Regulations

[ADCAPer]

I'm just curious as to what the general opinion of other CAP members is.

Since the beginning of the year, National has violated their own regulation (previously it was CAP Reg 5-1)  by repeatedly publishing new regulations (i.e. CAP Regs 5-4, 173-1 and 173-2) without the required comment period.

CAP Reg 5-1 called for a 60 day review period. This was reduced to 30 days when this regulation was rolled into CAP Reg 5-4, which was posted without any review period. 

A week later National cranked out rewrites to both Financial regulations, and again there was no comment period.

I've got my own opinions on why this is happening, but I'd like to hear what other have to say about this.

[ZigZag911]

I believe the 173 series changes were in the works for at least six months, perhaps a year.....if I recall there was in fact an opportunity to comment around the time of August 2006 Board meeting.

[Eclipse]

Yes, perhaps there were not billboards announcing the comment period, but most of the stuff going on as been within at least a liberal interperatation of exisitng regs.

More troubling are the high number of "emergency memorandums" which amend or change existing regs and policies without NEC or BOG approval.

And along with that, the high number of non-agenda, last-minute regulations updates are brought to votes with no-notice.

[RiverAux]

Is my eyesight getting worse than it already is, or have they eliminated the "Regulations for Ratification" section from e-services?  This is where they had been posting draft regs. 

[ZigZag911]

I think we've had two factors operative here:

1) some changes to critical processes (finance, flight ops) to meet requirements of USAF, FAA, and other oversight agencies

2) the change to internal process to more accurately reflect DOD/Air Force procedures, as envisioned by the 1999 (?) revised USAF/CAP Statement of Work -- the basic idea here being that policy makers (BOG and to a lesser extent NB) do not get bogged down (pun intended!) in the details of drafting regulations.....that's the job of staff officers....I think in part this is why we are seeing the expansion of the National staff on the volunteer side.....I suspect this is going to continue, although with many as ADY 'staff assistants' -- in many cases, officers that had served on Nationals committees....but somehow I think more too, drafted to help from region & wing staffs -- again, mostly part time, remote involvement (email, teleconference, etc)

Bottom line -- the brass will still set policy.

the squadrons & groups will still put it into effect.

I think the novelty will be that many of us who fall 'somewhere in the middle' will begin to be the ones putting the policy in writing.

Could be a good thing:

-- subject matter experts will have more time to devote to this than corporate officers

--if these working groups draw from across the country, this might result in at least some regs drawn sufficiently broadly to minimize the need for subordinate level supplements.

[ADCAPer]

I believe the 173 series changes were in the works for at least six months, perhaps a year.....if I recall there was in fact an opportunity to comment around the time of August 2006 Board meeting.

I don't recall any opportunity to comment. The changes to 173-1 were the subject of many rumors for quite a while, but I believe that the first significant change was posted as an "Emergency" which obvioulsly was inconsistent with everything from the Constitution on down. When the new regulation finally came out last fall it was simply  posted without any type of comment period. This was also the case with the last updates to 173-2 and 5-4.

Yes, perhaps there were not billboards announcing the comment period, but most of the stuff going on as been within at least a liberal interperatation of exisitng regs.

More troubling are the high number of "emergency memorandums" which amend or change existing regs and policies without NEC or BOG approval.

And along with that, the high number of non-agenda, last-minute regulations updates are brought to votes with no-notice.

I can agree with everything but "liberal intrepretation". Article XX of the Constitution says that "...the National Commander shall establish and maintain regulations which shall be applicable to all members of Civil Air Patrol"

It's pretty obvious that National is having issues abiding by their own regulations, because they can't even follow the procedures that are in force to put out a new regulation. What really disturbs me though is that they wouldn't think twice about beating the membership over the head with one of these regulations that was issued incorrectly if they felt they had to.

What I can't understand is how they managed to change the regulation that called for a coment period by not even posting the new regulation for comments.

As far as the Financial regulations are concerned, I'm not sure whats going on, but it looks like National is trying to close the loopholes that surfaced after rushing these regulations into effect. I just think that if they had been posted for review they would have stood a better chance of getting them right the first time.

The Emergency publications were obviously implemented incorrectly, because I don't think anyones finances were in such a state that the National Commander felt it necessary to issue an emergency regulation due to a financial event that involved the preservation of life or property.

I guess my point is that it's hard to know what to do from day to day when National can simply change a regulation at will to cover the crisis of the moment and then post the new regulation on the web site as "policy". There's a reason that there are procedures for making changes to regulations, and the least they could do is to follow their own procedures.

Is my eyesight getting worse than it already is, or have they eliminated the "Regulations for Ratification" section from e-services?  This is where they had been posting draft regs. 

Your eyesight is fine, it went missing several months ago.

[SAR-EMT1]

Is this how the TPU came into service so quickly?

[ZigZag911]

I can agree with everything but "liberal intrepretation". Article XX of the Constitution says that "...the National Commander shall establish and maintain regulations which shall be applicable to all members of Civil Air Patrol"

An amendment to the CAP constitution is either in the works, or was passed at last BOG (June), not sure which.

[ADCAPer]

An amendment to the CAP constitution is either in the works, or was passed at last BOG (June), not sure which.

I realize that there are always things happening which will require changes to the way we operate, but "in the works" is what someone is planning to do, and should not be confused with how we are supposed to operating, which is in compliance with the existing regulations.

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Civil Air Patrol Constitution – 6 Dec 2006

ARTICLE XX

REGULATIONS
1. To further the orderly administration of the activities, business and affairs of the Corporation, the National Commander shall establish and maintain regulations which shall be applicable to all members of Civil Air Patrol. These regulations will be based on policies established by the Board of Governors, National Board, CAP-USAF, or law.

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CAP Regulation 5-4, 5 Feb 2007.

2. Regulations & Manuals

c. ...The OPR will edit the draft regulation, manual or revision based on inputs received during coordination and will submit the draft regulation to the NHQ publications manager to be posted for 30 days on the NHQ website for comment by the volunteer membership...


7. Distribution of Publications and Forms.

a. The CAP website is the official source for CAP National Headquarters publications and forms. They are available at www.cap.gov/pubs. Use of this "official source" assures access to the most current policies, standards and information.

[ZigZag911]

An amendment to the CAP constitution is either in the works, or was passed at last BOG (June), not sure which.

I realize that there are always things happening which will require changes to the way we operate, but "in the works" is what someone is planning to do, and should not be confused with how we are supposed to operating, which is in compliance with the existing regulations.

---------------------------------------------------
Civil Air Patrol Constitution – 6 Dec 2006

ARTICLE XX

REGULATIONS
1. To further the orderly administration of the activities, business and affairs of the Corporation, the National Commander shall establish and maintain regulations which shall be applicable to all members of Civil Air Patrol. These regulations will be based on policies established by the Board of Governors, National Board, CAP-USAF, or law.

-------------------------------------------
CAP Regulation 5-4, 5 Feb 2007.

2. Regulations & Manuals

c. ...The OPR will edit the draft regulation, manual or revision based on inputs received during coordination and will submit the draft regulation to the NHQ publications manager to be posted for 30 days on the NHQ website for comment by the volunteer membership...


7. Distribution of Publications and Forms.

a. The CAP website is the official source for CAP National Headquarters publications and forms. They are available at www.cap.gov/pubs. Use of this "official source" assures access to the most current policies, standards and information.

Please understand, I'm neither defending nor attacking the status quo....just passing along information.

These decisions are well above my pay grade!