The Council On Legislation (COL) is the rotary legislature. Meeting in person every three years it considers changes to the policies that govern Rotary International, and its members clubs and holds authority to amend Rotary’s Constitutional documents. The next COL will be in April of 2022. The Council on Resolutions meets every year on proposed resolutions, which express opinions and make recommendations to the board. Don Sword was recently elected as our district’s voting member on each of these Councils.
His role is to create awareness, educate and support clubs in the preparation of resolutions and enactments. He will present and discuss the proposals at District meetings. This requires a detailed knowledge of the constitutional documents and understanding of the attitudes of Rotarians and clubs in the district. He will give critical consideration to all proposed resolutions and enactments from the 539 districts from around the world and be able to present his views on those proposals. Each year there are approximately 30 to 40 resolutions considered and at the COL some 300 enactments which the representative must have researched and be knowledgeable about. Should a club or the district have an enactment accepted for review by the council, it is the representative’s job to present the proposal to the council during the meeting.
After each council the representative is expected to report on the deliberations.
A lot of detailed work and the requirement to familiarize oneself with the constitutional documents and to support clubs in the preparation of proposals that will be supported by the district and accepted by the Constitution and By Laws Committee for review by the Councils.