MESSAGE FROM YOUR STATE FIRST VICE PRESIDENT

Hard to believe that summer is coming to a close, my granddaughters are back in school already.  We have been very fortunate in the Bay Area with this year’s mild summer weather.  Last week I spent most of the week in Florida at the National Convention and Florida’s weather was hot and humid!   

Thank you to the Lodge Presidents who attended the 1st Lodge President Zoom Meeting that was held in July.  The three area Vice Presidents will be holding these Zoom Meetings on the 4th Thursday of each month.  We have a very simple agenda, where we spend the first 10 to 15 minutes updating the Lodge President’s on National and Grand Lodge happenings.  Then we shift to local lodge topics.  Last meeting we focused on membership and the use of imembersDB.  As a Lodge President if you are unable to attend, please designate one of your Lodge Officers to attend in your place. Please contact your area Vice President for additional details and log-in information.

Membership should be a priority for all of us.  For the first time in many years the National Lodge has shown a positive net gain of members over the last two years. As a Grand Lodge our downward membership trend has slowed, but we are not growing yet.  A big shout out to the Napa Lodge #2043, President Marisa Miller and the Napa Lodge Leadership Team who have shown exceptional membership growth over the last two years.  This month the Napa Lodge is moving to a larger meeting space because they had out grown their meeting space.  What a great problem!

As I am working through the State Deputy appointments in the North, I would like to thank all the members who have served in the capacity of a State Deputy.  This is a very important role for the Lodge’s and the Grand Lodge.  As our membership has decreased it has become much more difficult to find members to serve as a State Deputy.  If you are a past Grand Lodge Officer, Lodge President or a Lodge Officer and you would be interested in serving as a State Deputy, please reach out.

National Convention

As I mentioned earlier, I spent last week in Florida at our National Convention.  Each of the California National Delegates will be reporting on some aspect of the National Convention.  The area I will be reporting on is the proposed Bylaw changes.  California’s own, the Honorable Al Girolami was the Committee Chairperson and he along with a National Team has done an extensive cleaning up of the National Bylaws.  You can find a copy of the National Bylaws at https://www.osdia.org/lodge-resources/ and click on OSDIA Bylaws 2023-2025 (Revised 1/25).

Appendix A. - Article 107. Presented by Annapolis Local Lodge 2225.

Removing the authority of any Grand Lodge Bylaws to provide otherwise and to allow for a single exception to the maximum terms for Local and Grand Lodge Officers where there are no other nominations of eligible candidates. There was no second on this proposed motion, so it was not voted on.  Appendix A – Article 107 remains the same.

Appendix B. – Article 102. Presented by the Supreme Council.

Eliminates any confusion regarding the official name of our organization and mandates all Lodges to use the full title, the “Order Sons and Daughters of Italy in America” on all printed forms, banners, regalia, digital media, and buildings. It provides for phase-in time periods for the different items and allows for exceptions being granted by the Supreme Council. This proposed bylaw change was approved; it passed

Appendix C. – Article 122 (new). Presented by the Supreme Council.

Adds a new Article to ensure that all members understand their responsibility to protect the Real and Personal assets of the Order. All assets belong to the Order, and not to any individual and must be protected based on our Bylaws. There was an amendment to this proposed change adding the “next” before higher ranking unit. This proposed bylaw change was approved; it passed.

Appendix D. – Article 99.

Presented by National 3rd Vice President, Mark DeNunzio. Changes selecting the future Supreme Convention Site from the current two years to four years prior. This proposed bylaw change was approved; it passed.

Appendix E. – Article 62 (c), Presented by National Past President, Phil Boncore.

Allows each Local or Subordinate Lodge to send one Delegate to the National Convention. This proposed change was voted down; it did not pass.

Appendix F. – Grand Lodge of Ohio Internal Bylaw changes.

These changes require either Supreme Council approval (Const XII) or Supreme Lodge approval (Art75 (b)). They were placed in the Convention Booklet for the convenience of the Supreme Council, but if the Supreme Lodge wishes to exercise its power, it may do so. If not, there is no need for the Delegates to review them. This was an action item for the Supreme Council to approve, no vote was taken by the National Delegation.  This is the same process when California makes a Grand Lodge of California Bylaw change, if it passes at our California Convention it gets sent to the Supreme Council for approval.

Appendix G. - Article 79. Grand Lodge of the Northwest.

To reduce the number of members for a Grand Lodge to qualify for a National Trustee from 1,000 to 800 and from 7,000 to 5,000 for an additional Trustee. This proposed change was amended and removed the 7,000 to 5,000 reduction for an additional Trustee. This proposed bylaw change was voted down; it did not pass.

Thank you for the opportunity to represent the Lodges of California at the National Convention.  There is a lot of information to share regarding the National Convention and Our National order. I look forward to sharing more information with you as we meet through Zoom and in person.  Congratulation to Past State President Lynn Lawrence-Murphy who received the Sellaro Award at the National Convention.