To maintain its status a Section must comply with the MLA Bylaws and Standing Rules of Order. Appendix 12 contains a full list of these requirements.

Every three years MLA Headquarters staff, in conjunction with the Council's Section/SIG Review Committee will conduct a compliance audit of all sections. MLA Headquarters will collect the following information on each Section:

• number of members
• amount of dues and whether they are lower than MLA dues
• submission of annual reports over the past three years
• programs or business meetings held within the past three years and do not conflict with MLA general or business sessions
• existence of bylaws which have been examined and approved by the MLA Bylaws Committee
• officers and Section Council members are MLA voting members.

If the Section is in compliance with these basic criteria, no further action is taken. When a Section is not in compliance, MLA Headquarters notifies the Chair of Section Council and the Chair of the Section Council Section/SIG review committee. The Section/SIG Review Committee will review the MLA data and the other requirements governing sections to determine if other problems exist.

The Committee will contact the Section to determine whether:

• there is missing or inaccurate information;
• there are unusual problems preventing the Section from meeting the criteria;
• the Section should consider becoming a SIG;
• the Section should be placed on probationary status; or,
• the Section should be disbanded.

The Council’s Section/SIG Review Committee will make a report to the Section Council with a recommendation as to what actions need to be taken. The Council will make a final recommendation to the MLA Board of Directors for their discussion and approval. See Appendix 12 for a full description of the procedures used to review section compliance.

Procedure Manual Table of Contents

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Last updated on: April 16, 2002.