California Convention 2023

2023 Libertarian Party of California Convention
Convention
Dates:	17-19 February 2023
Venue:	Sacramento, California
Media
Website:	Website
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The 2023 Convention of the Libertarian Party of California was held 17-19 February, in Sacramento.

This convention was originally announced as taking place at the DoubleTree by Hilton, but ended up being held mostly at the Embassy Suites.

Business conducted at this convention included election of state party officers and other members of the state Executive Committee, and consideration of amendments to the bylaws.

Background

Schedule and Agenda

The convention began with receptions on Friday evening (17 February), with formal business starting on Saturday morning and continuing through Sunday, followed by the first meeting of the new Executive Committee.

The agenda for the formal business is specified in Convention Rule 4.

The overall plan of events with specific times for business, speakers, meals, and other activities can be found in the Convention Schedule.

Change of Location

This convention was originally announced as taking place at the DoubleTree by Hilton, but because of concerns that an ongoing renovation of that hotel would make the facilities unsuitable the state Executive Committee decided, on 4 January, to enter into a contract with the Embassy Suites to hold it there instead. However, because the formal announcement had been for business to be conducted at the DoubleTree, the business meeting was called to order there, and the delegates present voted to move the meeting to the Embassy Suites.

Additional information about the change can be found in a FAQ that was posted on the party web site in January 2023.

Bylaws

• Current Bylaws and Convention Rules (as amended 2022) (info)
• Bylaws Committee Initial Report (11 December 2022) (info)
• Bylaws Committee Final Report (28 January 2023) (info)

Summary of Business Meeting

The meeting was called to order at 8:30am on Saturday morning at the DoubleTree, where a motion was made and passed in less than a minute to resume business 45 minutes later at the Embassy Suites.

The remainder of Saturday morning was taken up by reports from the Chair, Vice Chair, Secretary, Treasurer, Budget Committee, and Financial Standards Committee.

On Saturday afternoon, after a motion to modify the agenda to hold elections first was voted down, delegates considered 11 of the 12 recommendations in the report of the Bylaws Committee.

• Recommendation 1, concerning promotion of initiatives and referenda, was adopted with a change in the wording.
• Recommendation 2, concerning the Operating Procedures Manual, was adopted without change.
• Recommendation 3, concerning endorsement of candidates, was adopted without change.
• Recommendation 4, concerning area coordinators, was adopted with a change in the wording.
• Recommendation 5, concerning election of delegates to the national convention, was partly adopted: the portion requiring that voting be by secret ballot was adopted, while the portion removing the option of voting "no" was not adopted.
• Recommendation 6, concerning appointment of committees, was adopted with a change in wording.
• Recommendation 7, concerning EC member attendance at meetings, was adopted with a change in wording.
• Recommendation 8, concerning e-mail voting by the EC, was not adopted; instead the provision for e-mail voting was eliminated entirely.
• Recommendation 9, concerning resignation of EC members, was adopted without change.
• Recommendation 10, concerning the Judicial Committee, was not adopted.
• Recommendation 11, concerning "seasoning requirements" for voting by county central committee members who do not reside in the county, was adopted with a change in the definition of a "reasonable period" from 30 days to 90 days.

Business resumed Sunday morning with consideration of the remaining recommendation from the Bylaws Committee and additional bylaws and rules amendments from the floor.

• Recommendation 12, concerning membership requirements, was adopted with a change in wording.
• a proposal from the floor, to allow the EC to meet without notice if all members attend and waive notice, was adopted.
• a proposal from the floor, to move the convention rule regarding quorum into the bylaws, was adopted.
• two other proposals from the floor, one to change the terminology used in describing voting and one to add provision for changing the location of the convention, were not adopted.

This was followed by election of the state Chair and Vice Chair. After the lunch break, elections were held for the remaining Executive Committee positions up this year, and to fill one vacancy in the Judicial Committee. There were also motions to endorse candidates and adopt resolutions.

Elections

The election for Chair was done using IRV, with a winner determined on the first pass:

Adrian F Malagon	69
NOTA	50
James Just	9
Gary Alvstad (write-in)	1
Steve Haug	0

There was only one candidate for Vice Chair; Gary Alvstad was elected by voice vote.

There was only one candidate for Secretary; Chris Edgar was elected by voice vote.

There was only one candidate for Treasurer; Jason Regehr was elected by voice vote.

There was only one candidate for Northern Area Coordinator; Elizabeth Stump was elected by voice vote.

There was only one candidate for Central Area Coordinator; Matthew Butts was elected by voice vote.

There was only one candidate for Southern Area Coordinator; Garrison Ham was elected by voice vote;

There were seven candidates for six Executive Committee At-Large positions. Each delegate was allowed to vote for up to six people, and the four candidates who received the most votes were elected to full two-year terms while the next two were elected for one year to complete the terms of members who had been elected at the previous convention:

Tom Nichols	77
Graham Brown	76
Craig Strachan	76
Alberto Alvarez	74
Victoria Lapacek	72
Trendalyn Hallesy	65
Alex Bielanski	20
NOTA	3
Mickey Mouse (write-in, ineligible)	1

There were three candidates for two Executive Committee At-Large Alternate positions; each delegate was allowed to vote for up to two people:

Max Jimenez	60
David Gorshe	54
Alex Bielanski	23
NOTA	3
Angela McArdle (write-in)	1

There was one candidate to fill a vacancy in the Judicial Committee; Meredith Hayes was elected by voice vote.

Endorsements

Five candidates for public office were endorsed: Gail Lightfoot for US Senate, Joe Dehn for US House District 17. Jose Castaneda for US House District 28, Alan Kaiser for State Senate District 13, Mark Hinkle for State Senate District 15.

Resolutions

The following resolutions were adopted:

• regarding mask mandates:

Whereas, the mask mandate is a particularly egregious example of government overreach, whereas, the masking of otherwise healthy people is not without cost, whereas, masking healthy people has been shown to reduce blood oxygen concentration levels in human beings, be it resolved that masking of healthy people henceforth must be entirely voluntary on all properties owned, operated, leased, regulated, or subsidized by the state of California and all its political subdivisions.

• regarding Jeff Hewitt:

Jeff Hewitt lost his County Supervisor seat in Riverside County thanks to the combined wrath and illegal campaign donations of the county’s public sector unions. We salute Mr. Hewitt for fighting the fight he fought Libertarian Party of California February 18-19, 2023 and breaking the plane for libertarians in elected office.

Recordings

• from Libertarian Party of California livestream
  • Saturday all day (7:43)

• post-convention EC meeting (1:05:56)

Speakers

In addition to formal business, the plan for this convention includes meal events with speakers as well as speakers addressing the delegates at other times.

Announced speakers:

• Connor Boyack
• Spike Cohen
• Tasha Cohen
• Hannah Henriksen
• Angela McArdle
• Joe Quirk
• Lou Perez
• Mike Sertic
• Larry Sharpe
• Emily Tilford
• Maj Toure