This referendum is issued on the following basis:

This is your chance to help shape SFWA's future. Please consider each proposition carefully, and then vote as you see fit.

The by-law wording presented in the following proposals comes from the by-laws as ratified in November 1989 during PresidentGreg Bear's administration (the version of the by-laws published in the beige-covered Pulphouse edition of The SFWA Handbook). This was the last legally ratified set of SFWA by-laws.

Please note that changes in the Nebula rules will pass if they are affirmed by a simple majority of those returning ballots, but changes to the corporation's by-laws must be affirmed by a majority of those returning ballots, said majority to be no fewer than one-third of the total active membership. Each proposition is clearly identified below as being either a Nebula-rule change or a by-law change.

Finally, please also note that later on in this fiscal year, the active membership will be asked to vote on a "technical revision" to the entire by-laws document. This revision was prepared with great care by the previous administration, and will shortly be reviewed by the current administration and the interested Past Presidents of SFWA. At the SFWA Board of Directors meeting held at the Worldcon in August 1998, a motion passed unanimously to present the technical revision to the active membership for ratification. Any by-law changes passed in this referendum will be included in that technical revision.

1. Membership Credentials: English Language (a proposed change to the by-laws)

This change would allow professional English-language fiction sales anywhere in the world to be acceptable credentials for SFWA membership.

Proposed amendment to by-law IV(2)(a), adding and deleting the indicated words: "Publication in the [United States] ENGLISH LANGUAGE of literary or artistic works acceptable to the Membership Committee shall be required for qualification as an active member."

[] I favor this change
[] I oppose this change
[] I abstain
 

2. Membership Credentials: Electronic Sales (a proposed change to the by-laws)

Should we accept electronic sales as membership credentials for joining SFWA? (We already allow electronic publications to compete for the Nebula award.)

"Electronic sales" are text-based sales to publications based on the Internet or World Wide Web, or published on CD-ROM, computer-readable diskette, or similar media.

Proposed amendment to by-law IV(2)(a), adding the indicated words: "PRINT OR ELECTRONIC publication in the United States of literary or artistic works acceptable to the Membership Committee shall be required for qualification an active member."

[] I favor this change
[] I oppose this change
[] I abstain

Note: A vote in favor of this change pertains only to electronic publication. If you also favor publication in the English language, instead of publication the United States, you should also vote in favor of Proposition 1.

3. Membership Credentials: Gaming (a proposed change to the by-laws)

Should we accept gaming sales as membership credentials for joining SFWA?

For the purposes of this proposal, "games" are either (1) entertainment-based computer programs with a science fiction or fantasy theme that may consist of text, images, and sounds, published on CD-ROM, computer-readable diskette, or similar media; or (2) role-playing, board, or card games with a narrative or plot component and a science fiction or fantasy theme.

Proposed amendment to by-law IV(2)(a), adding the indicated words: "Publication in the United States of literary, artistic,OR GAMING works acceptable to the Membership Committee shall be required for qualification an active member."

[] I favor this change
[] I oppose this change
[] I abstain

Note: A vote in favor of this change pertains only to gaming publication. If you also favor publication in the English language, instead of publication the United States, you should also vote in favor of Proposition 1. If you also favor the acceptance of electronically published text as a criterionfor membership, you should also vote in favor of Proposition 2.

4. Dramatic Nebula (a proposed change to the Nebula rules)

Should we begin to present an annual Nebula Award™ for Best Script?

If passed, Nebula Rule 2, which enumerates the categories "for which awards will be presented," would have this new clause, 2(e), added:

Script: a professionally produced audio, radio, television, motion picture, multimedia, or theatrical script

If the membership approves in principle the idea of a Dramatic Nebula, a special committee consisting mostly of scriptwriting active members will be struck to work out appropriate procedures.

[] I favor this change
[] I oppose this change
[] I abstain
 

5. Nebula Eligibility (a proposed change to the Nebula rules)

Should we allow first publication in English anywhere in the world to count for Nebula eligibility? Currently, Nebula eligibility begins upon first publication in the United States, so works published only, for instance, in the United Kingdom or Canada, are not eligible for Nebula Awards™. On the other hand, should this proposition pass, works published in the U.K. well in advance of their American release might exhaust their Nebula eligibility before they are widely available in the U.S.

If passed, Nebula Rule 3(a) would be amended as follows, adding and deleting the indicated words:

A work's eligibility period begins on the first day of the month of its first publication in the ENGLISH LANGUAGE ANYWHERE IN THE WORLD [United States of America.]

[] I favor this change
[] I oppose this change
[] I abstain
 

6. Requalification (a proposed change to the by-laws)

The proposal as presented in the elected President's platform:

"This change would cause SFWA to adopt a mild requalification scenario, requiring one sale (short work or novel) to a professional market every five years, OR one book in print, OR one book under contract with a delivery date specified in the contract no more than three years in the future. The book-in-print clause would keep all the future Asimovs -- seminal names who take long breaks from actually writing SF -- continuously eligible for active membership, and the five-year window should ensure that our part-timers aren't unfairly discriminated against. Of course, no one would be kicked out of the organization -- but, if such a by-law change were approved, only those who passed requalification would be voting members."

