This is a draft of the 2009 proposal for a revised USGenWeb Bylaws, incorporating changes from the eleven previous sets submitted since 1999. Special thanks go to the State of Nevada for their draft of 2002.

The USGenWeb Advisory Board made a ruling that since a bylaw doesn't exist to require a 2/3rds majority of voting members to pass a REVISION (replacement in whole, by a single referendum that covers the entire document) that the revision of the bylaws requires the same process which the original Bylaws was adopted to replace them. That process was a simple majority of the members who voted.

Jeff Scism, INGenWeb CC

I request that any changes that are felt to be necessary in this draft be sent to Jeff@ibssg.org. Feel free to disseminate this proposed revision and have discussion. Please keep me informed.

Changes suggested by Members are to be in RED

USGenWeb Bylaws DRAFT REVISION

ARTICLE I. NAME

The name of this association shall be the "USGenWeb Project." The USGenWeb Project includes State websites/projects/organizations which shall be designated by "GenWeb" preceded by the two letter Postal designation for the State, (Example: California GenWeb Project would be "CAGenWeb".) The Project also includes "special" topic related regional or national Projects.

ARTICLE II. PURPOSE

Section 1. The USGenWeb Project is an organized group of volunteer members working to create an online center for genealogical research by establishing and maintaining a network of websites, repositories, and genealogical resources, for the purposes of public research and education, which encompass every State, County, Territory, Possession, District, Borough and Parish in the United States, for free online access by the general public.

Section 2. This purpose is accomplished by a freely accessible network of member websites, collectively a digital library, which presents focused data and resources to the general public.

ARTICLE III. STATUS AS AN ORGANIZATION, CONTACT

The USGenWeb Project is an "Unincorporated Association" operating to provide educational and research resources freely to the general public on a not-for-profit basis. No individual may inure direct financial benefit from participation in the project. The Official contact address of The USGenWeb Project is the National Coordinator, via email link at the USGenWeb Project website http://usgenweb.org/.

ARTICLE IV MEMBERSHIP, ENROLLMENT, VOTING CLASS;

Section 1. Eligibility for membership:

All individuals with a desire to assist in gathering and disseminating genealogical and historical information for free (no fee) online access are eligible for membership in the USGenWeb Project, regardless of race, color, religion, sex, national origin, age, marital status, sexual orientation, disability, or political affiliation, per law.

a. Enrollment

State and Special Project Coordinators select and enroll Members for their Project from among interested volunteers. When a individual requests membership, application is made to a State Coordinator or Special Project Coordinator, who initiates enrollment if the individual meets the following qualification prerequisites:

(1) A desire to assist in gathering and disseminating genealogical and historical information for free online access by researchers; AND

(2) A willingness to follow State or Special Project Rules and Guidelines for any project for which they volunteer.

; AND

(3) A willingness to follow all USGenWeb Project website rules and guidelines as listed at the project website (currently http://www.usgenweb.org/volunteers/CCguidelines.shtml)

b. Membership Established

Individuals become members in the national organization, "USGenWeb Project," through coordination of local websites and/or special projects membership within the USGenWeb Project's member States and/or Special Projects as defined by Article XI, XII and XIII of these bylaws. In addition to USGenWeb Project national membership requirements, each state or special project may set additional membership requirements in addition to the requirements specified in the USGenWeb Bylaws.

(1) Member Enrollment

To become an enrolled member of the Project the individual must:

(1a) Enroll as a volunteer in any of the State or Nationally recognized Special Projects as acknowledged by the coordinator of that Special Project, AND ALSO:

(1b) Be the current Manager or Co-manager of a linked website, within the guidelines and local structure of the State Project at all applicable levels.

Section 2 Voting Class, Member In Good Standing.

If a individual meets the conditions in Section 2 the member is considered to be a 'member in good standing', and may vote in all applicable national and regional elections, or referred issues, after meeting the voting registration requirements as described in the Elections Rules, Procedures and Guidelines, which are external documents to these bylaws. If regions overlap the member has ONE vote per issue on the ballot in their region(s).

Section 3. Member Rights, Removal, Limits on Restricted Membership

Upon attaining membership the member rights stipulated in the adopted Parliamentary Authority apply, and may not be revoked or limited unless the membership is restricted, suspended for cause or declared "not in good standing" under these bylaws. Any such limitation is temporary, and if it extends longer than thirty (30) days must expire, or actions must be initiated to remove the member from the USGenWeb Project for uncorrected violations under these bylaws. This thirty (30) day period should be used to allow the member to meet compliance. This time limit may be extended one time by a motion approved by the Board for an additional period of thirty (30) days. Members may not have their voting rights removed or restricted permanently while remaining members.

