Its headquarters shall be in Washington, DC.
Purpose:
The object and duty of the commission shall be to promote by an intensive educational program voluntary total abstinence from all intoxicants and narcotics; the educational program to include the use of radio, television, publication and distribution of literature; to promote observance and enforcement of constitutional provisions and statutory enactments that suppress the traffic in alcoholic beverages and in narcotic drugs; and to promote the speedy enactment of such legislation throughout the world.
Incorporation:
The commission shall be incorporated in the District of Columbia. The commission shall be the legal successor and successor in trust of the corporations, boards, departments or entities known as the Department of Human Welfare of the General board of Church and Society of The United Methodist Church; the Division of General Welfare of the General Board of Church and Society of The Untied Methodist Church; the Division of General Welfare of the General Board of Christian Social Concerns of The United Methodist Church; the Department of Christian Social Action of the Evangelical United Brethren Church; the Division of Alcohol Problems and General Welfare of the General Board of Christian Social Concerns of the Methodist Church; the Division of Temperance and General Welfare of the General Board of Christian Social Concerns of the Methodist Church; the Board of Temperance of the Methodist Church; and the Board of Temperance, Prohibition and Public Morals of the Methodist Episcopal Church.
Membership:
The commission shall consist of thirty persons elected by the jurisdictional conferences and three bishops elected by the Council of Bishops. Those elected to the commission shall be chosen solely for their demonstrated concern about the problems caused in our society by the presence and use of alcoholic beverages and other drugs. Each jurisdiction shall elect six persons from the list of persons proposed for general agency membership by the annual conferences. A jurisdiction may elect a maximum of four clergy members or four lay members. At the first meeting of each quadrennium and each annual meeting thereafter, the commission may elect an additional person or persons based on special expertise that will be of assistance to the commission, provided that a maximum of five such persons may be elected each quadrennium.
Vacancies in the commission membership shall be filled by the procedure defined in ¶ 812 of the General Provisions.
Officers:
The officers of the commission shall be a president, a vice president, a secretary, and a treasurer.
Executive Committee:
The commission shall have an executive committee composed of the elected officers and two additional persons selected by the commission from among its other members. The general secretary shall be a member of the executive committee, with a voice but not the right to vote. The committee shall have the power ad interim to fill any vacancies occurring in the elected staff and to transact such business and adopt such resolutions and statements as are authorized between the meetings of the commission. It shall report all of its actions to the commission promptly after each of its meetings and again for confirmation at the next meeting of the commission.
Meetings:
The commission shall hold an annual meeting at a time and place to be determined by its executive committee and such other meetings as its work may require, and shall enact suitable bylaws governing the activities of the commission and its employees. A majority of the membership shall constitute a quorum.
Staff:
The commission shall have a general secretary and one or more associate general secretaries as its work may show to be necessary. The commission shall be otherwise organized and operate according to the general provisions of the Administrative Order of the Discipline, except where they may be in conflict with the provisions herein adopted specifically for the commission.
Funding:
The standing commission shall be funded like other general agencies of the church (¶ 906). During its first quadrennium (1997-2000) it shall receive from the funds otherwise authorized for the use of the General Board of Church and Society that percentage that corresponds to the amount authorized for the use of the Board of Temperance during the last quadrennium (1956-60) that the former Boards of Temperance, World Peace, and Social and Economic Relations received in individual appropriations. It shall receive all property owned or controlled by the former Board of Temperance at the time of its merger in 1960 with the former Boards of World Peace and Social and Economic Relations.
The commission shall be authorized to solicit and create special funds; to receive gifts and bequests; to hold properties and securities in trust; and to administer all these financial affairs in accordance with its own rules and the provisions of the Discipline.
Annual Conference:
Each annual conference shall establish a Commission on Alcohol and Drugs. The total membership of this commission shall be determined by each annual conference according to its own rules. Each member of the Standing General Commission on Alcohol and Drugs shall be an ex officio member, with vote, of the annual conference where that member resides or has his or her annual conference membership. Clergy appointed beyond the local church may, if he or she chooses, be a member of the commission of the annual conference where he or she resides.
Local Church:
Each local church shall have a work area for alcohol and drugs.
Effective Date:
This legislation shall become effective 90 days after General Conference has adjourned.
General Conference Webmaster: Susan Brumbaugh
PETS Creator: John Brawn
Petition Text: 23076-IC-NonDis-O!
1996 United Methodist General Conference