# LCMS Commission on Constitutional Matters Minutes_St. Louis Missouri_July 2 10 1981_S1
# Machine transcription, uncorrected — CHI Digital Archive (demonstration)

Minutes of the Meeting of the Commission on Constitutional Matters - July 2-10, 1981
212. The Commission met, with limited personnel, at various times during the course of the convention.
Present for most discussions: Prevallet, Schnelz, Eberhard. Klotz was excused because of surgery.
Mueller was unable to participate because of convention obligations. The following are as reported to the
Secretary by the other members of the Commission.
213. Proposed Res. 2-26 : This resolution gave specific authorization to the CCM to bring the Handbook
into harmony with resolutions of the convention. The Commission ruled that this resolution was not
necessary since it was covered by the Bylaws and therefore Committee 2 agreed not to introduce it.
214. Seminary Student on CTCR: Such a student was nominated by the nominating committee as a lay
candidate for the CTCR. The question was whether he was eligible to be a candidate. The Commission
ruled that if and when he is ordained he is a pastor and would no longer be eligible.
215. Renomination of Incumbent: The question was raised whether an appointed member of a
Commission who had served out his full number of terms as an appointed member could be immediately
eligible as a nominee for an elective position on the same commission. The Commission ruled in the
negative.
216. Ongoing Incumbent as Nominee: A related question: Is an individual who still has time to run on his
term eligible to stand for election to the same board already at this convention? The Commission again
ruled in the negative
217. Res. 2-01 and 2-02 : The question had been raised whether Res. 2-01 would require a two-thirds
majority vote. The Commission held that a simple majority would be sufficient if Res. 2-02 would be
passed first by a two-thirds majority, since it involves a constitutional amendment. The application of this
ruling was unnecessary because the floor committee had already decided to introduce Res. 2-02 first.
218. Effective Date of Constitutional Amendments: In answer to a question from the floor, the
Commission ruled that the effective date of a constitutional amendment was six months after the ballots
had been mailed to the congregations. In the same opinion the Commission informed the convention that
the convention had the right to proceed to make Bylaw changes and so could proceed with the discussion
of Res. 2-03.
219. Two-thirds Vote: A request was received from Marcus T. Lang whether 2-01 and 2-19 required a
two-thirds vote or a simple majority. The question with respect to 2-01 had already been answered and the
answer with respect to Res. 2-19 was that an obvious two-thirds vote was required since it was a specific
resolution calling for a constitutional amendment.
220. Next Meetings: At a dinner meeting at which the previous actions were reviewed and in which the
Secretary participated for the purpose of developing Minutes, the Commission decided on the next two
meeting dates: September 11-12 and December 11-12.
Herbert Mueller, Secretary

Minutes of the Meeting
1981

of the Commission on Constitutional Matters - September 11-12,