Understanding Petition Numbers

1996 United Methodist General Conference

Contents

• Coding
• Examples
• Reading Petition Text

Petition Coding

Each petition number is made up of four parts. This four part petition number is used throughout the PETS System.

1. Petition Serial Number:
   Sequentially assigned number beginning with 20001 for the 1996 General Conference

2. Legislative Committee Code
   These two letters are the acronym for the legislative committee to which the petition has been assigned by the Committee on Reference
   

3. Disciplinary Paragraph/Book of Resolution Page:
   Specific reference to the Disciplinary paragraph (and sometimes sub-paragraph) which the petition addresses. If the petition intends a change to the Book of Resolutions instead, then this part will contain a capital R and the page number in the Book of Resolutions where the changes begin. If the petition does not relate to either the Discipline or the Book of Resolutions, then this third part is coded NonDis (Non-Disciplinary)

4. Petition Type:
   Single letter that states the type of petition
   • C: Changes to the Constitution (¶¶ 1 - 64)
   • D: Other changes to the Discipline
   • U: Update to Book of Resolutions
   • R: Referral on Calendar Item
   • O: All Other Petition Types
   • $: Financial Implications (existing budget)
   • !: Financial Implications (new budget)

Petition Examples

The following examples illustrate the parts of petition numbers:

20001-CS-71.H-D
This petition, serial number 20001, was assigned to the Church and Society legislative committee, references ¶71, subparagraph H, and is a proposed change to the Book of Discipline.

20002-FA-NonDis-O$
This petition was assigned to the Financial Administration legislative committee, does not propose changes to the Discipline or the Book of Resolutions, and has financial implications for one or more existing budget line items.

20003-CS-R536-U
This petition was assigned to the Church and Society legislative committee, and is an update to the Book of Resolutions beginning on page 536.

20063-CO-15-C
This petition was assigned to the Conferences legislative committee and proposes a change to ¶15 of the Constitution. Note: Constitutional changes are handled differently than other Disciplinary changes because of a two-thirds vote rule.

Reading Petition Text

The text of many of the petitions contains text enhancement to indicate which text is to be inserted and which is to be deleted.

Inserted text is marked in bold.
Removed text is marked in strike through.

If you do not see both the bold and strikethrough character enhancement in the two previous sentences, you may have difficulty understanding the intent of many of the petitions.

General Conference Webmaster: Susan Brumbaugh
PETS Creator: John Brawn

Understanding Petition Numbers
1996 United Methodist General Conference