THE CONSTITUTION
OF
THE BULLDOG CLUB OF AMERICA
Revised June, 2004
ARTICLE I
FOREWORD
In recognition of the changes which have occurred since this Club was organized in 1890, and incorporated under the laws of the State of New York on February 29, 1904, and desiring to form a more effective organization through which people in the United States of America (including Territories and Possessions), actively interested in the bulldog breed, may unite in the accomplishment or pursuit of the purposes for which this Club was formed, we the Members of The Bulldog Club of America, establish and adopt this revised Constitution.
The objects of the Club were well stated by the founders. Without essential change, we restate our purposes as follows:
1. To maintain a standard of excellence for the guidance of breeders, owners and judges.
2. To improve the breed through encouragement of effort directed toward approach to, or attainment of, the degree of excellence set forth in the standard of the bulldog breed.
3. To stimulate interest in competitive public showings of bulldogs.
4. To further the interests of the Breed.
5. To work for the general good of breeders, owners and exhibitors of bulldogs.
ARTICLE II
POLICY
Believing that the best interests of the breed, in a country as large as ours are best served by sectional groups united in a strong national organization we declare our policy to be to support and promote the general welfare of local bulldog specialty clubs, the objects and conduct of which are in harmony with the purposes of this Club.
ARTICLE III
FORM OF ORGANIZATION
The basic unit of the Club shall be the member, who may be an individual, or a bulldog specialty club. Each member shall have one vote.
Because of the size of our country and the great distances separating some members from others, and to provide for effective and equitable administration, Divisions shall be established by suitable groupings of states Each Division shall be governed by a Board of Governors and officers elected by members of the Club residing in such Division.
Each Division shall conduct the affairs of the Club in its territory and shall advise The Council in matters which, although pertaining to the Division, are required to be acted upon by the national government. The Council shall give great weight to the advice of a Division upon a matter peculiar to that Division.
The Club shall be governed nationally by a representative Council and by officers elected by the members.
ARTICLE IV
SECTION 1. The Divisions of the Club shall be as follows:
· Division No.1. Connecticut, Delaware, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island and Vermont.
· Division No.2. Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Michigan, Ohio, West Virginia and Wisconsin.
· Division No. 3. Arizona, California, Hawaii and Nevada.
· Division No. 4. Arkansas, Colorado, Louisiana, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Texas, Utah and Wyoming.
· Division No. 5. Alaska, Idaho, Montana, Oregon and Washington.
· Division No. 6. Iowa, Kansas, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota and South Dakota.
· Division No. 7. District of Columbia, Maryland, North Carolina, South Carolina and Virginia.
· Division No. 8. Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Mississippi and Tennessee.
Members residing in any foreign country or in any Territory or Possession of the United States may choose the Division most accessible to them.
SECTION 2. Each Division shall be governed by a Board of Governors (which includes the President, Vice President, Treasurer, Secretary and Governors) elected by the members residing in such Division in accordance with the Divisional By-Laws.
For the purpose of clarity, the Constitution and By-Laws will use the prefix "Club" before the National Officers and "Div." before the Division Officers, i.e., Club Secretary, Div. Secretary.
ARTICLE V
SECTION l. The legislative power to propose By-Laws and amendments thereto shall be vested in The Council of The Bulldog Club of America, which shall consist of elected Councilors. By-Laws and amendments thereto, proposed by The Council, shall be submitted to the membership for vote and when approved by a majority vote of the membership, shall be submitted to the American Kennel Club for approval and shall become effective when said approval is received from the American Kennel Club.
The phrase "by a majority vote of the membership" means one-half plus one or more votes, actually cast, regardless of the total number of eligible votes in the Club.
The President shall vote only when The Council is evenly divided on any question. The other officers of the Club shall be informed concerning all matters submitted to the vote of The Council, so that they may inform The Council of matters in their particular care, but such officers shall have no vote in The Council.
SECTION 2. The elected Councilors shall be chosen biennially by the members of each Division.
A Councilor shall be at least twenty-five years of age, and shall when elected be residing in the Division in which he is chosen.
Elected Councilors shall be apportioned among the several Divisions according to the respective numbers of votes on the thirty-first day of December last preceding each election The number of members and votes in each Division shall be certified to The Council annually at the first meeting, by the Secretary of the Club. The number of elected Councilors shall not exceed one for every fifty votes, but each Division shall have at least one elected Councilor.
In the event a Councilor cannot attend a National Council meeting, an alternate Councilor may attend with full voting privileges for that meeting only. He or she to be selected from the following Divisional Officers in preferred sequence: The President, Vice President, Secretary, Treasurer and if not these, the Division President would select some other BCA member who resides in and is a member of that Division.
When vacancies happen in the Councilors from any Division they shall be filled by special elections of the Division Membership.
