The Rotary International Council on Legislation met April 14 through 18 in Chicago to review and vote on policy and procedure changes for Rotary. The meeting, which occurs every three years, brought together 800 Rotarians from around the world. One of our District delegates was our own Bonnie Korengel. Bonnie was one of about 80 women participating in the council.
In order for business to be understandable to everyone, 8 official languages are recognized. Each of these languages is supported by real time translation of delegate speeches. This also requires all speakers be fully identified before they speak including what language they will use.
All potential actions to be voted on were submitted one year in advance of the conference after approval by the local district. Months before the conference these issues were distributed to all districts for consideration and a local position to be determined. As each issue came to the floor for debate, delegates requested to be listed to speak on the topic, and were given about 5 minutes for their comments, speaking in the order in which they "raised their hand". If a delegate speaking before them made the comment they intended to make, they removed themselves from the speaker list. With this tight procedure the conference was able to review and make a decision on 117 possible enactments.
One of the changes approved was to redefine Rotaract. Membership is now open to all young adults, not just professionals. Rotaract Clubs were moved to the level of full Rotary Clubs, instead of being "dependents" of sponsoring clubs as they have been. This decision has opened quite a few questions related to implementation which have yet to be answered.