What:   The 67th State Convention of the League of Women Voters of California

When:   10 am, Friday, May 31, through 12 pm, Sunday, June 2, 2019, with a special pre-Convention event on Thursday, May 30, 2019.

Where: The Westin Pasadena Hotel

191 North Los Robles
Pasadena, CA 91101
Phone: 626-792-2727

Who:     Attendance at Convention is open to everyone; we encourage all members to attend and are eager for the public to come learn about the League. We ask that you extend invitations to your friends and contacts.

The purpose of Convention is to inspire and empower Californians to increase their active and informed participation in civic life. Come meet passionate people from across the state who are making democracy work!

Read more about speakers, workshops, special activities, and more on our site: http://lwvc.wordpress.com

A range of activities is available to suit any schedule or budget, from investing in a full three-day registration to treating yourself to a special pre-Convention event. Check out your options now—early bird registration begins today, March 1, and ends on April 30.

The Westin Pasadena Hotel is offering a special room rate of $179 per night—but you must book by April 30 to secure this rate. Visit the Convention website to book online, or you can call the hotel and mention the LWVC Convention. Don’t get caught without a room by waiting until the last minute; rooms may sell out before that date!

Diversity, Equity, Inclusion

One of the League’s priorities is to foster a more inclusive culture and increase the diversity of our organization and our leadership. To accomplish this, an LWVC Equity Task Force was formed at the 2018 LWV National Convention in Chicago. Our Equity Task Force and LWVC Board have decided to prioritize, at least initially, increasing the racial and age diversity of our Leagues, with plans to expand our work in the near future.

One of our first initiatives is to diversify delegate participation and have a more representative decision-making body at the 2019 LWVC Convention. We encourage your League to consider this when making decisions about delegates.

As part of this effort, the California State Board has set aside a scholarship fund to help reduce barriers for those who would otherwise be unable to attend Convention. If you have members who have a financial hardship to attend convention, please encourage them to apply for a scholarship. We have a limited amount of funding, so we encourage applicants to submit as soon as possible. We are accepting applications on a rolling basis.

Business of Convention

This is the first call to Convention 2019 as required by the LWVC bylaws, Article IX, Section 8. The LWVC Bylaws govern the composition and business of the convention. Our bylaws direct us (See Article IX, Sec. 5) to:

• Elect officers, directors, and members of the nominating committee for the 2019-2021 biennium (Article IX, Sec. 5)
• Adopt a budget for the 2019-2021 fiscal years (Article VIII, Sec. 2)
• Adopt program for 2019-2021 (Article XI)
• Adopt amendments to the bylaws as needed (Article XII)

VOTING DELEGATES

Attending as a voting delegate is an exciting honor and a responsibility. If you are interested in attending as a voting delegate, speak with your local League or Inter-League Organization (ILO) board immediately.

Voting delegates to the convention are detailed in Article IX, Sections 2 and 4:

• Each local League and ILO is entitled to send its president, or an alternate in the event the president is unable to attend. The president of a member-at-large unit may attend as a nonvoting member.
• In addition, each local League is entitled to delegates in proportion to its membership numbers as reported in the LWVUS database on January 31, 2019.
• Member-at-large unit members may attend as nonvoting members.

NOTE: only local Leagues that have paid their per member payment (PMP), or received an exemption because of proven hardship, are entitled to voting representation at the convention.

HOW MANY DELEGATES?

Article IX, Section 4. Representation. The local Leagues shall be entitled to delegates in proportion to their membership as of the record date of the year of the biennial convention in accordance with Article IX, Section 9. Each local League shall be entitled to at least one delegate in addition to the local League president as provided in Article IX, Section 2(b). When local League membership reaches 51 voting members, the local League shall be entitled to one additional delegate.  Thereafter, one additional delegate shall be authorized for each additional 50 members.

• 50 or fewer Local League or Associate Local League Members (inclusive): 1 delegate member
• 51-100 Local League or Associate Local League Members (inclusive): 2 delegate members
• 101-150 Local League or Associate Local League Members (inclusive): 3 delegate members
• 151-200 Local League or Associate Local League Members (inclusive): 4 delegate members
• 201-250 Local League or Associate Local League Members (inclusive): 5 delegate members
• 251-300 Local League or Associate Local League Members (inclusive): 6 delegate members
• 301-350 Local League or Associate Local League Members (inclusive): 7 delegate members
• 351-400 Local League or Associate Local League Members (inclusive): 8 delegate members
• 401-450 Local League or Associate Local League Members (inclusive): 9 delegate members
• 451-500 Local League or Associate Local League Members (inclusive): 10 delegate members
• 501-550 Local League or Associate Local League Members (inclusive): 11 delegate members

Helen L. Hutchison
President, League of Women Voters of California