Nevada Bass Nation

By-Laws

Nevada B.A.S.S. NATION BYLAWS 2019

Introduction:

The Nevada B.A.S.S Nation was established to provide an association between anglers for the advancement of the sport of fishing, the enjoyment of competition between friends, and the appreciation of our natural environment. As a group, the Nevada B.A.S.S. Nation is dedicated to the good fellowship of our members, the sport of bass fishing, youth events, conservation, and the goodwill of our community.

Membership Requirements:

Membership in the Nevada B.A.S.S. Nation is open to persons over sixteen (16) years of age or older with a valid driver’s license, or State issued ID card.
All members of the Nevada B.A.S.S. Nation are required to be members in good standing of the Bass Anglers Sportsman Society (B.A.S.S)
All members are required to pay their annual membership fees of Forty-Five dollars ($45.00). Thirty dollars ($30.00) will go towards national dues and Fifteen dollars ($15.00) for State dues. These fees must be paid and verified prior to fishing any tournaments. It is recommended that all membership dues be paid by mid-January to assure validation prior to the first tournament of the year. Membership will be valid for the calendar year.
Club presidents are responsible for submitting a roster and membership fees to the state treasurer. Rosters must be maintained and updated throughout the calendar year.
Clubs should pay their national dues directly to B.A.S.S. Clubs may choose to have the state treasurer submit their club’s national dues but a processing fee of $5.00 per member will be added.

No part of the membership fee is refundable if a member voluntarily leaves the Nevada Bass Nation during the tournament season. ( Jan.1 – Dec. 31)

Requirements for Member/Club to be in good standings:

Clubs are recommended to have a representative at all scheduled NVBN meetings, so they can forward information on to their club membership.
Members are required to participate in two community service projects per year. Approved by the NVBN Board, and attend 50% of the yearly nation meetings to be eligible as a State Team member.
Members will be allowed membership payments just prior to a tournament. National and State membership must be verified before membership is validated.
All anglers MUST be a registered B.A.S.S. Nation Members to be eligible to participate in any B.A.S.S. sponsored events.
Clubs must have a Nevada address and be duly affiliated with B.A.S.S. to be a Nevada chapter.

Membership Benefits:

Members in good standing of the Nevada B.A.S.S. Nation and its affiliated Clubs:

Are eligible to fish in Nevada B.A.S.S. Nation Tournaments.
Are eligible to receive any yearly awards and prizes for which they qualify.
Are eligible for any privileges or discounts negotiated for our members.

Loss of Membership Benefits:

Members of the Nevada B.A.S.S. Nation are considered not in good standing will lose all membership benefits if they fail to meet the membership requirements as listed. Members who are not in good standing will be reinstated without prejudice once they have met the membership requirements. Members who fail to meet the membership requirements by midyear for that tournament season, for which they have paid fees, will lose all membership benefits for that year and will forfeit their membership dues and benefits.

Members Expelled for Cause:

A member in good standing in the Nevada B.A.S.S. Nation may be expelled for the following:

Gross negligence or conduct that results in death or injury to any person or persons or destruction of property.
Violation of law or statute during any Nevada B.A.S.S. Nation sponsored event.
Flagrant violation (cheating, gross misconduct, operating under the influence, etc.) Any tournament rules, and any misconduct at the B.A.S.S. state regionals or the National events as determined by the governing board of the Nevada B.A.S.S. Nation.
The following procedure must be followed in order to expel a member in good standing of the Nevada B.A.S.S. Nation:
A motion must be in writing and presented to the NVBN board 10 days prior to an NVBN Meeting.
The governing board of the Nevada B.A.S.S. Nation will review any motion to expel a person and vote on the motion and state the verdict at the next meeting.

Reinstatement Of Members Expelled For Cause:

Reinstatement of a member expelled for cause can be accomplished by following the same procedure as required for expulsion. However, reinstatement requests will not be accepted during the same tournament year as original expulsion.

Governing Board:

A Board of Officers shall govern the NVBN as follows: President, Vice President, Treasurer, Secretary, and Past President (as a non‐voting member).
When the board meets, at any time a vote is called all current board members in attendance will vote except for the President which will only vote as the tiebreaker in the event a board vote is a tied.
Committee Chairs are as follows: Assistant Tournament Director, Tournament Committee, Youth Director, Conservation Director, Web Master, and Local sponsorship Director and are appointed.

