. The election commission will supply the printed declaration forms to the candidates. All candidates must fill out those declaration forms and submit those to the Election Commission on time.

10. Declaration of Candidacy can be in the form of individual, partial Panel or full Panel.

11. The Election Commission will publish list of posts, candidates, deadline of submission and withdrawal of nomination paper and eventually circulate the final list of candidates.

12. Election will be by postal ballot or by traditional in person vote. So, the voter will have both choice, either to mail the ballot, or to cast the vote on the election day at the polling station.

13. In case of postal ballot, the voters can mail back the ballot, or they can cast it at the polling station on the Election Day.

14. The final voter list shall be prepared by the BUFLA Cabinet and it will be given to the Election Commission by April 30 of the respective year.

15. The ballot papers must be printed with the BUFLA name and the BUFLA Logo. The mailing ballots must be singed (Originals, not copies) by at least three Commissioners.

16. During the ballots mailing process and preparation, at least three Commissioners must be present and involved in those processes.

17. The Election Commission must use a P.O. Box Address in order to receive the Returning Ballots. No Personal or business address can be used by the Election Commission to receive the ballots.

18. The Election commission must preserve the cast-and-counted ballots for 30 days from the day of the election, in case a recounting becomes necessary. After that time, no candidate can request for re-counting of the ballots.

19. The vote counting will be done at the polling station, in presence of all the voters.

20. The election results will be announced at the polling station immediately after the vote counting.

21. The Election Commission will publish the official results of the election by e-mail and other media channels and electronic means, within 3 days of completion of the election.

22. Any remaining election process items of significance can be decided by the EC.

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These 22 Amendments collectively termed as the “First Amendment” was proposed by:

Abul Kashem Toha, Dr. Hashem, Khandaker Alam, Dr. Shah Alam, Quddus Khan, Anis Rahman, Mahbub Khan, Majib Siddiquee

The organizations endorsing these Amendments to be included in the Agenda of the GA meeting were as follows:

(Endorsement of 15% of the EC members is required in order to be in the GA Meeting Agenda):

AABEA

Bangladesh Association of California

BNP

Dhaka University Alumni Association

Friends Club of California

Jalshaghar Entertainment

MUNA

Sangbadik Union

Uttoron

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These 22 amendments termed as the “First Amendment” was approved in a General Assembly (GA) meeting held on September 13, 2009, at Shatto Recreation Center, located at 3191 West 4^th Street, Los Angeles, California 90020, USA.

The Motion was moved by Mahbub Khan to approve these Constitutional Amendments in this GA meeting, and it was seconded by Mohammad Jilani Sadiq. The BUFLA Presdent Khandakar Alam presided over this GA meeting, and he conducted the voting process for these Constitutional amendments (The First Amendment).

After 4 months of interactive feedback, three presentations in 3 different EC/GA meetings in 3 different months, and an hour long intense debate by most of the attendees of this GA meeting on Sept-13, 2009, these Constitutional amendments (The First Amendment) were overwhelmingly and almost unanimously approved by the EC, except one abstain (Saif Kutubi).

The attendees of this BUFLA GA meeting on Sept-13, 2009, were:

1. Khandakar Alam (President) Dhaka University Alumni Association

2. Quddus Khan (Vice President) Sangbadik Union

3. Mushfiqur Chowdhury (Khasru) (General Secretary) BNP

4. Abdur Razzaque (Treasurer) Uttoron

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5. Abdul Hakim Bangladesh Association of Greater valley, CA

6. Abdul Hamid Friend’s Club of Valley, LA

7. Ali Akbar MUNA

8. Ali Ashraf MUNA

9. Anisur Rahman MUNA

10. Badrul Alam SC Jalalabad Association

11. Denny Tayyib BWOC

12. Dilshad Rahman BOT

13. Dr. Abul Hashem Uttoron

14. Dr. Shah Alam Jalshaghar

15. Enamul Hamid Taranga

16. Habibur Rahman Swaraj Uttoron

17. Jasim Ahmed SC Jalalabad Association

18. Kamal Khan Bay Area Bangladesh Association President.

19. Khaleed Hossain Jalshaghar

20. Krishna Majumder Bengal Heritage of CA

21. Mahbub Khan BUFLA-AC

22. Majib Siddiquee BAC

23. Maruf BNP

24. Mehdi Hasan LA Tiger Club

25. Mohammad Ali Bikrampur Association

26. Mohammad Jilani Sadiq Ganer Mela

27. Mohammad Tarek Bangladesh Mela

28. Monindra Biswas Bangali Heritage.

29. Muhammad Shamim Hossain Bangladeshi American Democratic Party of CA

30. Nazrul Alam SC Jalalabad Association.

31. Omar Huda BAVOA

32. Panna Khan, Sangbadik Union

33. Quazi Moshoorul Huda Bangladeshi American Democratic Party of CA

34. Saif Kutubi BDASEA

35. Saleh Kibria AABEA

36. Shafiqur Rahman Friend’s Club of Valley, LA

37. Shamsuddin Manik BOT

38. Tarik Babu BAC

39. Tia Habib SC Jalalabad Association

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40. Abdullah Malek

41. Abul Kalam Khan

42. Habibur Rahman Khan

43. Mohammad Nurunnabi (Rollin)

44. Mohammad Siddiqi

45. Saiful Ansary

46. Shaifi Ahmed

47. Shamsur Rahman Khan

48. SHISHIR

49. TUTUL

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