OT, sorry to take so long to get this posted, but here are the facts.
Re. NCBA Policy div. ( which is SEPARATE FROM the Federation of State Beef Councils, & the CBB).
OT, votes on policy DO NOT depend on cattle numbers of a state.
The number of votes on the Policy Division board and policy committees a state affiliate of NCBA has is based on the membership revenue generated (that means the number of the state affilate members who pay dues to NCBA). This is how it has been done for at least three decades dating back to the days of ANCA through the days of NCA.. NCBA lists and reports only members who pay NCBA dues directly, or those that have paid their NCBA dues through their state affiliate. These are the only members counted by NCBA.
MEMBERSHIP:OT, members of state affiliates are NOT forced to join NCBA in order to join their state association. There was a time when state affiliates CHOSE to have a state/national partnership where members paid one fee to belong to both orgagnizations, HOWEVER, individuals in the state affiliate COULD belong ONLY to the state organization if they so chose. That structure was dropped two years ago. A Marketing Partnership choice was implemented so that if a state so chooses, they may agree to handle all recruitment and retention efforts for their NCBA members. This gives them a lower cost for dues paid to NCBA and the state affiliation fee is lower, reflecting the state groups cost of doing the membership work. Whatever affiliation type a state chooses is entirely their decision and is not demanded by NCBA. Your claim in a previous post that NCBA has large numbers of "ghost" or captive members due to being forced to join by a business connection is, it it even exists, beyond the control of NCBA and there is no policy promoting such. I suppose it could be similar to the "gifting" of memberships to R-CALF by those who donate money in the name of people or businesses, a practice that I do KNOW occurs, whether or not it is policy of that group.
MEMBERSHIP & POLICY DEVELOPMENT: OT, you and some other R-CALFers ignore the fact that the approach to membership and policy devlopment differs greatly between NCBA and R-CALF.
The NCBA state affiliates are the critical cog in both areas. For membership we do not recruit over the top of, or around our 46 state affiliate organizations, but work actively with and through them to recruit members, whichever membership structure they choose to use.
Re. POLICY DEVELOPMENT: development of policies begins with the state affiliates. Resolutions considered at the national conventions begin with a state member, who does not have to be an NCBA member (giving non-NCBA members direct input into NCBA policy formulation) introducing and getting a resolution passed at his state convention. The state affiliate brings the resolution to the appropriate committee at the NCBA convention. If approved in committee, the Res. goes to the Policy Division board. Any Res. defeated at the committee level can be brought to the board by any director. The next step for approved resolutions is the Annual Membership Meeting at the convention. A resolution defeated by the board can also be brought up at the Membership Meeting. The final step is the mail in ballot. Which DOES get counted!
Re. POLICY COMMITTEE STRUCTURE: First, it is the same structure that has been in effect for at least 30 years. The number of seats an affiliate has on a policy committee is equivalent to the number of Policy Division board members they have (which is determined by the number of members they represent). Voting is simple.....one vote per committee member, simple majority to approve, just like in virtually any other organization.
OT, when you say it is confusing or complicated, you are probably thinking about the JOINT CHECKOFF COMMITTEES where votes are first equalized in order to ensure that one side (CBB, Federation Division, and Policy Division are the three "sides") cannot out vote the others by sheer numbers alone. THE JOINT CHECKOFF COMMITTEES ARE ADVISORY ONLY and cannot commit the Policy division of NCBA to any action. Nor any of the other "sides", I presume. Just thought of that, so will check to see if I'm right.
VOTING: NCBA changed bylaws two years ago to implement a mail ballot. The ballot is mailed to all active members and includes all resolutions passed at convention. Results are tabulated and reported in detail by the accounting firm. The 2005 results were reported on page 7 of the April 7, 2005 issue of Beef Business Bulletin. Mail ballot returns are very typical compared to other association ballot and survey returns. This ballot is designed to OVERTURN policy previously established and passed through the committee, board, and membership voting process IF that policy is contrary to the positions of cow/calf producers back home. The fact that it hasn't done so indicates the producers appointed by their state affiliate members to the committees and board of directors of NCBA are doing the great job their neighbors back home expected of them.
