ARTICLE 1. NAME
The name of this Section shall be the Electrical Section of the National Fire Protection Association. It shall be commonly known as the Electrical Section.
ARTICLE 2. PURPOSES AND POWERS
This Section is established to serve the interests of its membership in electrical safety by:
(a) providing opportunity for Section members interested in electrical safety to become informed and to participate in and contribute to the development of the National Electrical Code, National Fire Alarm Code, and other NFPA standards involving installation or use of electrical or fire alarm system equipment
(b) holding meetings where proposals for revisions or additions to these standards may be discussed;
(c) distributing bulletins on matters affecting the work of NFPA Technical Committees in the field of electrical safety or fire alarm systems;
(d) bringing to the attention of its members reports of other NFPA technical committees or Sections when appropriate; and,
(e) holding open meetings where tutorial sessions and technical paper presentations can be offered, and furthermore;
It shall have powers in accordance with the NFPA's Regulations Governing Sections to engage in whatever actions or activities in addition to the above which its membership or Executive Board feel are appropriate to carry out the above mentioned purposes.
ARTICLE 3. MEMBERSHIP
3.1 Membership in the Section shall be open to all Members and representatives of Organization Members of the NFPA who are licensed or certified to provide electrical services, protective signaling, or whose primary professional responsibilities include one or more of the following:
(a) Engineering, manufacturing , testing, selling, regulating, certifying, servicing of electrical or protective signaling products or services.
(b) Designing , constructing, installing, testing, inspection, maintaining, approving electrical or protective signaling installations;
(c) performing or teaching others to perform the electrical or fire signaling services noted in (a) or (b)
3.2 Membership in the Section shall also be open to any individual member of the NFPA not meeting the requirements of Section 4.1 provided that person satisfies the requirements for membership on an NEC Code making panel or National Fire Alarm Code committee as judged by the Executive Committee of the Section.
There shall be one class of membership which shall be regular membership. Regular members shall have all rights and powers to vote on all matters properly before the Section and to otherwise participate in the business and affairs of the Section. Voting shall, however, be limited to those who have been regular members of the Section for one hundred eighty (180) days prior to the first day of the meeting where the vote is taken.
3.3 Requests for membership shall be made by application to the Executive Secretary.
3.4 Determination of qualification for membership shall be at the sole discretion of the Executive Committee.
3.5 There shall be no special dues for membership in the Section other than those dues for Section membership established by the NFPA Board of Directors as amended from time to time.
ARTICLE 4. OFFICERS
4.1 The officers of the Section shall be Chair, First Vice-Chair, Second Vice-Chair, Third Vice-Chair, Secretary, and Executive Secretary.
4.2 The officers, except for the Executive Secretary, shall be elected annually from the membership. All officers, except for the Executive Secretary, shall serve terms of one year each, or until their successors are elected and qualified. The Executive Secretary shall be a member of the NFPA staff and shall be named by the President of the NFPA. No elected officer may serve more than two consecutive terms in any one office. Terms of office begin at NFPA Annual Meetings.
4.3 The Chair of the Section shall preside at all meetings of the Section and the Executive Committee, and shall, with the approval of the Executive Committee, appoint such committees as are established under these Bylaws or otherwise established at the discretion of the Executive Committee, except for the Executive and Nominating Committees which are established under the terms of these bylaws. The Chair shall perform such other duties as shall be determined from time to time by the Executive Committee.
4.4 The First Vice-Chair, or in his or her absence, the next highest ranking Vice-Chair, shall, at the request of, in the absence or disability of the Chair, undertake the powers and duties of the Chair and when so acting shall have all necessary powers and perform all such duties as either the Chair or the Executive Committee determine are necessary to carry out such role.
4.5 The Secretary shall perform such secretarial duties as are not performed by the Executive Secretary and such other duties as may be directed by the Chair or the Executive Committee.
4.6 The Executive Secretary shall serve as secretary of the Executive Committee but shall not have a vote in its affairs.
ARTICLE 5. EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE
5.1 There shall be an Executive Committee which shall have general charge of the affairs of the Section. It shall be empowered to act on behalf of the Section between meetings of the membership, to establish, appoint and empower additional committees in its discretion; and to exercise all rights and powers granted it by these Bylaws or otherwise. It shall submit a report to each Annual Meeting of the Section covering its actions.
5.2 The membership of the Executive Committee shall consist of all Officers of the Section, the immediate past Chair of the Section and not fewer than six other members elected at large by and from the membership.
