Resolutions Process
Resolutions are one of the primary ways conservation districts guide MACD’s policy, advocacy, programs, partnerships, and organizational priorities. Districts in good standing may submit three types of resolutions for consideration by the membership.
Reference Links
2026 Deadlines
September 1: New resolutions and sunset challenges due
September 15: New resolutions distributed to districts
September and October: Resolutions considered at Area Meetings
December 1–3: Final consideration at the 2026 MACD Convention
If your district is considering a resolution, please contact MACD as soon as possible, even if the resolution is still in development. Early notice gives MACD staff, board members, subcommittees, and legal counsel more time to provide useful review and feedback.
If your district cannot meet the September 1 deadline, please contact Rayelynn at rayelynn@macdnet.org to discuss an extension.
Submit a Resolution
Before submitting a resolution, the sponsoring conservation district must approve it through a vote of its board.
Please note that there are three different types of resolutions and associated formats. Please make sure you are choosing the correct one for your chosen purpose.
Policy Statements: Policy Statements are resolutions that guide the general legislative and advocacy activities for MACD. Policy statements could include suggestions and actionable steps recommended to carry out the policy within a specific timeframe.
Legislation Directives are resolutions that become bills for legislative advocacy and support. MACD is either the principal party requesting a bill or is a key partner in a request for a bill. Legislative directives are timebound and specific to changes in state law.
National Directives are resolutions for submission to NACD for consideration for support of regional and/or national initiatives. These resolutions may reflect both policies at NACD and/or federal legislative actions that require NACD support. Districts should review the NACD 2025/2026 Policy Book before submitting a national directive to identify any related or existing NACD policy.
Questions or Drafting Assistance
MACD staff and resolutions subcommittees are available to help districts develop resolution ideas, select the appropriate resolution type, review draft language, and identify related existing policy.
Contact rayelynn@macdnet.org as early as possible for assistance.
Review of Adopted Resolutions
The type of resolution determines how it is reviewed after adoption:
- Policy statements establish continuing MACD positions and go through sunset review after five years.
- Legislative directives generally address specific actions or outcomes associated with a legislative session and are reviewed and reported on after two years.
- National directives generally address specific national actions or outcomes and are reviewed and reported on after two years.
Resolutions adopted before these categories were implemented in 2022 are treated as policy statements.
2026 Policy Sunset Review
Policy statements originating from resolutions that are five years old or older are scheduled for sunset review in 2026.
A district in good standing may challenge the scheduled sunset of any policy, regardless of which district originally sponsored the resolution.
- Deadline: Challenges to scheduled sunsets are due September 1st, 2026.
- If a sunset is challenged: The full membership will vote at Convention on whether to sunset the policy or retain it for another five years.
- If a sunset is not challenged: The policy will sunset at the 2026 Convention without a vote.
- If more than one challenge is submitted: The process does not change, but additional challenges may demonstrate broader support for retaining the policy.
- If the policy needs substantive changes: A sunset challenge can only retain the existing policy as written. Revised or replacement language must be submitted as a new resolution and go through the regular Area Meeting and Convention process.
Sunset challenges are not voted on at Area Meetings. Final decisions on challenged sunsets are made by the full membership at Convention.
Process Diagram
Additional details and information on the Resolutions and Policy Committee and subcommittees is available in the Resolution and Policy Committee Charter here.