MRJ
Re. NCBA Policy div. ( which is SEPARATE FROM the Federation of State Beef Councils, & the CBB).
OT, votes on policy DO NOT depend on cattle numbers of a state.
The number of votes on the Policy Division board and policy committees a state affiliate of NCBA has is based on the membership revenue generated (that means the number of the state affilate members who pay dues to NCBA). This is how it has been done for at least three decades dating back to the days of ANCA through the days of NCA.. NCBA lists and reports only members who pay NCBA dues directly, or those that have paid their NCBA dues through their state affiliate. These are the only members counted by NCBA.
MEMBERSHIP:OT, members of state affiliates are NOT forced to join NCBA in order to join their state association. There was a time when state affiliates CHOSE to have a state/national partnership where members paid one fee to belong to both orgagnizations, HOWEVER, individuals in the state affiliate COULD belong ONLY to the state organization if they so chose. That structure was dropped two years ago. A Marketing Partnership choice was implemented so that if a state so chooses, they may agree to handle all recruitment and retention efforts for their NCBA members. This gives them a lower cost for dues paid to NCBA and the state affiliation fee is lower, reflecting the state groups cost of doing the membership work. Whatever affiliation type a state chooses is entirely their decision and is not demanded by NCBA. Your claim in a previous post that NCBA has large numbers of "ghost" or captive members due to being forced to join by a business connection is, it it even exists, beyond the control of NCBA and there is no policy promoting such. I suppose it could be similar to the "gifting" of memberships to R-CALF by those who donate money in the name of people or businesses, a practice that I do KNOW occurs, whether or not it is policy of that group.
MEMBERSHIP & POLICY DEVELOPMENT: OT, you and some other R-CALFers ignore the fact that the approach to membership and policy devlopment differs greatly between NCBA and R-CALF.
The NCBA state affiliates are the critical cog in both areas. For membership we do not recruit over the top of, or around our 46 state affiliate organizations, but work actively with and through them to recruit members, whichever membership structure they choose to use.
Re. POLICY DEVELOPMENT: development of policies begins with the state affiliates. Resolutions considered at the national conventions begin with a state member, who does not have to be an NCBA member (giving non-NCBA members direct input into NCBA policy formulation) introducing and getting a resolution passed at his state convention. The state affiliate brings the resolution to the appropriate committee at the NCBA convention. If approved in committee, the Res. goes to the Policy Division board. Any Res. defeated at the committee level can be brought to the board by any director. The next step for approved resolutions is the Annual Membership Meeting at the convention. A resolution defeated by the board can also be brought up at the Membership Meeting. The final step is the mail in ballot. Which DOES get counted!
Re. POLICY COMMITTEE STRUCTURE: First, it is the same structure that has been in effect for at least 30 years. The number of seats an affiliate has on a policy committee is equivalent to the number of Policy Division board members they have (which is determined by the number of members they represent). Voting is simple.....one vote per committee member, simple majority to approve, just like in virtually any other organization.
OT, when you say it is confusing or complicated, you are probably thinking about the JOINT CHECKOFF COMMITTEES where votes are first equalized in order to ensure that one side (CBB, Federation Division, and Policy Division are the three "sides") cannot out vote the others by sheer numbers alone. THE JOINT CHECKOFF COMMITTEES ARE ADVISORY ONLY and cannot commit the Policy division of NCBA to any action. Nor any of the other "sides", I presume. Just thought of that, so will check to see if I'm right.
VOTING: NCBA changed bylaws two years ago to implement a mail ballot. The ballot is mailed to all active members and includes all resolutions passed at convention. Results are tabulated and reported in detail by the accounting firm. The 2005 results were reported on page 7 of the April 7, 2005 issue of Beef Business Bulletin. Mail ballot returns are very typical compared to other association ballot and survey returns. This ballot is designed to OVERTURN policy previously established and passed through the committee, board, and membership voting process IF that policy is contrary to the positions of cow/calf producers back home. The fact that it hasn't done so indicates the producers appointed by their state affiliate members to the committees and board of directors of NCBA are doing the great job their neighbors back home expected of them.
MRJ