Eligibility:

A person must be a member in good standing of the Nevada B.A.S.S. Nation for two (2) years prior to being eligible for any position on the Nevada B.A.S.S. Nation Governing Board.

Election:

Elections will be held yearly, at the December meeting, and done by a secret ballot. The elected officers for the NVBN will be elected by the Nation Members present every year. One vote per member.

The nominations for officers will be accepted at the regularly scheduled September member meeting. Any member can make nominations for State Officers. Nominees must have demonstrated an active interest in the efforts on the Nevada Nation to run of office.
Officers hold their elected offices for the term of two (2) years unless they resign sooner.
The Office of President and Treasurer will hold elections on odd years.
Office Vice President and Secretary will hold elections on even years. Any board member may run for any office if elected the open office will have a special election at the December meeting.
If a vacancy should occur after the scheduled election, an appointee approved by the Board will fill the vacant position. The person appointed by the Board to fill any vacancy must be by a majority vote of the Board.
Elections for a position on the NVBN Board will be held at the December meeting. Each member will submit his or her ballot to the existing Board at the regularly scheduled December meeting. At the December meeting, the votes will be calculated and the results read aloud.

Board Responsibilities:

All board members (both elected and appointed) must attend 1⁄2 of all meetings to be in good standing with the Nevada B.A.S.S. Nation.

President:

Presides over all issues concerning the Organization including but not limited to State meetings, Nation meetings, agenda for State meetings, maintain order at all times, control debates, and oversee all elections, however only votes in the event of a tie.
Maintains National Sponsorship and State Team Sponsorships, which includes informing the membership of all and any merchandise discounts available through B.A.S.S.
With the approval of the Board, appoints committee chairs, assigns their duties, monitors their progress and receives their reports.
With the approval of the Board, makes appointments to fill vacant Board positions.
Approval of the Board is to be determined as a simple majority vote.
Holds an active role in the Nevada Nation Tournament. Fills in the absence of the Vice President.

The President will be the first alternate on the state team each year. It will be the Presidents choice to be the alternate boater or non-boater.

Vice President:

The Vice President (V.P) takes the President’s place and fulfills his duties when the President is not present. If the President resigns, the V.P. will take his place permanently with a simple majority vote of the Board.
The V.P. is the State Membership Chairman and is responsible for the annual membership drive.
The V.P. presides over all local sponsorships and appoints a chair to assist him with these duties. The assistant must be approved by a simple majority vote of the Board.
The V.P. is in charge of approving and monitoring all community service projects. This includes maintaining all records of events and passing this info on to the President and Tournament Director to verify the eligibility of qualifying for the State Team.
Presides over all aspects of the NV Bass Nation Qualifiers, which includes weigh-ins, the posting of the yearly Qualifier schedule, launch times, weigh‐in times, and designated off‐limit areas. The VP will not pay entry fees into the events however; will pay options if wanting to participate.
Interprets and rules on all observed or reported violations of the NV Bass Nation tournament rules. Acts as Weigh‐Master for all qualifiers procure all necessary permits and documents for events, handles tournament registration and maintains all payout records.
Maintains B.A.S.S. roster & membership numbers of all tournament participants and provides updated membership info to B.A.S.S. and the NV Bass Nation. This includes verifying that all boaters have the minimum

$300,000 boat Liability Insurance coverage.

Appoints an assistant tournament director to assist him and assembles a tournament committee to help with running the yearly qualifiers. This includes verifying that all State Team qualifiers have completed their 2 community service projects prior to the last qualifier of the year.

Treasurer:

Manages financial records, issues checks and maintains the checking account, which includes the filing of year‐end tax returns.
Submits balance reports to members and the Board at monthly meetings.
Works with the V.P. to maintain and verify that members have paid their State dues.
Assists the Tournament director with the following: tournament registration, member payment, and pay‐outs at qualifiers.
Any expenditure over $100 other than tournament payouts must be approved by the governing board (either by phone or email).

Secretary:

Maintains the meeting minutes for the NV Bass Nation which includes: meeting attendance, posting meeting minutes on the website and forwarding all correspondence to the club presidents and their members.
Works with the V.P. to keep track of and post all community service projects including who the project coordinator was, the date it occurred, what the event was and who participated. This info will be posted on the main website for all members to review.

