Division Bylaws

2026 Proposed Bylaws Amendments

Members will be asked to consider the proposed Bylaws Amendments in August 2026.

The Executive Committee of the Women & Planning Division is recommending amendments to our governing Bylaws. Proposed changes include:

Simplifying the elected leadership of Division Committees with more than one elected Chair (Communications Committee and Resources & Programs Committee).
Correcting section numbering.
Explicitly including food as a reimbursable travel expense.
Correcting other typographical errors, as needed.

Proposed changes are identified in the review draft with strikethroughs and/or red text.

The Division's governing bylaws were revised and adopted by members on August 15, 2025.

Amendments were made to:

Comply with APA model bylaws and review requirements.
Right-size Division’s leadership structure and approach in response to significant membership growth over the last 10 years.
Position Executive Committee members as “team leads,” rather than individual agents responsible for all duties and responsibilities.
Provide the Executive Committee with the support, capacity, and people-power required to fulfill the Division’s Mission and successfully carry out the Annual Work Plan.
Resolve critical capacity, resource, and service gaps experienced by the Division’s elected leaders, volunteers, and members.
Formalize and implement a succession strategy strengthening the Division’s leadership pipeline.
Mitigate the difficulty of recruiting and retaining volunteer leaders by expanding leadership roles and mixing elected and appointed positions.
Lower volunteers barriers to entry by providing more opportunities with less formal commitment.