5.3 The membership of the Executive Committee shall be balanced, such that any company, association, or other organization shall have a maximum of one member on the Executive Committee at any given time. Membership of the Executive Committee shall reflect a wide representation of the industry including topics addressed in NFPA codes and standards.
5.4 At-large members of the Executive Committee shall serve for two years or until their successors are elected and qualified. At the initial election of at-large members, two of these members shall be elected to serve terms of three years, thereafter, all terms shall be for two years. Terms of office begin at NFPA Annual Meetings.
5.5 No member may serve more than two consecutive terms as a member of the Executive Committee in the same status.
5.6 The Executive Committee shall have the power to fill vacancies for any Officer or member of the Executive or Nominating Committee between Annual Meetings; such nomination shall be to fill the unexpired term which has been vacated.
5.7 Except as otherwise provided in this Constitution and Bylaws, or as provided in the "Regulations Governing NFPA Sections," Robert's Rules of Order (Revised) shall govern the transaction of business at meetings of the Executive Committee.
ARTICLE 6. MEETINGS
6.1 Except where otherwise authorized by the NFPA Board of Directors, there shall be an Annual Meeting of the Section held in connection with the Annual Meeting of the National Fire Protection Association for the purposes of hearing reports of officers and committees, electing and
installing officers and members of the Executive Committee and Nominating Committee, and conducting such other business as may be necessary to achieve the purposes set out in Article 2 or which is otherwise properly before the Section. Notice of such meetings shall be sent to members at least 30 days in advance of the meeting stating the business to be transacted at the meeting. Business not included in the notice of the meeting may only be officially transacted by a two-thirds majority vote of all Section members present and voting.
6.2 Special meetings of the Section may be called by majority vote of the Executive Committee of the Section, with notice and agenda to be given in accordance with the provisions of paragraph 6.1.
6.3 A quorum for the conduct of business at either an Annual Meeting or a Special Meeting of the Section shall consist of not less than 10 members of the Section.
6.4 Any member of the Section shall be permitted to attend any Annual Meeting or a Special Meeting of the Section, but members shall not be permitted to vote unless their application for membership has been approved at least 180 days prior to the first day of such a meeting.
6.5 Except as otherwise provided in this Constitution and Bylaws, or as provided in the "Regulations for NFPA Sections," Robert's Rules of Order (Revised) shall govern the transaction of business.
ARTICLE 7. NOMINATIONS AND ELECTIONS
7.1 There shall be a Nominating Committee chaired by the Immediate Past Chair and including two additional members at-large who shall be elected by and from the membership and shall not be members of the Executive Committee.
7.2 The Nominating Committee shall nominate at least one candidate for each office which shall be available at the next Annual Meeting; nominations shall be provided for the Officers, Executive Committee and Nominating Committee.
7.3 Members of the Nominating Committee shall serve a term of one year, or until their successors are elected and qualified. No at-large member of the Nominating Committee may serve more than two consecutive terms.
7.4 The Nominating Committee shall report its nominations to the Executive Secretary no later than January 31, prior to the Annual Meeting at which offices will become available.
7.5 The Executive Secretary shall have these nominations published in an official publication of the Association or the Section no later than March 31, prior to the Annual Meeting at which the offices will become available. The membership of the Section, as of this publication, shall be the membership eligible to vote in the election. (See 6.4).
7.6 Candidates other than those named by the Nominating Committee may be nominated by petition of 10 members of the Section, provided such petitions are received by the Executive Secretary no less than five (5) and no more than forty-five (45) days after publication of the Nominating Committee's nominations. All nominees for office must be members of the Section.
7.7 All voting will take place at the Business Meeting of the Section. Nomination for all available offices will be announced and voting shall be by written ballot. Election shall be by majority of all members present and voting individually on that ballot or by a person designated in writing by the member of record. The Secretary may cast one vote for any office where there is only one nominee.
7.8 Candidates nominated by the Nominating Committee may be designated as such on any notice distributed by the Executive Secretary.
ARTICLE 8. AMENDMENT
These Bylaws may be amended by a two-thirds vote of the Section taken at any Annual Meeting held in connection with an NFPA Annual Meeting. Notice of any proposed Amendment shall be given by the Executive Secretary to the membership thirty (30) days prior to the meeting. A bylaw amendment proposed by Section members must be submitted to the Section Executive Secretary, in writing, not less than ninety (90) days prior to the meeting. All amendments shall be subject to approval by the Board of Directors of the NFPA.