Past President:

Advise the President of his current duties, Assist with National and State Team sponsorships if requested.
Will remain a Board member until replaced by the next past President or simply a one year term. Non‐voting member.

Committee Chairs:

Assist Tournament Director:

This position is appointed by the Tournament Director and the main objective is to handle all tournament registration, qualifier payments, pre‐tournament pairings, recording of all qualifiers results and posting on the website as well as posting of all year to date results. Assists with maintaining club roosters to assure all members have paid their state and national dues and are registered with a local club.

Tournament Committee:

Appointed by the Tournament Director. The main objective of this committee is to maintain the Bass trailer and bring it to and from all Qualifiers. Assist Tournament Director with checking in boaters and non‐boaters prior to blast‐off, live well checks, morning blast‐off, after tournament check‐in, weigh‐in and the safe release of fish back to the lake.
Each registered club will be required to submit two volunteers to assist the Tournament committee for a pre-scheduled qualifier.

Youth Director:

Oversees the operation of the Jr. Bass events. Appoints two (2) members to assist, one for the Jr. Bass events Maintain all paperwork associated for both group events which include putting together rules and regulations, posting of all information on the youth website and holding fundraising events to help offset the operating expenses.
Reports all events and results from tournaments to the state secretary to maintain records for the youth group.
Verifies that all boater volunteers are registered B.A.S.S. Nation Members.

Conservation Director:

Responsible for overseeing all of the Nevada Bass Nation conservation programs and working with the National B.A.S.S. Conservation Director, along with local and state fishing organizations.

Webmaster:

Maintains the website of the NV Bass Nation which includes working with all board members and committee chairs to post all info in a timely manner and monitor and make revisions as needed weekly.

Local Sponsorship:

Maintain local sponsorships and recruit new sponsors, which include writing contracts to assure what our sponsors will be doing for us and what we are expected to do for them. This will include gathering merchandise for qualifier raffles, hosting the raffles at our qualifiers, posting sponsor info on our website and gathering info so we can advertise for our sponsor on the Bass trailer. The Vice President will assist you if needed.

Removal of Board Member:

Upon a 30‐day prior notice in writing, any Board Member can be removed from their position by a simple majority vote of the Board.

State Team, and Nation Team rules and responsibilities:

The State Team will consist of the top 10 boaters and top 10 non-boaters in points out of the best four out of five qualifying Nevada Nation tournaments, and that paid for all 5 tournaments, for the year.
Each twenty-person state team will be allowed one alternate team member to replace an official team member if an official team member becomes ill or injured or has to leave the tournament due to personal business or tragedy. The alternates may be placed in the Boater or Non-Boater division if needed. In addition, the B.A.S.S. Nation state president or his/her designated representative will be considered a second alternate.
A yearly State Team meeting will be held in December. All Team members and alternates must attend unless excused by the State President before the meeting.
The Top Boater in points, will be asked to be the State Team captain and will be responsible in organizing all state team meetings at the regional tournament, and confirming the participation and entry of all state team members 30 days prior to the event.
All State Team members must attend all meetings held at the regional event.
On the final day of the regular full-field event all Nevada State Team members must wear their Nation state team jersey. There will be a determined meeting place that all state team members will be required to meet at the end of there weigh-in. Members will meet as a team to support the BASS regional event. Failure to represent Nevada as a team may lead to disciplinary action up to disqualification from the next year's State Team.

Procedure to revise By‐Laws:

Proposed revisions to this document must be made by the following procedures:

Submit in writing to the Board and can be at any time during the year.
Proposed revision will then be reviewed by the Board and read aloud at the next NVBN meeting.
This information will then be posted online to be reviewed by all club members for a minimum of 30 days.
At the next general meeting, a vote will be held. The results will be read aloud and a majority of club votes will either approve or disapprove the proposed revision. If approved, the revision will become effective 30 days after approval and posted on-line.

In the event for an unforeseen reason, the Nevada B.A.S.S Nation disbands and no longer runs as an organization, all of its assets will be sold and all monetary balances will be donated to a local youth charity.

Final authority for the interpretation of all Nevada B.A.S.S. Nation By-Laws shall rest with the Governing Board and Jon Stewart, Director B.A.S.S Nation