ARTICLE V. COMPOSITION OF BOARD, PARLIAMENTARY STANDARD

The Board membership shall consist of: the National Coordinator, four (4) State Coordinator Regional Representatives, eight (8) Local Coordinator Regional Representatives, one (1) Special Projects Representative elected by and to represent all members of the special projects, and one (1) Representative-at-Large (RAL). All shall have voting privileges except the National Coordinator who shall vote only in the case of a tie. Additionally the Board may select a member volunteer as a non-voting Parliamentarian to advise on procedural matters. The regions from which State Coordinator and Local Coordinator Representatives are elected are fixed by the Board on an annual or as needed basis.

(a) The USGenWeb Project shall utilize "The Standard Code of Parliamentary Procedure" by Alice Sturgis, in its latest edition, as revised by The American Institute of Parliamentarians, except in those cases where such procedure conflicts with State or Federal Law, the existing bylaws of The USGenWeb Project or implemented rules and procedures as the adopted "Parliamentary Standard".

ARTICLE VI: DUTIES/QUALIFICATIONS OF BOARD

Section 1. The Board shall perform the duties prescribed by Law, these Bylaws, Rules, Procedures and Guidelines, and by the current project accepted parliamentary standard in that order of precedence.

Section 2. The Board and National Coordinator are responsible for the day-to-day administration of The USGenWeb Project. The National Coordinator serves as Chair of the Board and is the public contact for the project. The National Coordinator shall normally preside at meetings of the Board, serve as an ex-officio member of all committees, and shall assign list managers for the national organizational contact email lists (i.e., State Coordinators, Board, and any appropriate sub-lists). In event of the National Coordinator's absence, the duties will be assigned to the Represenatative-at-large, who is vice chair of the Board.

Section 3. The responsibilities of the Board shall include: addressing any problem issues as they arise, aiding the state projects upon request, overseeing elections, reviewing grievance appeals in accordance with the Grievance Committee Procedures (included by reference), appointing a Webmaster to maintain the national website, the development of operating procedures, policies, guidelines and standing rules, including but not limited to, the adoption of external standards, and documents, and the adaptation of those standards to best suit the smooth operation of The USGenWeb Project. All Policies of The USGenWeb Project shall be approved by the Board, and posted as appropriate with the Bylaws, and are included as an extension of the Bylaws by reference. Modification of "referenced" documents in the Bylaws requires a 2/3 majority of the voting quorum of the Board. Modification of "external" documents and appendices requires a simple majority of a quorum of those voting Board members. It shall be the responsibility of the Board to ensure that each state project is in compliance with the bylaws of The USGenWeb Project.

(a) The name, "The USGenWeb Project," and "The **GenWeb Project" (where ** is the two-letter postal code abbreviation for each state) are service marks and reserved exclusively for The USGenWeb Project and any websites representing The USGenWeb Project.

(b) Licensing: The Board maintains the right to license the use of the Project's name, service marks and logos to Special Projects working in cooperation with, and under the bylaws of, The USGenWeb Project. Those sanctioned Projects agree to abide by these bylaws when they accept and use "The USGenWeb Project" name, service marks and logos for use on their sites. Unassociated Genealogy or History sites may use designated logos and the project name in websites in which the graphic and/or text are an active link to The USGenWeb Project. The license of the use of "The USGenWeb Project" name and associated images by subsidiary entities, and those who have no connection to the Project, may be revoked by the Board upon a vote of 2/3 of the entire sitting Board. The Board may adopt a special logo used for hyperlinking to the Project by non-member websites, which shall be different from the one used on member sites if adopted.

Section 4. It shall be the responsibility of the Webmaster and the Board to ensure that the national website is in compliance with the bylaws of The USGenWeb Project.

Section 5. The Board shall also have the responsibility to remove links from the national website, as appropriate, to websites which fail to meet the established guidelines/standards for The USGenWeb Project or to websites which display inappropriate content. Coordinators of any member websites found to be in non-compliance shall be notified of such and shall be given a minimum period of two (2) weeks in which to bring their website into compliance.

Section 6. The Board shall also be responsible for administering the Internet domains, usgenweb.com, usgenweb.net and usgenweb.org, and any others over which The USGenWeb Project membership has control, and for which the members are the official lessees.

Section 7. In the case of a vacancy in the office of National Coordinator, the Representative-at-Large (RAL), as the next ranking nationally elected officer, shall serve as acting National Coordinator until the end of the current one (1) year term.

