About AZDAC

Arizona Disability Advocacy Coalition
(AzDAC)
OPERATING GUIDLINES
 
Ratified by AzDAC – Updated November 2010
 
 
Purpose of AzDAC
 
The purpose of AzDAC is to promote public policy that enhances the choice, dignity, rights and responsibilities of individuals with disabilities and their families.
 
 
Mission of AzDAC
 
The mission of AzDAC is to act as a catalyst to engage individuals with disabilities, their families and organizations that serve them in advocacy efforts that promote public policy which enhances the choice, dignity, rights and responsibilities of people with disabilities.
 
 
Philosophy/Principles of AzDAC
 

• All AzDAC member organizations will act jointly, in a unified manner, to provide a strong voice on disability related issues and develop a cohesive strategy to promote legislative action.
• All member organizations must have an over riding mission and philosophy which is one of advocacy and education that promotes the choice, dignity, rights and responsibilities of people with disabilities and their families. 
• All member organizations must share in the commitment of increasing the participation of individuals with disabilities, their families and organizations in the public policy process.
• AzDAC strives to represent the diversity of the disability community in Arizona by welcoming individuals of various ages, ethnicities, genders, religions and disabilities, including physical, mental, psychiatric, sensory and cognitive disabilities.
•  All AzDAC member organizations will strive to become more educated about various disability groups and issues of concern.
•  All AzDAC member organizations will provide support for individuals with disabilities and their families so that they can become active in the public policy arena.

Operating Guidelines
 
Membership

• The founding organizations include: Arizona Center for Disability Law, Arizona Technology Access Program, Arizona Commission for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing, Mental Health Association, Governor’s Council on Developmental Disabilities, and Arizona Bridge to Independent Living.
• Two types of membership will be made available to interested organizations: voting membership and advisory membership.
• Voting members must appoint an official AzDAC representative to attend AzDAC meetings and events. Voting members will be charged with participating in all AzDAC votes and providing an annual resource contribution to AzDAC. All AzDAC voting members will be placed on the AzDAC organization list serve.
• Advisory members will be placed on the AzDAC organization list serve and will be invited to attend all AzDAC meetings and events. Advisory members will inform AzDAC voting members of public policy issues that they would like AzDAC to formally pursue and will be under no obligation to contribute in any manner to AzDAC.
• All voting and advisory member organizations should be committed to active participation in coalition action plans and the distribution of coalition alerts using the agreed upon coalition format.
• Prospective voting and advisory member organizations must operate by a philosophy that is consistent with the AzDAC purpose, mission and principles outlined above.  
• Voting member organizations must approve, by 2/3 vote of existing members, any new member organizations or the revocation of membership.
• Voting member organizations must sign the AzDAC Memorandum of Understanding.
• A voting member organization will appoint a representative who will attend meetings and vote on issues brought before the membership. If that representative should change, it is the member organization’s responsibility to inform the Chair of such change. 
• Each voting member representative will supply the Secretary with contact information.
• Each voting member representative must have an active email address that will function as the point of contact for all AzDAC communications. 
• In the interest of establishing a functional coalition, AzDAC membership will be limited to a maximum of 20 voting member organizations during the first 2 years of operation (12/02 – 12/04). A membership of 12-14 organizations will be considered optimal during this period.

 
Voting / Decision Making
 
Each voting member organization will have one vote. Votes may only be cast in person.
 
Membership

• AzDAC will require a 2/3-majority vote of voting member organizations to finalize decisions regarding membership or operating guidelines.
• A nominating committee will review any and all documentation submitted by an organization wishing to become a member of AzDAC. Upon completion of said review the nominating committee will make a recommendation to the voting member organizations and a vote will be taken.
• Budget and Substantive Information
• AzDAC will require a majority vote of a quorum of voting member organizations to finalize decisions regarding the budget or substantive information created by AzDAC (position papers, alert templates, etc

  Public Policy Support

• The establishment of an official AzDAC position on a state, federal or local public policy issue will require the agreement of 90% of all voting member organizations in attendance at the meeting in which the vote takes place.

