Policy Committee Rules of Procedure (Draft)

Deciding on policy to consider
The policy committee decides, by majority vote, that an area of policy: or decides to poll members to choose an area of policy for consideration (in which case I guess we would do the announcement before formulating proposals) by putting up a thread for member input at: Board Index > Party Policy Development > Policy Committee Activities  perhaps similar to:
 * requires consideration or
 * appears to have significant member interest


 * Subject: [PPNZ PC] Call for expressions of interest in policy areas to consider
 * Message body:
 * The policy committee is seeking member input to decide what areas of policy should be reviewed. Please select the areas of policy that you would like reviewed (or suggest others in the thread).
 * Poll question: What areas of policy would you like reviewed?
 * Poll options:
 * * Policy area 1
 * * Policy area 2
 * Options per user: (all)
 * Run poll for: ??? days
 * Allow re-voting: yes
 * Options per user: (all)
 * Run poll for: ??? days
 * Allow re-voting: yes

Formulating proposals
(Where there are related policy areas, e.g. copyright length and copyright reach, might be an idea to run them concurrently?)

The policy committee creates a wiki page for formulating a proposal: Policy Draft Proposals on X ???

The policy committee puts up a thread for member discussion on an area of policy at: Board Index > Party Policy Development > Policy Committee Activities  perhaps similar to:


 * Subject: [PPNZ PC] Policy on X--developing proposals
 * Message body:
 * The policy committee has opened discussions for the official PPNZ policy on X. The draft proposals, as they are developed throughout this discussion, will be on the wiki page: Policy Draft Proposals on X ???
 * If you would be interested in an IRC meeting on this, you can indicate so in the attached poll while it remains open. We will hold an open policy meeting if three ??? or more members indicate interest.  If there is to be a meeting, it will be held on  ???.  Please ensure you update the times you are available at: Board Index > General > Polls > Poll:  What time of the week should PPNZ have IRC meetings? 
 * This discussion will remain open until at least DD/MM/YYYY. The discussion may be extended if it seems members need longer to express their views, or to allow completion of the proposals.  Once this discussion is closed, we will post a new thread with the finalised proposals, and instructions for voting on them.  After this, we will post up the final results, and make the change on the policy page.
 * Poll question: Would you be interested in an IRC open policy meeting on this topic?
 * Poll options:
 * * Yes
 * * No
 * Options per user: 1
 * Run poll for: 3 days (maybe a couple extra for the first one?)
 * Allow re-voting: yes
 * * No
 * Options per user: 1
 * Run poll for: 3 days (maybe a couple extra for the first one?)
 * Allow re-voting: yes

Announcement
At least for the first discussion, or discussions occurring after a considerable break, an announcement is made on:
 * The news page
 * Facebook (mirrored truncated to 140 characters ??? on Twitter)

(The first paragraph of the announcement should be 140 characters ???, or as close as possible, for Twitter.)

The notice for the first discussion perhaps similar to:


 * Subject: Official PPNZ copyright length and reach ??? policies under consideration
 * The PPNZ policy committee has opened discussions for ratifying policy. Login to the forum and see Policy Committee Activities for details.
 * The newly elected policy committee (caucus) is comprised of three members, and is charged with facilitating the development of official policy, as well as communicating policy to the media. The ratification of policy is ultimately to be by the vote of PPNZ members.
 * The policy committee is planning to proceed through each of the interim policies on the policy wiki page , open discussions on each of the interim policies, and take members' votes on whether each should be made official policy as is, or be amended, and if so, how.
 * The first policies under consideration are copyright length and reach ???, and the policy committee has opened discussions in the new PPNZ forum Policy Committee Activities.
 * The policy committee can be contacted at
 *  ???.
 * The first policies under consideration are copyright length and reach ???, and the policy committee has opened discussions in the new PPNZ forum Policy Committee Activities.
 * The policy committee can be contacted at
 *  ???.
 * The policy committee can be contacted at
 *  ???.

During the discussion

 * Drawing from the discussion, the policy committee (and possibly members) develop proposals and justifications for them on the wiki page created for the purpose (Policy Draft Proposals on X).
 * The policy committee schedules an IRC meeting, if required, and afterwards links to the transcript from the forums.
 * The policy committee extends the provisional discussion closing date if and as required.

Voting
Once it seems members have had sufficient time to express their views, and consider and discuss others' views, the proposals are finalised, and the current provisional discussion closing date has expired, the policy committee, by majority agreement, closes the thread, and creates a new thread stating the finalised proposals (including 'Leave policy as is', and 'No policy'), and how to vote on them. Any proposals that the Policy Committee do not determine are "core policy" require a 75% majority over the status quo.


 * Subject: [PPNZ PC] Policy on X--open for voting
 * Message body:
 * Voting is now open for the official PPNZ policy on X. Voting will remain open until DD/MM/YYYY.  Votes will be counted by the Schulze method (which performs strategic voting on voters' behalf). However non-core policies will require 75% of votes to be approved. The results will be posted here. The most preferred option will become official policy.
 * The options are:
 * * [CODE 1] Policy proposal 1 (state 'requires 75% majority' if applicable)
 * * [CODE 2] Policy proposal 2 (state 'requires 75% majority' if applicable)
 * * [ZL] Leave policy as is
 * * [ZN] No policy
 * Members can cast their vote by sending an e-mail of the following form:
 * To: 
 * Subject: Policy vote on [X]
 * [Code for first preference] > [Code for second preference] ...
 * You can include as many options as you like, and including more options will not harm the chances of earlier options being successful. Only if the earlier options do not have enough support to be successful will the Schulze method shift your vote to later options.
 * Members can cast their vote by sending an e-mail of the following form:
 * To: 
 * Subject: Policy vote on [X]
 * [Code for first preference] > [Code for second preference] ...
 * You can include as many options as you like, and including more options will not harm the chances of earlier options being successful. Only if the earlier options do not have enough support to be successful will the Schulze method shift your vote to later options.
 * You can include as many options as you like, and including more options will not harm the chances of earlier options being successful. Only if the earlier options do not have enough support to be successful will the Schulze method shift your vote to later options.
 * You can include as many options as you like, and including more options will not harm the chances of earlier options being successful. Only if the earlier options do not have enough support to be successful will the Schulze method shift your vote to later options.

Calculating and posting results
The results are calculated as follows:
 * The votes are checked to ensure they come from official member e-mail addresses, and collated.
 * The Schulze method is used to calculate the overall ranked preferences.
 * If there is a single winner, and it has previously been determined to be 'core' policy by the Policy Committee, it is declared official policy
 * If there is a single winner, and it has not previously been determined to be 'core' policy by the Policy Committee, and it has 75% support over all 'core' policy proposals as previously determined by the Policy Committee, it is declared official policy. Otherwise it is eliminated

The results are posted in the thread, and the thread is closed. The policy page is updated if appropriate.