Article I. NAME OF THE UNION:

Section a. The name of the Union shall be the Pacific Coast Rugby Football Union, called the Union. The Union shall be comprised of the states of Arizona, California, Idaho, Nevada, Oregon, Utah, and Washington.

Article II. OBJECTIVES AND POLICY OF THE UNION:

Section a. The objectives and policy of the Union shall be to foster the growth and development of Rugby Union within its jurisdiction and to represent the interests of its members within the framework of USA Rugby.

Section b. To coordinate affairs among the members of the Union.

Section c. To coordinate incoming and outgoing rugby tours.

Section d. The policy of the Union shall be a policy of inclusion and the Union shall not discriminate against any person on the basis of race, color, creed, national origin, religious affiliation, gender, age, or sexual orientation.

Section d. To do the business of the Union as defined by its members.

Section e. To establish player and club eligibility criteria within the same framework as required by USA Rugby for its national teams and players.

Article III: MEMBERSHIP:

Section a. The members of this Union shall be the Northern California RFU, the Pacific Northwest RFU, the Arizona RFU, and one Local Area Union from the state of Utah.

Section b. The geographical jurisdiction of each member union shall be defined as follows:

1. Northern California RFU: All California counties north of a line from Paso Robles and a line directly east to the Nevada border. Nevada counties eligible for membership in the NCRFU shall be Wahoe, Storey, and Ormsby. Clark County, Nevada, teams may affiliate with Arizona or So. California RFUs.

2. Pacific Northwest RFU: The states of Oregon, Washington, and Idaho. *

*Clubs in Idaho shall have the opportunity for membership in either the Pacific Northwest RU or Utah. The Arizona RFU Collegiate teams may be allowed to compete in collegiate competition in either Arizona or Southern California.

Section b. To qualify for membership in the Pacific Coast RFU, a local area union must have a minimum number of ten teams.

Section c. Each LAU must have a Constitution and set of bylaws acceptable to the PCRFU.

Section d. The LAU must have yearly elections of officers and an Annual General Meeting, a Referee Society and Disciplinary Committee, and a published schedule of league competitions.

Section e. High school teams may establish their own conference within the LAU and this Conference shall count as one member of a LAU.

Section f. The Referee Society in each Local Area Union shall be counted as a member of the LAU.

Article IV: EXECUTIVE OFFICERS:

Section a. The Executive Officers of the Union shall be:

President, Vice-President, Secretary, Treasurer, Immediate Past President.

Section b. Elective Officers shall not hold office in a member union. Only the office of President of PCRFU requires that the candidate have held previous elective office in a member union.

Section c. No member Local Area Union shall have more than two elective officers

on the PCRFU Executive Committee.

Section d. Duties of the Executive Officers:

1. The PRESIDENT shall select the date, place, time, and of all Union meetings which may include Conference telephone calls.

2. He must give thirty-day advance notice of all meetings except in the case of emergency meetings.

3. He shall set the goals of the Union and work diligently toward their accomplishment.

4. The VICE-PRESIDENT SHALL ASSIST THE President and serve when necessary in his place. The Vice-President shall succeed the President if the President is unable to complete his term of office.

5. The SECRETARY shall prepare an accurate record or minutes of the Union meetings and be examined by the President before they are distributed to the members of the Executive Committee. The SECRETARY shall maintain all other necessary records of the Union.

6. The TREASURER shall keep a true record of the Union’s financial matters, and present financial statements at all General meeting and Annual General Meetings of the Union to the Executive Committee.

7. The IMMEDIATE PAST PRESIDENT of the Union may be assigned special duties by the President and shall assist the President and Executive Committee in maintaining Union continuity.

8. Executive officers of the Union shall be elected only at the Annual General Meeting of the Union. No more than two officers of the Union shall be elected at each Annual General Meeting. The rotation shall be President/Secretary and Vice-President/Treasurer.

9. Elected officers shall serve terms of two years and terms of office shall commence immediately after the election at the Annual General Meeting,

10. Candidates in writing or electronic mail to the Union Secretary shall submit nominations for elective office before March 15^th each year.

11. Candidates shall not be required to be a delegate from a Local Area Union.

12. If there are no nominations before March 15, nominations shall be taken from the floor at the Annual General Meeting.

13. The Secretary of the Union must notify each Local Area Union of the March 15^th deadline thirty days in advance of the deadline.

14. Only those persons whose names have been submitted prior to the deadline for submission of names shall be considered as candidates for elective office.

15. The Secretary of the Union shall notify all members of the Executive Committee and member of the Union of those persons whose names have been placed in nomination after the deadline for submission of names.

16. Elections shall be by secret ballot and shall be conducted by the Secretary with two observers appointed by the President. The members may examine ballots.

17. If three candidates are contending for office and no one receives a majority of the votes, a runoff election shall be held immediately between the two highest vote getters.

Article V: THE EXECUTIVE COMMMITTEE:

Section a. The Officers of the Union shall have one vote. They President may vote a second time, if needed, to break a tie.