Section 8. In the event a Board member is unable to complete his/her term, the Board will appoint a replacement to serve until the next scheduled election for that position, the appointed party will complete the original term.

Section 9. Nominees for National Coordinator (NC) and Reprsentative-at-Large (RAL), shall have the following qualifications: at least one year (the twelve months immediately preceding an election) of continuous service and current activity as a member in good standing, and eligibility to vote within The USGenWeb Project. Qualifications of nominees for State Coordinator Representative, Local Coordinator Representative, and Special Project Representative are the same with the addition that their service shall have been within the area they wish to represent, respectively.

Section 10. Administrative Removal From Office For Cause

Elected officers and Representatives are subject to be removed for cause under the processes established in the approved Parliamentary Authority. Additionally they may be removed by the same process which they were originally seated (recalled).

ARTICLE VII. ELECTION PROCEDURES

Section 1. A committee to oversee elections shall be appointed by the Board. This standing committee shall be called the Elections Committee [EC], and shall consist of Board members and volunteers from the members of The USGenWeb Project. The Committee rules and procedures are established by the Board.

Section 2. It shall be the responsibility of the Board to announce those positions for which nominations are needed.

Section 3. Nominations shall be submitted by any member in good standing of the Project during the first two weeks of June. A list of candidates shall be posted to the national website on or before the voting period begins on July 1, with profiles/bios to be posted on or before July 1. The voting period shall be July 1 through July 31. Terms of office shall begin on September 1. In the event a member is nominated for more than one position, the nominee shall notify the Elections Subcommittee for which office they wish to declare their candidacy.

Section 4. A majority of those members voting shall elect. No member shall hold more than one elected or appointed voting office at any one time.

Section 5. All members of the Board, with the exception of the the National Coordinator, shall be elected to two-year terms. The National Coordinator shall be elected to a one-year term.

Section 6. The Election Committee (EC) "rules, procedures, and guidelines" are included herein by reference, and apply only to operations of the Elections committee. The Procedures and Guidelines will be used to establish processes related to conducting elections.

Section 7. VOTING CLASS: All members of The USGenWeb Project, as defined by ARTICLE IV, Membership, shall be eligible to vote, in all general referendums, regional, state, and national elections whereas they are qualified and registered.

ARTICLE VIII. Board PROCEDURES

Section 1. Nine (9) voting members of the Board shall constitute a quorum.

Section 2. Motions shall require a 2/3 majority, of those Board members voting, to pass.

Section 3. The chair of the Board will set a time, at least 48 hours in advance, when the vote will be taken in order for members to have the opportunity to voice their opinion.

Section 4. Voting records of the Board membership shall be posted publicly and shall be archived for future reference.

ARTICLE IX. GUIDELINES/STANDARDS FOR WEBSITES/MEMBERS

Section 1. The USGenWeb Project "Website rules, procedures and guidelines" are included herein by reference. All USGenWeb dedicated websites shall include prominent display of The USGenWeb Project logo on the USGenWeb linked and dedicated page, which shall be a clickable hyperlink to the national site. In addition a text LINK to the "USGenWeb Project" national site shall be on the linked USGenWeb linked/dedicated page of the site. A state project logo as required, depending on the guidelines/standards in effect for that state, shall also be displayed. The USGenWeb dedicated page, at either the county or state level, is defined as the page which is recognized by USGenWeb Project and is mutually linked to the Project as the website entry page.

(a) USGenWeb index pages on member sites will not be focused on generating commercial sales, the focus is required to be on the goals of the project, 'to provide access to freely available genealogy and history data on the internet'.

Section 2. Solicitation of funds for individualal gain is contrary to USGenWeb Project policy. This is defined as the direct appeal on the indexed/linked entry page of any of the websites comprising The USGenWeb Project for 'donations' or fees to accomplish funding to do research, to pay for server space, to do look-ups, etc. A website may, however, acknowledge any entities who may host their website (i.e., provide server space at no cost) or may include a link to a coordinator's individualal page off-site on which they offer research services for reimbursement. The acknowledgement may include a link to the hosting entity's website.

Section 3. A linked website may list research materials and/or services which may be for sale/hire, either by the coordinator, a genealogy society, or others. Such a listing shall not be on the main web page for the site, but may be linked from the main web page, and shall include a disclaimer that the coordinator and "The USGenWeb Project does not guarantee the contents of such sites, research materials and/or the expertise of any professional researchers, and that the appearance of such links do not represent an endorsement by the USGenWeb Project of any content or services offered." A USGenWeb Project member site may not be commercial in focus.

