LCMS Commission on Constitutional Matters — Minutes St. Louis, Missouri — July 10–17, 2010, Page 2

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qualifications for office, it is now clear that all qualifications for LCEF Board of Directors members were
not disclosed in advance to the convention, and even those placed on the slate for board positions were
not fully vetted (they were not submitted to a background check). Accordingly, should any candidate
ultimately elected by the convention fail to pass the required regulatory checks, that person will not be
allowed to assume office, and the Synod’s process for filling vacancies will necessarily be used to fill that
position.
The commission has met with LCEF representatives, the Committee for Convention Nominations, and the
two delegates who placed two names in nomination from the floor to discuss this situation. The
nominations committee and the LCEF will need to update the description of the qualifications for this and
any other such positions for use by future conventions, as required by Bylaw 3.12.3.8 (Handbook, p. 184).
Based on these circumstances as described, the Commission on Constitutional Matters suggests that the
assembly revisit the two nominations from the floor in question from Session 8.
172. Question from Member of Board of Directors
A question received by the commission from a member of the Synod’s Board of Directors was withdrawn
by the member before publication of the commission’s opinion.
173. Convention Issue re Bylaw Amendments
An issue was raised during the course of the convention as to the appropriateness of amendments from the
floor. During Session 12, the commission provided the following statement to the convention:
Reverend Chairman, a member of the Commission on Constitutional Matters earlier read
to the convention the provisions of Bylaw 7.1.1, found on page 201 of the Handbook,
regarding the process for amending our Bylaws. After consultation between the
President, the parliamentarian, and the commission, it is clear that a number of
amendments to resolutions of the floor committees have been allowed without written
submission to the convention, without prior review by the affected floor committee, and
without prior review by the Commission on Constitutional Matters to determine that such
amendment is not in conflict with the Constitution and Bylaws of the Synod. The most
recent opinion of the commission regarding these requirements may be found in Opinion
07-2505, found on page 263 of the Convention Workbook.
The commission and the floor committees have been asked to review all such
amendments previously made, and the commission has found them not to be in conflict
with our Constitution and Bylaws. The convention is therefore now asked to
acknowledge the earlier violations of this process, to reaffirm all existing work of the
convention, and to recognize that any such issues will be dealt with under Res. 8-12A
adopted earlier this morning.
The commission notes that by a vote of 973 to 60, the assembly agreed to the commission’s conclusions,
thereby acknowledging the earlier violations of the bylaw amendment process, reaffirming all existing
work of the convention, and recognizing that any remaining issues will be dealt with under Res. 8-12A
adopted during Session 11 of the convention.

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