Thirty-nine state governing bodies were on a conference call tonight, June 3, to vote on the new Terms of Reference for the Youth & HS Council, and all 39 voted in favor.

The Terms of Reference (TORs) is a document that maps out how an organization is to be put together, how boardmembers are voted, who votes and how, and what the next steps are. A clause in the TORs say they expire if new Bylaws are not adopted by the end of August.

All SGBs were asked to vote. Six SGBs did not attend the call, and five other states do not have a SGB. But the 39 that did attend all voted in favor with no votes against and no abstentions.

Some highlights of the TORs:

The country has been divided into seven regions, with SGBs within those regions voting for their own representative to the Youth & HS Board. States vote proportionally. SGBs with more than 3,000 members having their votes worth 3, SGBs with membership of 1,501-3,000 counting 2, and everyone else counting 1.

These are the regions:

Region I - Northwest: AK, ID, MT, NorCal, OR, WA
Region II - Southwest: AZ, HI, NM, NV, SoCal
Region III - Central: CO, IA, KS, MI, NE, SD, UT, WY
Region IV - Midwest: IL, IN, KY, MN, MO, ND, OH, WI
Region V - South: AL, AR, FL, LA, MS, OK, TX, Am. Terr./Poss.
Region VI – Southeast: GA, MD/DC, NC, SC, TN, VA, WV
Region VII - Northeast: CT, DE, MA, ME, NH, NJ, NY, PA, RI, VT

Of note: California is of course divided into two SGBs because it's so huge.

Despite there not being an SGB in American territories outside the 50 states, a movement was successful to list American Territories in a region so as to be ready when a territory can form an SGB. With the expectation that the first American Territory to get an SGB will be Puerto Rico, the Territories were put in the South.

Only two SGBs have three votes: Southern California and Northern California.

Oregon, Colorado, Utah, Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, Texas, Maryland, Virginia/WV, New York, and Pennsylvania all have two votes. Ohio is the closest to getting past the 3,000 threshold.

To view the approved-on TORs click here>>

The next step is for these regions to put in place a Youth & HS Board. That Board will be in place on an interim basis (according to the TORs just adopted) and the members will serve from June, 2020 to January 2021. A new Board will be placed at that January meeting and half of those will serve for a year, while the other half will serve for two years. After that boardmembers will serve for two years, but the staggering ensures that there is not a wholesale Board change whenever there's a vote.

The TORs also identified USA Youth and High School Rugby as a non-profit based in the District of Columbia. It's expected that this will become a 501c3 in the future.

Over the next couple of days SGBs will put forward candidates for the Youth & HS Board. The nomination process will wrap up on Friday, and then the regions will vote for their regional representatives.

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This week the Youth & HS steering group also distributed a Q&A to address some of the questions from SGBs and their representatives. Here it is in the interests of answering some reader questions. The first questiobn deals with Matt Downs, who has been handling some of the legal questions:

Q: What type of attorney is Matt Downs and who (if anyone) does he represent and who is paying him?
A: Matt Downs (on the Board Rugby Maryland) is a corporate structure attorney, he is working Pro Bono (volunteer, no pay). He offered his services. He is collaborating with other attorneys from among the membership including Kat Aversano and Josh Brady from Rugby Maryland, Ann Schwaab from Rugby Illinois and Ari Christakis from Rugby Pennsylvania. He welcomes other attorneys to participate.

Q: Why have an attorney involved?
A: It is prudent to ensure that all documents created are created so that they meet the federal requirements for 501(c)(3) status.

Q: Why is there a “new” 501(c)(3)?
A: With the resignations of Paul Miniclier and Audrey Billingsley and May 22nd, they have rescinded their offer of the 501(c)(3) that they created for Youth and High School grant writing. Their reasons of resignation are theirs.

Q: Will the regions be incorporated?
A: No.

Q: Are there Officers of the new 501(c)(3)?
A: yes.

Q: Will the Officers of the new 501(c)(3) be reset once the elections take place?
A: yes.

Q: Will all members of the Council be elected at the same time?
A: No, initially only the 7 regional directors will be elected. They will decide among themselves who will be the officers of the corporation: president, vice-president, secretary and treasurer. Later, all directors and officers will be elected.
Explanation: Chair, vice-chair, treasurer are really officer positions. This was clarified in the latest TOR. As officers, they are required by law. So, as soon as the 7 regional reps get in, they will decide who will be those officers. This will be just to get us over the next 6 months until the first annual meeting in January. Then, new directors and officers will be elected.

Q: What will be the election process?
A: Initial Regional elections will be determined by the States in that Region. Executive Officer Board elections and any future elections will be incorporated into the 501(c)(3) Bylaws

Q: How will the election process be held?
A: The entire election process will be run through eBallot, a third party election/ballot process. All results will be made public.

Q: Will we be independent of USA Rugby?
A: Yes, USAY&HSR is an independent, separate corporation. USAR will consider us an “affiliate” under their bylaws, but USAR will not have a seat on USAY&HSR Board or a role in our governance. We would have 1 seat on USAR board of directors and some committee positions. USAY&HSR will have some contractual agreements (eg Community Agreement) with USAR, but that remains to be negotiated. We do not yet know the pricing or what services, if any, we may need from them.

Q: Have we abandoned the process of reviewing and drafting bylaws?
A: None of the processes have been abandoned, they have been put on hold until the Regional Reps have been elected. As a corporation, USAY&HSR must have bylaws. The TOR are the first step in building out the bylaws. A working group will soon be formed to draft those bylaws.

Q: Are the working groups still meeting?
A: The working groups shall continue to meet