ARTICLE X. COPYRIGHT

SECTION 1. Copyright of website content resides solely with the original author of the material submitted, (see Title 17, US Code, the Copyright law). When content is submitted knowingly to a USGenWeb site for display and publication, A LIMITED (by the submitter (non-exclusive)) right to display that data is considered to be released by the submitter to USGenWeb for the purposes of redisplay on that website, and/or data repository storage of that data, as submitted, and as modified (coded for display) on said websites and/or data repositories.

SECTION 2. The submitter is responsible to obtain permission to submit any material that may be covered by copyright, and the submitter shall warrant that no unauthorized copyrighted material is submitted. USGenWeb Project acknowledges that public display is and continues to be the intent of the submitter, unless revoked in writing by the copyright holder, if any, (By Letter or Email).

SECTION 3. USGenWeb Project shall not be responsible for use of data posted to the websites and/or data repositories by members of the public. The copyright holder's Copyrights are not affected by inclusion on USGenWeb Project Websites or it's Repositories. The inclusion as part of The USGenWeb Project does not give any irrevocable right, implied or otherwise, to The USGenWeb Project to permanently use the submitted material. Submission by the copyright holder is a conditional release for non-permanent redisplay and distribution of the material. Notices of copyright violation, if any, should be submitted to the site maintainer, and a copy to the USGenWeb National Coordinator who shall follow up, and oversee the claim of violation process.

ARTICLE XI. LOCAL PROJECTS

Section 1. Each state organization shall through it's State Coordinator, have the power to decide which structure is best suited for developing and linking Local Sites to The USGenWeb Project. Each county should have a dedicated reference site linked. (County is defined as a County, Parish, or state designated District recognized as a political division within that state's jurisdiction.) Special jurisdictions are established for US Territories, Possessions, and the Federal District of Columbia. The State Coordinator is the designated point of primary contact between the Project and the State's collected organization.

Section 2. Each local project shall have a Local Coordinator who is appointed according to whatever rules/guidelines are appropriate for their state. All Local Coordinators shall be subscribed to the intra-state contact mailing list.

Section 3. The local website shall also include a direct link to the state project, an easily accessible area devoted to researcher's queries, and any additional requirements specified by the state organization.

Section 4. Sites where the manager has been determined to be not available (abandoned, unresponsive) will be delinked and the data submitters contacted if possible for permission to repost the extant data on a new website, if contact or permission fails, the data shall not be transferred.

Section 5. The USGenWeb Project "Website rules, procedures and guidelines" are included herein by reference. 'Rules' are mandated, 'Procedures' are the method to do a particular task, and 'guidelines' are optional or instructional in nature.

ARTICLE XII. STATE PROJECTS

Section 1. Each state shall have a State Coordinator managing the state project. Each state shall also have an Assistant State Coordinator or other management support source in place to manage the state when the State Coordinator is unavailable.

Section 2. The state website shall include direct links to the county pages, The USGenWeb Project national website, The USGenWeb Special Projects which apply, at state and the national levels, The USGenWeb Project's Guidelines/Standards for county websites, and The USGenWeb Project Copyright Information page, which are included herein by reference.

Section 3. The State Coordinator should assure no sites are abandoned, and that they are being maintained on a regular basis.

Section 4. State Coordinators shall remain subscribed to the State Coordinators mailing list and maintain a current mailing list of all linked coordinators. State Coordinators shall provide their name, postal address, and phone number to the National Coordinator.

Section 5. State projects are empowered to develop/adopt rules/bylaws and guidelines, as appropriate, for their state which do not conflict with the USGenWeb Project bylaws. State projects shall develop and adopt rules/bylaws/procedures that address grievances within the state organization.

Section 6. The State Coordinator shall periodically review state project websites for compliance with The USGenWeb Project and state established guidelines/standards.

Section 7. Links to county or local USGenWeb websites which fail to meet The USGenWeb Project or state established guidelines/standards shall be disabled until they become compliant.

Section 8. Each state shall elect a state coordinator every two years or less using elections procedures approved by its membership. If a State Coordinator is unable to perform his/her duties, the Assistant Project Coordinator, or other designated alternate, shall serve until an election can take place among the project members. In the case of special projects with more than one Assistant Project Coordinator, they shall choose one among themselves to serve in the interim.

