Proposals for 2006 Winter State Committee Meeting

Proposals for the State Committee meeting can be submitted, revised, and commented on here. The State Committee meeting is on Sunday January 22nd, 2006. State Committee proceedures say that the last day to submit anything here is January 8th, 2006.

Any two members of the State and Administrative Committees, or any Green-Rainbow Local, may submit a proposal for the State Committee to consider.

If you have proposals that are ready to post, do not hesitate as it gives people more of a chance to read it and comment on it ahead of time and possibly improve it.

If you have the proposal already in a word processor document, please attach the document at the bottom of your post to facilitate the process of making the proposal package for the meeting.

Please read them completely so you are prepared for clarifying questions, discussion, and decisionmaking. If you have comments ahead of time, you can post a follow up here and you can contact the sponsors of the proposal.

Exploratory Committee (Expcom) Requests $ for its Work
Sunday January 08, @07:50PM by Ron Francis (GRP co-chair), Lisa Anne Richards (Middlesex), Grace Ross (Middlesex), Paul Mushrush (Expcom member) & Mike Heichman (Suffolk County alternate)
from the Exploratory Committee committee.
The State Committee gave its mandate last October 15 to do its work. We have now reached a stage where we need to raise and spend some $ for our work.
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Proposal to Require Organic Food at All State Conventions and State Committee Meetings
Saturday January 07, @10:37AM by Nashua River Green-Rainbow Local
from the None committee.
The times we live in greatly differ from what sustainable farmers would consider healthy for the planet. Food is imported and exported, migrated across the continent when it was biologically never meant to. Also, instead of working with natural pest control, farmers opt for cheaper and less time-consuming genetically engineered pesticides and chemicals sprayed on food, eventually to be absorbed into our own bodies and spread across the biosphere with no regard for the consequences. Because of the higher cost of organic and "natural" foods, and the low and affordable cost of lower-quality foods, low-income people are disproportionately at risk of consuming GMO and pesticide-laden foods. The Green-Rainbow Party supports the use of organic and sustainable agricultural practices, and this should be reflected as much as possible in how we conduct ourselves in session.

This proposal is:
1. An effort to practice what we preach.
2. An opportunity to have a guaranteed healthy meal.
3. A good-will gesture from the GRP to its members who attend our meetings and hopefully to CPAs and other local agricultural sources.

Sources of Organic Food:
A. Supermarkets (least desirable) – Under the pressure of environmental groups and the lucrative appeal of carrying healthy foods, most supermarkets now have organic food available. Drawbacks of using a supermarket include problems with food being carried away from its local environment, which hurts local producers and uses undue amounts of fuel to transport the goods.
B. Health Food Specialty Stores (more desirable) – Faces the same transport problems as supermarkets, but health food stores are usually owned locally, and therefore support local and small businesses as opposed to corporate supermarkets. Sometimes local stores may get produce and goods from local sources, which is nice as well.
C. Food Co-operatives (more desirable) – Co-operatives, or co-ops, allow for regular people to purchase food wholesale, and use less fuel to transport the food from place to place. They usually operate on a monthly membership basis, and sometimes require a minimum purchase.
D. Community-Supported Agriculture (CPAs) or Local Farms (most desirable) – buying goods and produce from local organic CPAs or farms is the most desirable option, but takes the most planning and setup time. If we could find a local CPA and develop a membership or relationship with its operators, we could eat in season. This option, however, may have logistical difficulties. This option also supports local economies, local agriculture (food from your own habitat) and skips altogether food transport costs associated with other options.

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Permanent meeting place for the State Committee
Thursday January 05, @11:10PM by Nashua River Green-Rainbow local
This proposal is being resubmitted because it was a proposal that was
sent to the Procedures Committee after our StateCom meeting on July 18,
2004. Since we do not have a functioning Procedures Committee, we feel
it is time to bring this up again. The original sponsors were: Jon
Levy, Wanda Boeke, and Mike Castranova.

We feel this is urgent to bring up again because since that meeting we
have met five times and only had quorum for 2 of those meetings. In
addition, we had quorum for only two hours at another meeting. It is
very hard to do our business under such conditions.

We also feel, that as a party and individuals, many on the state level
are working very hard. We want to make things easier by taking away the
added burden of pursuing new venues for each meeting. We have limited
time and resources and we should be putting that to the best use
possible. Having a known central location makes planning and travel
easier for us all. This in no way prevents us from picking a different
location if we so desire.
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