Society members voted this summer to approve a new set of By-Laws for SFLERP that reflect changes in technology, inclusivity, and conformance to established practices. SFLERP member Barry Shapiro read the draft very carefully and discovered a typo. New Article IV, Section 2, provides that people who otherwise meet membership requirements will be considered as being in good standing “if their membership dues are not less than 30 days in arrears.” He pointed out that it should actually say “not MORE than 30 days in arrears.” He is correct. By-Laws Committee Chair Scott Schwartz noted that this is a good example of a “Scrivener’s error,” a legal principle which permits a typographical error to be corrected if the error was due to a minor mistake or inadvertence and not one that occurs from judicial reasoning or determination.
Clearly the intention of the By-Laws Committee and Board of Directors here was that members would be considered in good standing if their membership dues are not in arrears for more than 30 days. In other words… if dues are in arrears for MORE than 30 days, then they would not be considered members in good standing. A copy of the new By-Laws is available HERE. Our thanks to Barry for noticing the error and pointing it out!