COMMITTEES
6.0 COMMITTEES
This section deals with committee policies and procedures under the following topics:
* Committee Policies
* Standing Committees
* Committee Procedures
6.1 COMMITTEE POLICIES
* The President will appoint the chair of each committee, with the approval of the Board (bylaws).
* The Chair of each committee will select the members of that committee (bylaws).  The members of each committee will include at least one Board Member and at least one non-Board member (bylaws). 
* Ad hoc committees can be established by the Board or by the President.
* Committees will each send a report to the Board monthly.
* To complete their projects, each committee will work with and get assistance from the Home Office as needed and can assign subcommittees to focus on particular projects.
* An Election Committee is appointed by the President with, approval of the Board, (bylaws) no later than December 31 before the election year.
6.2 STANDING COMMITTEES
The standing committees of the AADB shall be:
* Executive Committee (bylaws)
* Finance Committee (bylaws)
* Law Committee (bylaws)
* Policy Committee (bylaws)
* Support Service Provider Committee (bylaws)
* Home Office Committee (bylaws)
* Multimedia Committee (bylaws)
* Award Committee
6.2.1 Executive Committee.  The Executive Committee shall:
* be chaired by the Treasurer;
* work with the Program Manager to develop a budget for consideration by the Board, and suggest revisions to the approved budget as needed throughout the year.  Section 5.2.1, above on page 37, provides the procedure for developing the budget;
* review and provide guidance in developing policies for banking, budget, investment, and fundraising and make recommendations to the Board, using outside advice and expertise as appropriate;
* consult with a professional financial consultant as needed;
* seek out and evaluate potential sources of funding, and recommend such sources to the Board;
* monitor the implementation of contracts regarding fundraising and other financial issues to determine whether all parties are complying with the provisions of the contracts.
6.2.2 Law Committee.  The Law Committee shall:
* review and propose revisions to the bylaws as needed;
* update the AADB Policy and Procedure Manual.
6.2.3 Policy Committee.  The Policy Committee shall:
* follow legislative and policy issues that may affect deaf-blind people, and update the membership on those issues through the DEAF-BLIND AMERICAN and/or other media;
* review issues about which AADB may take a position or advocate; recommend action to the Board, if appropriate; and follow through with actions plans if approved;
* advocate on issues as directed by the Board.
6.2.4 Home Office Committee.  The Home Office Committee shall:
* develop and revise the AADB Employee Handbook, with Board approval;
* review and revise job descriptions for AADB employees, with Board approval;
* review AADB employees’ requests for salary raises, leave benefits, etc., and make recommendations to the Board for approval;
* handle any other issues related to the Home Office.
6.2.5 Multimedia Committee.  The Multimedia Committee shall:
* develop materials for public relations and dissemination purposes, such as brochures, website, fundraising scripts, etc;
* serve as a resource for issues of accessibility of AADB publications, materials, and web site; and be consulted by AADB committees, Home Office, etc. before they publish or produce material;
* work on media, publicity, promotional, advocacy, or educational projects assigned by the President or the Board.
6.2.6 Awards Committee.
Members of the Awards Committee must be Active Members of AADB.  The Committee should include members from the northeast, northwest, southwest, and southeast areas of the United States.
The Awards Committee shall:
* select and recommend to the Board the award recipients of the following awards, and arrange for their presentation, following the procedures provided in Section 9.3.1, below on page 71.
* Laura D. Bridgman Memorial Award
* John J. Murphy Memorial Award
* Peter J. Salmon Memorial Award
* AADB Special Service Award
* review nominations for Honorary Membership and make recommendations to the Board as provided in Section 2.4.1, above on page 6;
* carry out any tasks of recognition, honor, or awards as assigned by the Board.
6.3 COMMITTEE PROCEDURES
6.3.1 Procedure for Nominations and Elections
> The President and Vice President shall run as a team for election (bylaws).
> The election of President and Vice President shall take place every 4 years, effective the year 2001 (bylaws).	
> The Secretary and Treasurer are appointed by the President with the approval of the Board (bylaws);  they must have adequate skills appropriate to the office (bylaws).
> The remaining eight (8) Board Members will be elected every four (4) years effective the year 2003 (bylaws).
> Candidates for President and Vice President must be citizens of the USA; all other members of the Board must be either citizens or permanent residents of the USA (bylaws).
> Candidates for all officers and Board Members, except the Treasurer and Secretary, must have been Active Members for at least twelve months before the election ballots are counted; the Secretary and Treasurer must have been Active or Associate Members for at least twelve months before being appointed (bylaws).
> Officers and Board Members can serve no more than two (2) consecutive 4-year terms (bylaws).
> Officers and Board Members shall assume their respective duties effective July 1 of the year they were elected or appointed (bylaws).