 
Officers and Officer’s Duties

• The officers of AzDAC will be the Chair, the Vice-Chair, Secretary and Treasurer. These officers must be chosen from among the voting member organizations.
• The Chair will preside over the meetings using Robert’s Rules of Order, Tenth Edition. The Chair will create an agenda for each meeting that will be distributed along with the notices of meetings time and place via email each month.
• Vice-Chair will preside over the meetings in the absence of the Chair. In the event, the Chair is unable to complete the term, the Vice-Chair will serve out the remainder of the term as Chair.
• The Secretary will record the minutes of each meeting and will distribute completed minutes to the members via email. The minutes will contain the following information:
• Date, time and place of meeting.
• Attendance: Names of those present and absent and whether the absence is excused or unexcused.
• Synopsis of business discussed.
• All motions made including: name of member making the motion, member who seconds the motion, discussion, results of vote including yeas, nays and abstentions, and whether motion carries or not.
• Member requests for future agenda items
• Time of adjournment
• The Treasurer will maintain information on the finances and budget and will make such information available to the membership upon request. The Treasurer will receive quarterly financial reports from the Fiscal Agent and after review and reconciliation with the budget will provide the membership with copies of said reports at the next regular scheduled meeting.

 
Executive Committee
 
The Executive Committee will consist of the Chair, Vice Chair, Secretary, Treasurer and one member at large. The Executive Committee will meet as needed to make recommendations to the membership as a whole.
                       
Election and Term of Officers
 
The election of officers will be held annually in June, following the procedures established for elections, in Robert’s Rules of Order, Tenth Edition. The Chair or Chair’s designee will be responsible for this.
 
 A majority vote of the voting members will be required to elect new officers. 
Officers will serve a one-year term beginning in July. Nominations will be taken from the membership at the May meeting. Notification of nominations and the call to election will be emailed to each member organization’s representative along with the minutes for the May meeting.
 
To qualify to hold elected office a candidate must have been the designated representative for their voting member organization for at least one calendar year.
 
In the event an officer cannot serve his/her full term of office, the Chair will appoint another individual to serve out the remainder of his/her term.
 
Meetings

• AzDAC will hold meetings at least quarterly and all voting and advisory members will be notified of meeting date, time and place prior to the scheduled date via email.
• Voting members are expected to attend all meetings as scheduled. All absences should be reported to either the Chair or the Secretary prior to the meeting date. Any voting member with two consecutive unexcused absences or excessive excused absences may be removed by a two-thirds vote of the members. 
•  An unexcused absence is any absence that is not reported to the Chair or Secretary prior to the meeting date.
• An excused absence is any absence that is reported to the Chair or Secretary prior to the meeting date.
• An excessive excused absence is three or more during a calendar year.
• The Executive Committee will review extreme situations resulting in an unexcused absence and exceptions may be granted.
• Ad Hoc committees may be formed at the discretion of the Chair for a specific purpose and limited duration. The Chair may invite members of the public to participate on these committees.

 
 
Managing Resources

• A voting member organization will act as fiscal agent for the coalition and in doing so will handle all financial transactions, provide the Treasurer with quarterly financial reports, including all financial transactions and will act as the employer of record. The fiscal agent is allowed to authorize expenses within the budget or up to $100 outside of the authorized budget without permission. The fiscal agent will be determined by a 2/3 vote of the coalition. 
• AzDAC voting member organizations will approve an annual budget and may amend it with a majority vote of a quorum.

 
Annual Resource Contribution
 
As a condition of membership, each voting member organization will be required to make an annual resource contribution. The annual resource contribution may be offered as a monetary contribution or as an in-kind service or as a combination of the two. Organizations making monetary contributions are advised that their contribution may be used to support education and advocacy efforts on behalf of AzDAC. The amount of the annual contribution will be based on a sliding fee scale based up the operating budget of the organization. (See table below)
 

Nonprofit Organizations & Government Agencies 
   (by operating budget)

    Up to $100,000

$50 

    $100,000-249,000 

$100

    $250,000-499,999

$200 

    $500,000-999,999

$350

    $1,000,000-1,500,000 

$750

    over $1,500,000 

$1,000

Corporations

$1,000

 
The annual resource contribution will be utilized to pay for operating expenses, including any staff the members agree to employee.
 
Membership dues will be reviewed by the Membership on an annual basis.
 
 
AzDAC Vision for the Future
 

• AzDAC will be perceived as having a legitimate, powerful voice representing the disability community and will be recognized by the legislature as such.
• AzDAC will help develop and work with a network of individuals with disabilities and their families representing a variety of disabilities and geographic areas throughout Arizona.
• AzDAC will have an effective voice because it will provide this network the educational information and tools they need on issues so they can be more influential.
• AzDAC will be able to respond to critical issues effectively in a timely manner.
• AzDAC will increase public policy decision makers’ awareness that there is a large disability community constituency which votes and impacts elections.
• AzDAC will have a web site.