The President of the Club shall be President of The Council; the Vice President of the Club shall act in the absence or disability of the President. The Secretary of the Club shall be the Secretary of The Council. The Treasurer of the Club shall be the Treasurer of The Council.
SECTION 3. The times, places and manner of holding elections for Councilors shall be prescribed in the Divisional By-Laws.
The Council may assemble at such times and places as may be agreeable to a majority of the Councilors. If there be no assembly agreed upon for any quarter-year, the Council shall act by mail ballot upon any matter submitted to it by the Executive Committee.
SECTION 4. Council shall be the judge of the elections, returns and qualifications of its own members, and a majority of the Councilors, acting in person or by mail ballot, shall constitute a quorum to do business; any action of The Council shall require the affirmative vote of a majority of The Council.
The Council may determine the rules of its proceedings, and expel a Councilor by unanimous consent of the other Councilors.
The Council shall keep a journal of its proceedings, and annually or more frequently publish the same to the members of the Club. The Council vote shall be made a matter of public record to the BCA membership.
SECTION 5. The Council shall have power to make appropriations from the revenues of the Club, for the general and specific purposes set forth in the Forward.
SECTION 6. The Council shall have no power to create or incur debt, for the payment of which funds are not immediately available.
SECTION 7. No Division of the Club shall have power to fix dues for membership nor make any assessment against its Division membership except at the direction of the Council.
ARTICLE VI
SECTION 1. The executive power shall be vested in an Executive Committee consisting of the officers of the Club, and such Councilors as may reside in the Division in which a majority of the officers reside. The President of the Club shall be chairman of the Executive Committee. The quorum for meetings of the Executive Committee shall be a majority.
SECTION 2. The officers of the Club shall be a President, a Vice President, a Treasurer, a Secretary and a Delegate to the American Kennel Club. No member shall be eligible for more than one office during each term. The Delegate to serve until his successor is appointed and accepted by AKC. The officers shall hold office during
the term of two years and shall be elected by the members of the Club as follows.
The designated Division from which a majority of the Officers of the Club shall be chosen biennially, shall be in succeeding numerical sequence with no exceptions; the next higher division from the one presently having these officers. When the cycle is complete it shall be repeated in sequence starting with Division 1 to Division 2, etc. The Board of Governors of such designated Division shall constitute the Nominating Committee. They shall assemble in the second calendar quarter of each odd numbered year and nominate by majority vote one member of the Club for each office.
The By-Laws shall define the eligibility requirements for a member of a Bulldog specialty club for the purpose of computation of dues. The nominees for the offices of President, Vice President, Treasurer and Secretary shall be residents of the Designated Division.
The nominee for the office of Delegate to the American Kennel Club shall be a resident of the United States of America.
The nominations shall be submitted to the Council, which may not amend the nominations by the deletion of any name; but the Council may in its discretion make one additional nomination for each or any office.
Ballot containing the names of all nominees for each office shall then be sent to each member in good standing by the Club Secretary in the month of August with a return envelope addressed to the Club Secretary. Election day shall be the third Friday of October in each odd numbered year. Between closing day and the 15th day of November, the Secretary shall present the unopened returned ballots to the Executive Committee, which shall make a list of all persons voted for and the number of votes for each.
If there is only one candidate for each office, the Secretary will be empowered to suspend the designated election procedure and to cast a single ballot without polling the entire membership.
The persons having the greater number of votes for each office shall be the officers of the Club. Persons so elected to national office shall not during their terms as National officers, hold divisional office concurrently. The members shall be informed promptly as to the election results. If more than one nominee have the greater and an equal number of votes for any office, then The Council shall as promptly as possible choose by ballot one of them for such office.
In the case of the removal of any officer from office, or of his death, resignation, or inability to discharge the powers and duties of his office, the Council shall elect his successor to serve for the remainder of the term except in the case of the President whose office shall be filled by the Vice President and a new Vice President elected by The Council, or in the case of the President-Elect, whose office shall be filled by the Vice President-Elect and a new Vice President-Elect elected by the Council.
The Secretaries of the several Divisions shall upon election to office in the Divisions become Assistant Secretaries to the National Secretary. The Treasurers of the several Divisions shall upon election to office in the Divisions become Assistant Treasurers to the National Treasurer.
ARTICLE VII
The Council, whenever two thirds agree to the necessity, shall propose amendments to this Constitution. Amendments may also be proposed by the petition of members having 20% of the total number of certified votes in the last annual certification by the Secretary of the Club to the Council. Such proposed amendments shall be submitted to the membership for vote and, when approved by a majority vote of the membership, shall be submitted to the American Kennel Club for approval and shall become effective when said approval is received from the American Kennel Club.
The phrase "by a majority vote of the membership", means one-half plus one or more votes actually cast, regardless of the total number of eligible votes in the Club.