Corporate legal counsel has pointed out that, since we currently accept professionally produced scripts as a membership credential, we should also allow such credentials to count for requalification; this addition is reflected in the wording below. In addition, should the by-law changes proposed in this referendum to accept as membership credentials electronic sales, non-American English-language sales, or gaming sales also pass, those criteria will also be acceptable for requalification.

A new paragraph would be added to the by-laws, immediately after Article IV, Section 1:

Beginning with the membership renewal notice for SFWA's 1999-2000 fiscal year, and every five years thereafter, each active member is required to submit evidence satisfactory to the membership committee that he or she has, in the preceding five years, made one science fiction or fantasy sale (short work or novel) to a professional market; or that he or she has, in the preceding five years, had one science fiction or fantasy script professionally produced; or that he or she has a science fiction or fantasy book in print; or that he or she has a science fiction or fantasy book under contract with a delivery date specified in the contract no more than three years in the future. Anyone failing to provide such evidence willbe reclassified from active to associate status. A member may regain active status at any time by furnishing satisfactory proof that he or she has met one or more of the above criteria.

[] I favor this change
[] I oppose this change
[] I abstain
 

7. Senior Membership Benefit (a proposed change to the by-laws)

The proposal as presented in the elected President's platform:

"This change would ensconce the Senior Membership Benefit -- first proposed by me in the August 1993 Forum -- in the by-laws: after thirty years of continuous membership, at least twenty-five of which have been active, a member would be entitled to free associate (non-voting) membership for the rest of his or her life, allowing our retired (and, sad to say, often impecunious) elder members to keep in touch with their field."

Proposed Bylaw Change: the following paragraph would be added to Article IV, Section 1:

"After thirty years of continuous membership, at least twenty-five of which have been active, each member so requesting on an annual membership- renewal notice, will be granted free associate (non-voting) membership for the rest of his or her life. If the member wishes to return to active status, he or she may do so at any time by recommencing to pay dues, provided he or she qualifies for active status under the then-current membership rules."

[] I favor this change
[] I oppose this change
[] I abstain
 

8. Location of the Nebula Banquet (a proposed change to the by-laws)

As you may recall, there was an uncontested bid to hold the 1999 Nebula Awards™ Ceremony in Toronto, Canada. This bid was withdrawn a little over a year in advance of the planned date because a change was required in SFWA's by-laws to allow the Nebulas to be held outside the U.S., and no vote on such a change seemed to be forthcoming.

Meanwhile, others have argued that just as the Academy Awards are always given in Los Angeles, the capital of the film industry, so, too, should the Nebula Awards™ always be given in New York, the capital of the publishing industry, or maybe, from time to time, also in Los Angeles, to strengthen our ties with Hollywood.

Do we want to widen our focus for the Nebula weekend to include the entire world? Keep things as they are? Or narrow our focus to just New York and L.A.? Please choose one of the options below:

[] Any major world city option. Article XI, Section 2, will be amended as follows, adding and deleting the indicated words: "The awards shall be presented at a ceremony to be held in [New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco, or another major city within the United States,] A MAJOR CITY ANYWHERE IN THE WORLD, at the discretion of the Board of Directors, on a date to be chosen by the President consulting with the Board of Directors."

[] Any major US city option. Article XI, Section 2, will be left as is: "The awards shall be presented at a ceremony to be held in New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco, or another major city within the United States, at the discretion of the Board of Directors, on a date to be chosen by the President consulting with the Board of Directors."

[] The New York City or L.A. option. Article XI, Section 2, will be amended as follows, adding and deleting the indicated words: "The awards shall be presented at a ceremony to be held in New York OR Los Angeles, [San Francisco, or another major city within the United States,] at the discretion of the Board of Directors, on a date to be chosen by the President consulting with the Board of Directors."

[] I abstain
 

9. Should we abolish the Nebula juries after their work for the 1998 calendar year is completed? (a proposed change to the Nebula rules)

Background: Nebula Award™ Rules 18(a), 18(b), 18(c), 18(d), and 19 establish novel and short-fiction juries, and allow for the novel jury to add one work to the novel category and the short-fiction jury to add one work to each of the novella, novelette, and short-story categories. Deleting these rules will abolish the novel and short-fiction juries.

[] I favor this change
[] I oppose this change
[] I abstain
 

10. Reducing Quorum (a proposed change to the by-laws)

SFWA has had a real problem in the past getting by-law changes passed, because our by-laws require 33.3% of the active membership to vote in favor of any change. Rarely do we get a 33% voter turnout, and, even if we did, we would need every single one of those voters to agree on a by-law change before it could pass. The following change, if passed, will not be applicable to this current referendum, but will be applicable to all subsequent ones.

Proposed amendment to Article X, Section 1, deleting the indicated words: "These by-laws may be amended, repealed or altered in whole or in part by a majority of those active members voting IN RESPONSE TO A BY-MAIL BALLOTING OF THE ENTIRE ACTIVE MEMBERSHIP IN GOOD STANDING [, said majority to be not less than one third of the active members in good standing on the date of the vote]."

[] I favor this change
[] I oppose this change
[] I abstain
 

Many thanks for your participation!