Section 9. State Coordinators are subject to recall by a 2/3 vote of the County Coordinators within the state. A quorum of 75% of the County Coordinators shall participate in order for the vote to be binding. The State will advise the USGenWeb Project Board of the changes.

Section 10. State Projects, by associating with the USGenWeb Project, acknowledge the bylaws of the USGenWeb Project and agree to comply with them.

Section 11. Membership in state projects is defined by Article IV of these bylaws.

ARTICLE XIII. SPECIAL PROJECTS

Section 1. Special projects shall be established by The USGenWeb Project to promote the gathering of information in specialized areas. A Coordinator shall be initially appointed by the Board to organize the project and enlist volunteers. The Project Coordinator shall be equivalent to a state coordinator's position. In addition, each special project shall have an Assistant Project Coordinator or other support team in place that can temporarily take charge in case the Project Coordinator becomes unavailable for a period in excess of 30 days. Special projects shall display public domain or static research documents, transcripts and formatted data, and any copyrighted documents licensed by the copyright holder, and shall provide an easily accessible website for free online research by the genealogical community. Links to appropriate websites maintained by other individuals or organizations are encouraged from the entry site. The management of the Special project devolves to the Project Coordinator, who by virtue of USGenWeb Project sanction will submit to the Board, under the same circumstances as if they were a State Coordinator. Because Special Projects are initiated by the Project they may not exist as separate legal entities, and the use of the USGenWeb name, logos, and licensed content may be revoked, and continued license for display and use is at the discretion of the National Coordinator.

Section 2. The name of the special project shall be The USGenWeb ______ Project

Section 3. The voting class of each individual Special Project shall be determined by their own internal Guidelines, Bylaws, and/or Project Structure that is in use at the time of their inclusion by The USGenWeb Project. If no such structure exists, then the contributing members of said Project shall be classified according to the standard used by The USGenWeb Project, (Staff/State/County/contributor), with the voting class being determined as County level and above. These voting members shall collectively elect one Special Projects to serve as a voting member of The USGenWeb Project Board representing all Special Projects.

Section 4. After one year of operation under an appointed coordinator, Project Coordinators shall be elected to those positions by the project voting class. An Assistant Project Coordinator will be selected by the project members. Special Projects will be evaluated annually by the Board to determine if they have met the goals set upon initiation of the Project by the Board, and if the project is still required. The USGenWeb Project may disband and or delink a Special Project if the project is no longer active, fails to follow USGenWeb Project Bylaws or is non-functional, upon recommendatiion by the Board.

Section 5. Special Project Coordinators are subject to removal by a 2/3 vote of the Board OR a 2/3 majority vote of the voting class within the Special project. A quorum of 75% of the voting class shall participate in order for the recall vote to be effective. If a Project Coordinator is recalled or removed, the designated alternate will hold the position until a special election for the Special Projects participants can be held.

Section 6. If a Project Coordinator is unable to perform his/her duties, the Assistant Project Coordinator, or other designated alternate, shall serve until an election can take place among the project members. In the case of special projects with more than one Assistant Project Coordinator, they shall choose one among themselves to serve in the interim.

ARTICLE XIV. GRIEVANCE PROCEDURES AND APPEALS PROCESS

Section 1. A standing Grievance Committee will be established.

Section 2. Members with a grievance against a member of the USGenWeb Project should submit their grievance or appeal to one or more of their Board representatives. The Grievance Committee will operate under the Grievance Policies and Procedures, included by reference. Changes to the Grievance Policies and Procedures may be made by the Board or may be proposed by the Grievance Committee for approval by the Board. The current Grievance Policies and Procedures shall be displayed on the National website.

Section 3. The Board will appoint the initial members of the Grievance Committee. Thereafter, the Grievance Committee will submit for approval by the Board a slate of members to fill vacant positions.

Section 4. The Grievance Committee will administer a fair, orderly, and timely resolution of a grievance in accordance with the Grievance Policies and Procedures.

Section 5. The resolution of a grievance is binding upon the membership.

Section 6. All actions, whether by the national Grievance Committee or by a grievance process at a state or special project level, shall be characterized by fairness, courtesy, and respect for the dignity and the rights of each individual. To that end, the following rights and responsibilities apply to all grievance processes within the USGenWeb Project, **GenWeb Projects, and Special Projects.

(1). A member may choose to act as his or her own representative, or may select someone to act as his or her representative. The member retains the right to change or dismiss the representative at any step of the procedure; however, such action will not affect the point at which the change or dismissal occurs.

