Hello members!

Our By-Laws subcommittee, led by our amazing Treasurer Liz, worked hard to update the 2021 WAFWP By-Laws. These changes, with guidance from our attorney Rhonda, needed to reflect the legal duties of the union (think short and sweet). We are also working on an Executive Board Manual to dive more into the weeds on roles of each of the Executive Board members. We made a few modernizations that can be seen below. We will need to vote on these changes at the Annual Meeting on Thursday, September 24th. An online voting link will be sent out to all members for a vote. Please reach out if you have any comments. 

2026 Proposed Changes:

• Article III Membership
  • Section III. Changed the number of days for receiving the member applications from 60 to 90.
  • Section VI. Changed from 60 to 90 days.
  • Consolidated section on retired members into Sections VIII & IX.
  • Section XI. Changed from 6 to 9 months.
• Article V Officers
  • Section III. Change the Terms of Office from 2 to 3 year rotations and new groupings of executive board members for election years. See the Bylaws implementation plan.
• Article VI Election of Officers
  • Section VII. Updated order of attrition after the Vice President to be any elected executive board member.
  • Several sections. Added email, website, and other language updates to address modern processes.
• Article VII Duties of Officers
  • Updated and edited all board member sections. Condensed program board member sections into one section.
• New Article VIII Job Representatives
  • Added some information about job representatives.
• Article IX Committees
  • Added an introduction to the section
• Article X Initiation Fees, Dues and Assessments
  • Section III. Added language about a potential sunset clause to temporary dues deduction rates.
  • Section IV. Added reimbursement approval process language.

Implementation Plan for 3-year terms from the Updated Bylaws – Starting in 2027

Officers shall hold office for three (3) year terms and until the election and installation of their successors, unless recalled from office as provided by these bylaws. Elections for officers will be held each year on a rotating basis.

• The first rotation shall be the President, Fish Program board member, and Member at Large 1.
• The second rotation shall be the Secretary, Wildlife Program Board member, and Member at Large 2.
• The third rotation shall be Vice President, Treasurer, Habitat Program board member.

Roll Out Plan:

We will start with the first rotation of the 3-year election cycle at the 2027 election.

• 2027 Election: President, Fish Program board member, and Member at Large 1
  • President, Fish Program Board member, and Member at Large 1 were elected in 2025
  • Up for re-election in 2030
• 2028 Election: Secretary, Wildlife Program board member, Member at Large 2
  • Secretary and Wildlife Program board member were elected in 2025
  • Member at Large 2 elected in 2026
  • Up for re-election in 2031
• 2029 Election: Vice President, Treasurer, Habitat Program board member
  • Vice President, Treasurer, and Habitat Program board member elected in 2026
  • Up for re-election in 2031

Sincerely,

WAFWP Executive Board