PREAMBLE
Alcoholics Anonymous is a fellowship of people who share their experience, strength, and hope with each other that they may solve their common problem and help others to recover from alcoholism.
The only requirement for membership is a desire to stop drinking. There are no dues or fees for A.A. membership; we are self-supporting through our own contributions. A.A. is not allied with any sect, denomination, politics, organization, or institution; does not wish to engage in any controversy, neither endorses nor opposes any causes. Our primary purpose is to stay sober and help other alcoholics to achieve sobriety.
Copyright the AA Grapevine, Inc.
1. Name
1.1. The official name of the group is Winners Attitude Adjustment Group of Alcoholics Anonymous (WAA).
1.2. WAA meets seven days a week at 7:00 a.m.
1.2.1. Sunday through Thursday there is a leader who shares for fifteen minutes then the meeting opens up for sharing from the attendees.
1.2.2. Friday is a book study from the title page to the 164 pages of the Big Book of Alcoholics Anonymous, plus Dr. Bob’s Nightmare. A leader shares on the reading for fifteen minutes then the meeting opens up for sharing from the attendees.
1.2.3. Saturday is a step and tradition study from the Twelve and Twelve of Alcoholics Anonymous. A leader shares on the reading for fifteen minutes then the meeting opens up for sharing from the attendees.
1.2.4. Only alcoholics may participate although it is an open meeting.
2. Purpose
2.1. A declaration of unity; this we owe to A.A.’s future; to place our common welfare first; to keep our Fellowship united. Our lives and the lives of those to come depend on A.A. unity. I am responsible when anyone, anywhere, reaches out for help, I want the hand of A.A. always to be there. And for that: I am responsible.
2.2. To uphold the traditions of Alcoholics Anonymous:
2.2.1. One Our common welfare should come first; personal recovery depends upon A.A. unity.
2.2.2. Two For our group purpose there is but one ultimate authority – a loving God as He may express Himself in our group conscience. Our leaders are but trusted servants, they do not govern.
2.2.3. Three The only requirement for A.A. membership is a desire to stop drinking.
2.2.4. Four Each group should be autonomous except in matters affecting other groups, or A.A. as a whole.
2.2.5. Five Each group has but one primary purpose to carry its message to the alcoholic who still suffers.
2.2.6. Six An A.A. group ought never endorse, finance or lend the A.A. name to any related facility or outside enterprise, lest problems of money, property and prestige divert us from our primary purpose.
2.2.7. Seven Every A.A. group ought to be fully self-supporting, declining outside contributions.
2.2.8. Eight Alcoholics Anonymous should remain forever nonprofessional, but our service centers may employ special workers.
2.2.9. Nine A.A., as such, ought never be organized, but we may create service boards or committees directly responsible to those they serve.
2.2.10. Ten Alcoholics Anonymous has no opinion on outside issues, hence the A.A. name ought never be drawn into public controversy.
2.2.11. Eleven Our public relations policy is based upon attraction rather than promotion; we need always maintain personal anonymity at the level of press, radio and films.
2.2.12. Twelve Anonymity is the spiritual foundation of all our Traditions, ever reminding us to place principles before personalities.
3. Statement of Inclusion
3.1. WAA was established to serve members of Alcoholics Anonymous, regardless of race, ethnicity, gender identity or expression, sexual orientation or religious belief. We do not exclude anyone with a desire to stop drinking, and we welcome and embrace the entire AA fellowship. WAA seeks always to be inclusive, never exclusive. All of our meetings are open although only alcoholics may participate.
4. Steering Committee Membership and Quorum
4.1. The seven elected daily secretaries, the Chair, Recording Secretary, Treasurer, General Service Representative (GSR), Intergroup Service Representative (IGR), Hospitals and Institutions Representative, Treasurer’s assistant and Meeting Hall liaison make up the core membership of the steering committee.
4.2. Group members are welcome to participate in the steering committee.
4.3. At least nine of the core steering committee (not including general membership) must be present at any scheduled Steering Committee Meeting to constitute a quorum. Any vote must have a simple majority to carry.
4.3.1. In keeping with A.A. traditions opposing voters shall have the opportunity to express the minority perspective after the first vote; after discussion there can be a revote.
5. Officers of Winner’s Attitude Adjustment
5.1. Chair
5.1.1. The Chair shall be elected in December by the steering committee to start the term in January.
5.1.2. A minimum of 5 years of sobriety is required.
5.1.3. The Chair shall have served previously as a daily secretary and have been a continuous active member of the group for three years.
5.1.4. The term of the Chair shall be one-year, at the end of the first year they shall able to run for a second term.
5.2. Treasurer
5.2.1. Shall be elected by the Steering Committee in June to start the term July 1st.
5.2.2. A minimum of 5 years of sobriety is required.
5.2.3. The Treasurer shall have been a continuous active member of the group for three years.
5.2.4. The term of the Treasurer shall be two-years, at the end of the second year they shall be able to run for a second term.