(2). When a member is dismissed from a position in a State, Local, or Special Project, that member's position may not be filled until the expiration of the time for that member to file a grievance. [Recommend stating how long before this time limit expires, I suggest 15-30 days]When the said member files a grievance, that position may not be filled unless the grievance resolution against the member calls for the member to lose that position. Nothing should prevent the unlinking of the member's website and establishing a temporary website pending resolution of any grievance. [suggested rewording: "It is permissible to delink a site and substitute a temporary site while a grievance is pending, and in progress."]

(3). individuals filing a grievance shall not be discriminated against.

ARTICLE XV. SEVERANCE/SUSPENSION OF BYLAWS

Each Article of this document may be severed from the rest, if it is found to be in conflict with law. Additionally any Article of this document may be temporarily suspended by a 2/3rds majority vote of the full Board, to the specific purpose of submitting a "critical bylaws amendment proposal" which will replace that article in whole, when approved by the majority of those members voting in a project wide special referendum. Referendums may be combined with the normal balloting as scheduled, or called to occur within 90 days of the suspension. In the event that operations of the Project may not proceed, due to a faulty bylaw, that bylaw may be suspended temporarily for the specific purpose of restoring operations. Such suspension shall last only for the current meeting of the Board, and is accomplished by a majority vote of the full Board. Severance or suspension of any article mandates an amendment to the bylaws within ninety (90) days to correct the suspended or severed article to comply with law or to correct the issue which caused the non-operation of the bylaws, such a mandated amendment does not require sponsorship. If a referendum to amend is not passed by the membership, the article is severed from the bylaws. During suspension/severance the process in the adopted Parliamentary Standard shall apply, if addressed.

ARTICLE XVI. AMENDMENT TO BYLAWS

Section 1. These Bylaws may be amended by the membership of The USGenWeb Project through a referendum to the membership. Acceptance by a majority of those members participating during the voting period are required to pass the amendment.

Section 2. Any state project may propose an amendment by sending their proposal to one or more of the Board members representing their region and including the exact wording of the proposed amendment. Upon receipt of the proposed amendment, the Board representative(s) shall request the Webmaster to post the proposed change on the national website and the National Coordinator to post to the State-Coord-L List, and any other appropriate lists, for dissemination to the members. All proposed bylaws amendments are processed alike. The proposed motion shall contain the full text of the current bylaw, and the full proposed changed text. Board proposed amendments must be submitted, via the State Coordinator distribution list, to all states for consideration of sponsorship, five (5) states must sponsor for the issue to be balloted.

(a) The Board may initiate routine bylaws amendment proposals by passing a motion to do so with a 2/3rds majority of the full Board.

Section 3. The proposed amendment, with the sponsor's name and date of posting, shall remain posted for the final thirty (30) days prior to the voting period on the National Website. Any proposed amendment shall require a minimum of five (5) states as sponsors to command that it be placed on the ballot. State projects wishing to sponsor the amendment shall notify the Board which shall announce the sponsorship through normal channels, and post the sponsorship information with the proposal on the National Website. Proposals which are expired shall be archived for future reference on the National website.

Section 4. Voting on any proposed amendment to the bylaws shall be during the annual voting period of July 1-July 31 and a majority, of the members voting within that time frame, will cause the amendment to pass. Bylaws amendments take effect immediately upon certification of the referendum results, unless a specific date is stated within.

Section 5. In the case of a urgent matter affecting the well-being of The USGenWeb Project, the Board may propose an amendment and disseminate it to the membership without the required co-sponsorship. In this case, the proposed amendment shall be posted to the national website and disseminated to the membership within two (2) business days. The proposed amendment shall remain posted for a minimum of three (3) business days. A special referral to the members shall be prepared and voting shall be for a period of five (5) business days. A majority, of The USGenWeb Project membership, voting within that time frame, shall be required for the amendment to pass.

Section 6. Any identical proposed amendment, not obtaining the required co-sponsorship, must be reset and re-sponsored within the next annual term of the Project, to be qualified for balloting. Any proposed amendment not obtaining the approval of the membership after appearing on the annual ballot three consecutive (3) times expires and can not be re-submitted for one year.

Section 7. Administrative corrections to the bylaws to correct wording, spelling, HTML coding, and clarification of sentence structure may be made by a motion of the Board, as long as such correction does not change the meaning of the affected portion of the bylaws. Notice of such corrections must be made to the membership and a ten day comment period must be provided for member input. If objections are submitted, and can not be resolved, the changes shall be processed as a routine amendment, requiring membership approval, such routine amendments do not require sponsorship. Administrative corrections to the underlying coding of displayed websites, for these Bylaws and the Policies, Rules, Procedures and Guidelines of the Project, may be made without notice to the membership. These changes include, but may not be limited to (invisible to the viewer) HTML coding changes, and routine correction of invalid hyperlinks and URLs contained within these documents.