> Candidates for officers and Board Members must submit in writing to the Home Office their intention to run by December 31 in the year prior to the election (bylaws).  Candidates whose letters of intention are postmarked after December 31 shall not be eligible to run (bylaws).
6.3.2 Procedure for Elections
> An announcement inviting members to become candidates will be published in the July-September and October-December issues of the DEAF-BLIND AMERICAN (deadlines are May 15 and August 15).  The announcement will explain that:
o candidates must submit a written letter of intention; a short bio; and proof of citizenship or residency by December 31;
o in order to serve on the Board, candidates must have been an AADB member for at least a year prior to beginning their term;
o U.S. citizenship is required to run for office, and U.S. citizenship or permanent residency is required to run for the Board;
o the candidate must send a copy of current government-issued ID, birth certificate, passport or naturalization card/paper as proof of citizenship or residency to the Home Office by December 31.
> The President appoints Election Committee members with the Board’s approval (bylaws) no later than December 31 before the election year.  The Election Committee shall be comprised of an Active Member, an Associate Member, and a representative of an outside agency (bylaws).  The members of the Election Committee shall not run for any AADB office or position (bylaws).
> The Home Office checks the membership status and verifies the citizenship/residency status of the candidates running for office or the Board and prepares a ballot with the names of all qualified candidates.
> The ballots with the candidates’ bios will be mailed to all Active Members in good standing by March 1 (bylaws).  The Home Office will:
o assign a number to each Active Member;
o send a ballot in large print or Braille to each Active Member by March 1 using first-class postage;
o include with each ballot an explanation of how to return the ballots, and a return-addressed envelope with the member’s assigned number on the envelope.
> Member must return the ballots to the Home Office postmarked by May 1 in order to be officially counted (bylaws).  Their ballots should be in a sealed envelope affixed with a regular postage stamp.
> The Home Office shall not open the ballots when they are received, but shall send them in their sealed envelopes to the Election Committee by May 7 along with the membership list with assigned numbers and contact information, and the President’s e-mail address, fax number, and phone number.
> The Election Committee shall:
o count the ballot envelopes twice by marking off the envelopes against the membership list with their assigned numbers;
o place all envelopes postmarked after May 1 in the “disqualified ballots” pile;
o open the envelopes and place in the “disqualified ballots” pile any ballots that have more than 8 votes for Board Member candidates and/or more than one vote for the President/Vice President team;
o place in “Disqualified Ballots” pile any ballot which has votes that are not clearly marked next to the candidate’s name;
o have each Committee Member count the qualified ballots and record the number.  When the recorded number of votes for each candidate match for all three (3) Committee Members, these results will be declared final count;
o send to the President (bylaws) by May 28 the names of all the winning candidates and the number of votes each received;
o send to the Home Office all the ballots (both qualified and disqualified) and a report that includes:
* Signatures of each Election Committee Member
* The date that the ballots were received from the Home Office
* The date that the Election Committee checked, sorted, and counted the ballots		
* The dates that the results for the final and official count were declared
* The names of all candidates, listed in descending order by how many votes they received (the actual number of votes is not included)
* The number of disqualified ballots (specifying the reasons) 
* An evaluation of the procedure and suggestions for improvement for future elections.
> Election Committee members shall keep the numbers of votes for each candidate confidential indefinitely.
> The President shall announce the winners by June 1 (bylaws).  By June 1 the President shall:
o privately inform each candidate whether he or she was elected, and the number of votes received (the President will otherwise keep these numbers confidential);
o send announcements of the names of the new Board Members, listed in alphabetical order (not reporting the vote counts for each) to:
* current Board Members
* Home Office
* Editor of DEAF-BLIND AMERICAN 
* deaf blind listservs
> The President, current Board Members, and Home Office will provide the names of the new Board Members to any member who asks.
> The newly elected Board Members shall begin their term on July 1 of the election year (bylaws).
> The Home Office shall keep the ballots on file for at least a year, and shall keep copies of candidates’ proof of citizenship documents on file indefinitely.
6.3.3 Procedure for Revising the Policy and Procedure Manual
> Note that any policies which appear before the symbol “(bylaws)” are from the AADB bylaws and cannot be changed without amending the bylaws.
> Whenever the Board passes a motion which establishes a new policy or procedure for AADB, the Law Committee will update the Policy and Procedure Manual by revising or adding the appropriate sections to incorporate the new policy or procedure.
> The Law Committee will send the revised sections to the Home Office, which will:
> maintain an update Policy and Procedure Manual on disk;	
> incorporate the revisions into the updated Policy and Procedure Manual;
> change the “Updated date” which is in the heading of the Manual to the current date;
> send dated copies of the revised sections to the Board Members to add to their copies of the Manual.