5.2.5. Treasurer shall not hold any additional WAA commitments while serving as treasurer.
5.2.6. Treasurer shall serve as signatory on all bank accounts.
5.3. Treasurer’s Assistant
5.3.1. A minimum of 5 years of sobriety is required.
5.3.2. The Treasurer’s assistant shall have been a continuous member for three years.
5.3.3. The term of the Treasurer’s assistant shall be two-years, at the end of the second year they shall be able to run for a second year.
5.3.4. Shall serve as second signatory on all bank accounts.
5.4. Meeting Hall Liaison
5.4.1. Appointed and voted on by the Steering Committee.
5.4.2. The Chair of the Steering Committee shall serve as co-liaison.
5.4.3. A minimum of 5 years of sobriety is required.
5.4.4. The Meeting Hall Liaison shall have served previously as a daily Secretary and has been a continuous active member for three years.
5.5. Recording Secretary
5.5.1. The recording secretary shall be chosen by the Chair and voted on by the steering committee.
5.5.2. The recording secretary shall serve one year with the Chair and can be re-elected.
5.6. General Service Representative (GSR)
5.6.1. A minimum of 2 years of sobriety is required
5.6.2. The GSR may volunteer for the position and be confirmed by a vote of the steering committee.
5.6.3. The GSR may have an alternate member, with at least one year of sobriety, that is voted on and approved by the steering committee.
5.6.4. The term of the GSR is for two years.
5.6.5. The term for the GSR shall commence January 1st on odd numbered years.
5.6.6. There is a two-term limit.
5.7. Intergroup Representative (IGR)
5.7.1. A minimum of 2 years of sobriety is required.
5.7.2. The IGR may volunteer for the position and be confirmed by a vote of the steering committee.
5.7.3. The IGR may have an alternate member, with at least one year of sobriety, that is voted on and approved by the steering committee.
5.7.4. The term of the IGR is for 1 year.
5.7.5. The term for IGR shall commence January 1st.
5.7.6. There is a two-term limit.
6. Duties of the Officers
6.1. Chair
6.1.1. Chair shall lead the steering committee meetings.
6.1.1.1. The Chair is responsible to follow the agenda (reports from steering committee members, old business, and new business) and run the meeting in a timely manner.
6.1.2. Chair shall be a co-liaison to the meeting hall along with the meeting hall liaison.
6.1.3. Prepares all election materials for daily secretary’s elections and places material in format book.
6.1.3.1. The Chair establishes the election dates, selects and confirms with the steering committee the week of daily secretary elections.
6.1.3.2. The Chair, or a suitable substitute, must be present at all secretary elections and make sure they run according to our format.
6.1.3.3. The Chair, or a suitable substitute, must be present during the first week of the start of the new secretaries’ term to guide the meeting in accordance with our service commitments outline; a copy of which shall be given to each new secretary, placed in the meeting’s format book, as an addendum to this document.
6.2. Treasurer
6.2.1. Chooses a team of daily treasurers, each with a minimum of two years of sobriety, to collect and to count the 7th tradition, H&I, and literature sales each day of the week.
6.2.2. Coordinates and ensures that the 7th tradition and H&I are collected on the daily basis.
6.2.3. Collects funds collected from the daily treasurers in a timely manner.
6.2.4. Keep accounting of the money collected and makes bank deposits weekly.
6.2.5. Manages and balances bank accounts (checking and saving accounts).
6.2.6. Pays all bills in an accurate and timely manner.
6.2.7. Gives a financial report at the monthly steering committee meeting including all aspects of money handling, as well as projected expenses (PRASAA) and budgets for different activities (semi-annual parties) approved by the steering committee.
6.2.8. Ensures the meeting maintains an accurate prudent reserve at all times (amount must be approved by the steering committee).
6.2.9. Prudent reserve is defined as 2 months of expenses.
6.2.10. A reserve amount shall be maintained to send the General Service Representative to the Pacific Region Alcoholics Anonymous Service Assembly (PRAASA).
6.2.11. Attends the mandatory steering committee meeting.
6.3. Treasurer’s Assistant
6.3.1. Serves as second signature on all accounts.
6.3.2. Takes over treasurers’ duties in time of illness, absence.
6.3.3. Acts as guardian over treasurer, against loss, waste, theft, and other undesirable practices.
6.3.4. Term is 2 years.
6.3.5. Collects daily envelopes when treasurer is not available.
6.3.6. Attends the mandatory steering committee meeting.
6.4. Meeting Hall Liaison
6.4.1. Shall keep the steering committee informed of relative meeting hall business.
6.4.2. Shall act as the go-between between the steering committee and the meeting hall.
6.4.3. Shall inform the meeting hall of any needed repairs.
6.4.4. Attends the mandatory steering committee meeting.
6.5. Recording Secretary
6.5.1. Attends the mandatory steering committee meeting.
6.5.2. Shall take minutes of all steering committee meetings (tape recording is permitted) and distribute the minutes prior to next meeting so they can be read, corrected if necessary and accepted at the following steering committee meeting. The agenda for the next steering committee meeting shall be included in the minutes.
6.5.3. Recording Secretary is responsible for roll call at the meeting and shall be notified prior to the meeting if an alternate is representing a member. The alternate is responsible to report back to the absent member informing them of any motions and/or actions that were discussed and/or passed.
