At the Executive Committee meeting in Chicago, the EC voted to approve a list of Standing Orders to be added to the existing ones in the Directors Workbook. ARRL Standing Orders are Board actions that have lasting effect, and are not otherwise incorporated into the working documents of the organization. The ones added by the EC reflect Board actions since the 2005 Annual Meeting. The new SO's have been added to Section 4.3 of the Directors Workbook posted in the ODV section of the web site. During the review of the items to be added, the EC noted that one item (Standing Order 06-1.31) really should be in the Bylaws if it is to continue in effect. This item has to do with members who are on active military deployment outside the ARRL's operating territory as described in Bylaw 30. Here is the background information. In January, 2006, the Board voted at Minute 31 on the recommendation of the EC: "RESOLVED, that the Bylaws with regard to dues payment and delivery of QST are temporarily suspended to the extent necessary to permit the Executive Vice President, upon request, to maintain membership privileges without charge for the duration of a member's active military deployment outside the ARRL operating territory, with or without the delivery of QST at the member's option." This "temporary" suspension of the Bylaws has gone on for three years now, with no end in sight -- stretching the definition of "temporary" way beyond common-sense limits -- and no doubt there will be future military actions when the subject will arise again. Consequently, the EC is recommending that this previous Board action be incorporated into the Bylaws and not be left dangling about indefinitely as "temporary." There have been few, if any, members taking advantage of this option under the 2006 Board action, so we are not looking at much of a revenue loss. If people drop their memberships while on deployment, we've lost the revenue anyway. Because Bylaw 5 is going away as of January 1, Dave has suggested that the new Bylaw could be put in its place. The proposed language of the new Bylaw 5 is as follows: "Upon request, the Executive Vice President is authorized to maintain membership privileges without charge for the duration of a member's active military deployment outside the ARRL operating territory as described in Bylaw 30, with or without the delivery of QST at the member's option." It would be appreciated if any Director who has reservations about voting for this new Bylaw would make this known prior to the meeting. To avoid a PR disaster, we want to be certain before introducing it that the motion will pass. Thanks for your consideration. 73 - Kay N3KN