ARTICLE XVII. INCLUSION BY REFERENCE

Policies, standing rules, procedures, appendices and guidelines referenced in these bylaws may be changed through motions passed by a 2/3rds majority of the Board. References to external documents in these bylaws will be hyperlinked to the document referenced. Hyperlinks are included to provide easy access to referenced documents and do not incorporate that document as a bylaw.

ARTICLE XVIII. USE OF TERMS

Within these bylaws, and in external documents referenced herein, the use of terms are defined in the attached APPENDIX I, entitled TERMS. In addition the following terms are imposed: "SHALL", "WILL," "MUST" and "MANDATE" are used within to indicate rules that are required. "CAN", "MAY", and similar terms indicate optional methods or suggested processes.

APPENDICES

APPENDIX 1 TERMS. The following terms are defined for this document.

The following terms are used within this document and in other places within this organization to be defined as indicated:

Addendum:
An added portion, a text extension that elaborates, adds, or specifies additional details.

Board:
The Elected representatives of the Local, State and Special Project Coordinators, who with the National Coordinator comprise the Executive Committee.

Amendment:
Any changes made to existing documents which do not replace the existing text in whole, but which may remove, delete, or change the text.

Archive:
Any stored information, electronic, or otherwise, designed to be accesssable for retrieval. Any collection of Documents, websites, and/or data. (The USGenWeb Archives Project (TM) is not inferred by this term, unless named in full.)

Association:
A group of people who have joined together for a common purpose. Unlike a corporation, an association is not a legal entity. The law may treat an association like a corporation, however, if it has been operating in a corporate manner -- for example, if it has a charter and shareholders.

Author:
In terms of copyright protection, either the individual who creates the work, the individual or business that pays another to create the work in an employment context or the individual or business that commissions the work under a valid work for hire contract.

Bylaw:
The rules that govern the internal affairs or actions of a corporation or other form of organization. Normally bylaws are adopted by the shareholders of a profit-making business or the Board of directors of a nonprofit corporation. Bylaws generally include procedures for holding meetings and electing the Board of directors and officers. The bylaws also set out the duties and powers of a corporation's officers.

Census:
An official count of the number of people living in a certain area, such as a district, city, county, state, or nation.

Collected work/Compilation:
For copyright purposes, a work, such as a periodical, anthology or encyclopedia, in which a number of separate and independent works are assembled into one work. To create a collective work, permission must be obtained from the owners of the copyrights of the constituent parts (assuming such parts are not already in the public domain). Although the author of the compilation may not own the copyright to any of the individual parts, the creativity involved in selecting and organizing the constituent materials is in itself protected by copyright.

Command:
A mandate, a requirement to comply without further process.

Commercial Use:
Any use for financial renumeration, or promoting the payment for services rendered, products offered, or a reference to a location where such items are advertised or obtained.

Contributor:
A individual who knowingly gives freely to an organization.

Coordinator:
The individual designated by The USGenWeb Project to "manage" a mutually linked website or other resource as defined by the Bylaws.

Copyright:
A legal device that provides the owner the right to control how a creative work is used. A copyright is comprised of a number of exclusive rights, including the right to make copies, authorize others to make copies, make derivative works, sell and market the work and perform the work. Any one of these rights can be sold separately through transfers of copyright ownership.

Copyright Owner:
Under the Copyright Act of 1998, a term with two meanings. First, it refers to the individual or entity listed as the owner in the U.S. Copyright Office, usually the original author or developer. Second, it refers to a individual or entity to which an exclusive part of the copyright has been transferred in writing.

Copyright Violation:
Any unauthorized use of a copyrighted work other than fair use.

Co-sponsor:
In the case of a proposal submitted for approval or consideration, a equal level "peer" who also agrees to support the proposal.

County:
For purposes in The USGenWeb Project, any subdivision of a State, Territory, district or Possesion of the United States, as designated in the jurisdiction described, may also be Province, Parish, Borough, etc.

Database:
Any topic specific information presented as a single unit within a archive, or as a stand alone repository that is accessible to the designated users.

Dedicated USGenWeb Page:
Any Page within a Website presented as a USGenWeb Page, mutually linked to The USGenWeb Project.