Section b. The Northern California RFU and the Pacific Northwest RFU shall have two votes each on the Executive Committee and the Arizona and Utah Unions shall have one vote each provided each of the LAUs meet the requirement of a ten team minimum for participation in the Union’s affairs.

Section c. Directors from the Pacific Coast RFU to USA Rugby shall have one vote each and shall stand for election every off numbered year at the Annual General meeting.

Section d. In the event that a Director is no longer able to fulfill his duties as Director, a special election shall be held at the next general meeting.

Section e. The three Directors shall present an informational report to the members of the Executive Committee at any General meeting following a meeting of USA Rugby, which requires the attendance of the Directors from the Pacific Coast.

Section f. In the event that a Union officer, Director, or voting delegate cannot attend a meeting of the union, proxies may be accepted by the Secretary with the signature of the of the person giving the proxy. Electronic proxies may also be accepted. No person shall carry more than one proxy vote for any purpose at a Union meeting.

Section g. The Executive Committee shall organize and administer all of the affairs of the Union.

Section h. Meetings of the Union shall be in accordance with Robert’s Rules of Order.

Section i. Regular general meetings of the Union shall be noticed fourteen days in advance of the meetings. It shall be the responsibility of the Secretary to notice members.

Section j. A legal meeting requires a quorum of voting members of the Executive Committee. The quorum shall be one vote more than half the membership of the Executive Committee.

Section k. Voting shall be by a show of hands unless the President or a majority vote of the Executive Committee decides to have a secret ballot.

Article VI: ACCOUNTS OF THE UNION

Section a. The President and the Treasurer shall be the signatories on the Union bank account.

Section b. The Union bank accounts shall be audited every two years.

Section c. It shall be the aim of the Union to be financially self-supporting though clubs dues, individual player assessments, other fees, donations, and sponsorships.

Article VII: ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING

Section a. The Annual General Meeting of the Union shall be held between March 15^th and May 1^st each year on a date to be determined by the President. The President shall give at least twenty-one days advance notice of the meeting.

Section b. The meeting call shall be noticed to all union officials and member Unions.

Section c. The Agenda for the Annual General Meeting shall be as follows:

(1) Call to order

(2) Roll call and presentation of any proxies to the Secretary and the President for inspection. Roll call is to be accompanied by a statement of good standing. Failure to pay dues, fees, assessments shall result in a suspension of voting rights and right to participate in discussions. The Treasurer shall inform the President as to who is not in “good standing as a result of failure to pay the annual dues, fees, assessments to the Union.”

(3) Reading and approval of the minutes of the last Annual General Meeting.

(4) Reading of the President’s Report on the State of the Union. Read and distribute.

(5) Pacific Coast Committee Reports:

(6) Financial Report by the Treasurer and establishment of dues structure for the new fiscal year.

(7) Adoption of a budget for the new fiscal year.

(8) Applications for membership to the Union.

(9) Presidents list of objectives for the Union.

(10) Changes and amendments to the Constitution. Requires a two-thirds vote for approval. Notice of proposed amendments or changes to the Constitution and bylaws must be delivered to the Secretary of the Union twenty-one days in advance of the meeting and the Secretary will then distribute proposed changes to the Executive Committee and Member Unions.

(11) Election of Officers via secret ballot.

(12) Announce date and location of next Annual General Meeting

(13) Adjournment and proceed into the General meeting.

Article VIII. REPRESENTATIVE TEAMS:
Section a. The Union is empowered to assemble certain representative teams from its member unions, or any combination of some of them, for inter-territorial, international, or other competitions. Pacific Coast Representative teams shall be called the “Grizzlies.”

Section b. Eligibility for Grizzly teams shall be the same that established for national teams representing USA Rugby. The right and ability to determine a player’s eligibility in cases of dispute lies with the Pacific Coast Executive.

Section b. Selection to the Representative teams shall be the responsibility of the Pacific Coast Coaching and Selection Committee with each member union having a minimum of one vote and the coach having a second vote to break ties.

Article IX: COMMITTEES OF THE UNION

Section a. The following committees shall exist to promote the interests of the Union and to coordinate and advance the purposes of each Committee.

(1) Collegiate Committee.

(2) Referees Committee and Society

(3) Women’s Rugby Committee

(4) Competitions Committee

(5) Coaching and Selection Committee

(6) Medical Committee

(7) High School Rugby Committee

(8) Disciplinary Committee

(9) Legal Committee

(10) Eligibility Committee

Article X: ELIGIBILITY REQUIREMENTS

Section a. All Pacific Coast Representative players must meet the same requirements as stated by USA Rugby for national representative teams. This includes resident documentation, age requirements where mandated, medical insurance, CIPP registration, good standing in local area unions, and/or any other such requirements as deemed necessary by the Union.

Section b. Players beginning the season on one team’s roster cannot play for another club unless there is a signed release from the original club and approval by the competitive league chairperson.

The purpose of this requirement is to prevent club hopping.