6.5.4. The minutes shall go out with the first meeting reminder 5-7 days prior to the next steering committee meeting.
6.5.5. A second reminder along with the minutes shall be sent out one to two days prior to the steering committee meeting.
6.5.6. Recording secretary to serve as manager of all SCM records (in both analog and digital mediums) minutes and agendas; financial statements, rental agreements, bank statements and all other records.
6.5.6.1. Recording Secretary shall maintain paper records for a year commencing in January and shall have the previous year’s records digitized and uploaded to the WAA cloud.
6.5.6.2. There will be a commitment of a steering committee officer who serves as manager of a WAA cloud who will be in charge of digitizing, uploading and maintaining all records. Steering committee officers will have review access to the cloud.
6.5.7. Recording secretary or designate shall attend all subcommittee meetings and issue a report.
6.6. General Service Representative
6.6.1. Attends the mandatory steering committee meeting, the monthly district meetings and quarterly area assemblies; and reports to Steering Committee meetings.
6.6.2. Shall serve as the mail contact for our group with the General Service Office; district committee and area committee.
6.6.3. Abide by the duties outlined in the A.A. Service Manual, page S26-S28.
6.6.4. Shall attend the annual Pacific Region Alcoholics Anonymous Service Assembly (PRAASA) meeting.
6.6.5. It is recommended the GSR have an alternative (see 5.6.3).
6.7. Intergroup Representative
6.7.1. Participates in the monthly IGR business meeting and attends the monthly WAA steering committee meeting.
6.7.2. The intergroup representative tries to keep the group well-informed about what the local intergroup is doing by collecting and distributing flyers and the Recovery Times.
6.7.3. Makes announcements during the week as appropriate to keep the general membership informed.
7. Steering Committee
7.1. The Steering Committee meets quarterly on the second Saturday in March, June, September and December, at 8:30am PT on Zoom, following the regular Saturday meeting.
7.2. We discuss group business, group finances, and take any group conscience at this meeting.
7.3. Daily Secretaries are required to attend. All others are welcome.
8. Election of Daily Secretaries and duties
8.1. Elections of secretaries are held twice yearly for new secretaries: For the Winter/Spring term, elections are held in the second week of December, for a January 1 start date. For the Summer/Fall term, elections are held in the second week of June, for a July 1 start date. Secretaries for all seven days are elected during election week and are overseen by the Chair of the steering committee or the Recording Secretary.
8.2. Terms are six months.
8.3. On election day, sitting secretaries let the room know at the start that the meeting will stop at 7:45 to accommodate the election.
8.4. If time remains after the election, the meeting can resume as usual until 7:55.
8.5. All nominees must be present to run, per the Group Conscious no exceptions (see appendix for format of elections).
8.6. Secretaries are REQUIRED to attend monthly steering committee meetings, held on the second Saturday of each month. Minimum sobriety for secretaries is 1 year. The commitment is six months.
8.7. If a Daily Secretary needs to miss one of their weekly meetings a substitute secretary shall be selected from the active membership who has at least one year of sobriety.
8.8. There will be a special meeting for new secretaries on the third Saturday of the election month following the meeting at 8:00. If any new secretaries are unable to attend there will be another special meeting on the fourth Saturday following the meeting at 8:00 a.m. The meeting will be chaired by the steering committee chair and will introduce the new secretaries to the commitments, format and pertinent business of the meeting.
9. Action without a Meeting and special emergency steering committee meetings
9.1. In the event of an emergency in which the physical property must be attended to and a decision made about an expenditure that cannot wait for the next Steering Committee meeting, the Meeting Hall Liaison in consultation with one other group officer, may make an executive decision. The incident will be reported at the next steering committee meeting.
10. Removal of officers and/or secretaries
10.1. A Daily Secretary cannot have more than four (4) absences during a term. After the fourth absence, the Steering Committee chair will verbally or by email advise the secretary that they have reached the absence limit. If the secretary is absent a fifth time, the Steering Committee may, by consensus, replace the secretary through an election by the meeting in question. The interim secretary will complete the outgoing secretary’s term.
10.2. Officers and Daily Secretaries may be removed by the Steering Committee for excess absences, as defined above.
10.3. Officers and Daily Secretaries who lose their sobriety and cannot meet the sobriety requirement must be Removed.
10.4. Officer and Secretaries will be removed if they fail to observe the Group conscience with respect to the conduct of the meeting, including habitually allowing speakers to exceed their time, as outlined above, being disruptive or violating the Meeting Hall Rules in any way.
11. Revision of bylaws
11.1. A member of the steering committee must make a motion to revise a specific bylaw through an amendment, the motion must be seconded by a member.
11.2. The motion can be discussed in the steering committee and a subcommittee can be formed to address the repercussions of the amendment.
11.3. The motion will be voted on at the next regular Steering Committee Meeting following the report from the subcommittee.
12. Active Membership
12.1. A regular attendee of at least one meeting per week.
12.2. Actively involved in the meeting by being of service to the meeting.