Domain:
A combination of letters and numbers that identifies a specific computer or website on the Internet. In a URL, the Domain is the server address, usually followed by the specific portion of the data to be accessed. In Email addresses, it follows the @ symbol, example: @aol.com indicates that the recipient is a aol account holder, and that AOL delivers the mail to them.

Emergent/Emergency:
Any situation in which inaction would cause severe or fatal harm to the project. This also implies that TIMELY action is needed to prevent disastrous consequences, or to correct a grave situation.

Good Standing:
"Good standing" is demonstrated by responding promptly to email, supporting researchers' efforts to find information, maintaining their website(s) with appropriate content, and serving as a good example of the guidelines and standards of The USGenWeb Project.

Home Page:
The USGenWeb specifically linked page, recognized by links from and to the appropriate USGenWeb pages, and topic specific to a region or "special Project".

Link:
A connection via reference, or by Hypertext coding which when accessed will refer the user to the proper place.

Local:
Any level of administration below that of a STATE, ie: County, township, city, Parish, Etc.

Logo:
An Identifying image used to associate visually with a product, service, or Organization. May be a trademark , servicemark and may be copyrighted.

Mail List:
In our usage, any distribution system that electronically distributes communications by the means of subscribing to the distribution service.

Majority:
defined as 50% of a body plus one (1).

National Coordinator:
A position equivelant to Chief Executive Officer, or President in a Corporation. The Chair of the Executive Committee.

Non-Profit:
A legal structure authorized by state law allowing people to come together to either benefit members of an organization (a club, or mutual benefit society) or for some public purpose (such as a hospital, environmental organization or literary society), Charities, Trusts. Nonprofit corporations, despite the name, can make a revenue, but the proceeds may not inure to the benefit of any one individual or group of individuals, and the proceeds (normally profits) must be used for the benefit of the organization or purpose the corporation was created to help (usually Public benefit).

Not-For-Profit:
See Non-Profit.

Organization:
Any cohesive group of individuals joined for profit-making or nonprofit purposes.

Parliamentary Authority:
A set standard of procedures which act as guidelines for the management of an organization. These may be adopted in whole, partially or as a default in lieu of local guidelines and bylaws.

Parliamentary Procedures:
See Parliamentary Authority.

Policy:
Binding beliefs and procedures adopted by a governing Board. They have the wieght of rules.

Project:
Any of the "levels" in this organization, designated by having a Coordinator, usually a website, and a set goal or area of concentration. Each state has a Project, and each Local level is a project. Generlly can refer to the "USGenWeb" Project as a whole, or any level as a whole.

Query:
Any inquisitive posting. usually referenced on a Mail list, a bulletin Board, or website, which referencs a requewest for additional information, relatedto the topic of that forum. Usually publicly accessible, and responses may be made directly or through the system.

Quorum:
A defined minimum level of attendence/participation, which is required to determine if adequate representation of the whole has been established.

Reference:
any statement or device which alludes to, or indicates another source, location or website, can be usewd as a interchangeable word for "source" when citing where information is found.

Repository:
Any place where information is stored for retrieval. The actual place where an item is located. In Reference to the Project, the entire Project is considered to be a data Repository.

Representative:
A designated individual in place to speak for a group with common interests, region, or goals.

Service Mark:
A word, phrase, logo, symbol, color, sound or smell used by a business to identify a service and distinguish it from those of its competitors. If the business uses the name or logo to identify a product, such as a camera, it is called a trademark. In practice, the legal protections for trademarks and service marks are identical.

Special Project:
A non-regional, specific topic area of USGenWeb Project.

Sponsor:
The primary submitter of a proposal. In the case of Bylaws amendments, a state organization.

State:
Any of the fifty (50) United states, or any territory, possession of the United States, including the District of Columbia.

Submitter:
The individual who physically sends in a document or form of data.

Supplement:
A document or portion of a document that adds on to what is already stated. Usually provided information, procedures, and other additional information.

Trademark:
See Service Mark.

URL:
Uniform Resource Locator (URL) The Internet address of a Web page, file or other online resource. URLs usually contain a domain name and a description of the material sought.

USGenWeb Project:
The overall network of websites interconnected from the local level through state level to a national website, the volunteers/members which comprise the organization, and collectively the data represented by the whole.

Webmaster:
Any individual who programs a specific website.

Website:
A linked group of Internet documents (hypertext mark-up) controlled by a single individual for a designated purpose, linked as a whole as a compiled unit by a centrally indexed entry page. Usually indexed by a single starting point entry URL.

WorldGenWeb
A "sister" project of USGenWeb Project, whose focus is on the world as a whole.