These Bylaws may be amended by a majority vote of the Voting Members as set forth below. Any such amendment must be either (a) proposed by petition delivered to the Secretary at the Club at least forty-five (45) days before such meeting and signed by not less than five percent (5%) of the Voting Members who are in good standing as of date such petition is so delivered to the Secretary, or (b) proposed by a majority vote of the Board of Trustees. Such amendment may be submitted to a vote of those Voting Members present in person or by proxy at any annual meeting of the Club or at any special meeting called for the purpose of considering such amendment. The Secretary shall mail notice of such meeting as required by Section 1 or 2 of Article III, and shall state therein that an amendment to the Bylaws has been proposed and further advise that the complete text of such proposed change or changes is available on the Club’s website and at the Club office. Further, such proposed amendment shall be posted on the Club's website at least thirty (30) days prior to any such meeting. Only amendments of which notice has been given as required herein may be adopted.
Bylaws adopted March 20, 2002
Restated the Bylaws in full in order to make what were characterized as housekeeping changes. Per a summary sent to members in advance of the annual meeting at which they were approved: (i) the provisions for indemnification of officers and directors were generally simplified and brought in line with applicable law; (ii) several relatively minor changes were made related to the conduct of member meetings, all of which were consistent with pre-existing practice; (iii) several changes regarding committees were made, all of which were consistent with practice and efficient operation of the committee system [note that the provisions regarding committees were later rewritten in 2020]; (iv) the provision regarding suspension and expulsion of members was modified to clarify the basis for suspension and expulsion, with a view to minimizing the likelihood that a member who is disciplined might seek recourse to a fact-finder outside the Club, such as a court; and (v) other provisions were clarified and conformed.
The same changes, combined with the introduction of "absentee" voting by written proxy, had been proposed to the members a year earlier, but were not approved. The 2002 amendment omitted the proxy-voting change.
Amended March 17, 2004
Introduced "absentee" voting by written proxy. Formerly, members were required to be present at a meeting to vote on anything other than the election of the Board of Trustees (which was already by written ballot). Also (i) made consistent modifications to the quorum requirements for meetings of the members and (ii) made earlier, by thirty days, the deadline for posting nominees (from 30 to 60 days before the annual meeting) and for making a nomination by petition (from 15 to 45 days).
Amended October 13, 2004
Instituted "single slate" voting for the Board of Trustees and defined a new process for determining the members of the Nominating Committee. Formerly, six candidates were nominated for three positions on the Board, and the Nominating Committee was appointed by the current President, with the approval of the Board. No change was made to the process for nomination by petition.
Amended March 17, 2010
Expanded joint membership to include registered domestic partners, rather than only spouses. The primary effect was to make joint membership available to same-sex couples, who before 2012 could not be married under applicable law, but could be registered domestic partners. Note that all single-sex domestic partnerships were converted to marriages after 2012. Currently, under Washington law, registered domestic partnerships are limited to couples (same- or opposite-sex) over 62 years old. Such couples remain eligible for joint membership.
Also reorganized the list of membership classes in Article I, Section 1. Before this amendment, the Bylaws listed twelve classes: (a) Single Active, (b) Joint Active, (c) Single Social, (d) Joint Social, (e) JSP, (f) Junior, (g) Junior Development, (h) Single Nonresident, (i) Joint Nonresident, (j) Complimentary, (k) Honorary, (l) World Class Tennis Player. Note that there was no distinction between Nonresident Active and Social members.
Amended March 19, 2014
Allowed Honorary members the same privileges of voting as Active members and provided Honorary members the same treatment as Active members in regards to serving as proposers, seconders and references for new members.
Reflected the oversight of the squash program by the Athletic Committee, rather than the Tennis Committee.
Amended October 25, 2017
Made the Tennis Captain a voting member of the Board of Trustees, rather than a non-voting member.
Made the Activities Chair an ordinary committee chair, rather than a non-voting member of the Board of Trustees, and changed the name of the Activities Committee from "Activities Board."
Changed the chair of the Nominating Committee from the most recent past President willing to serve, to the most recent past President no longer on the Board and willing to serve.
Allowed the Board of Trustees to set the annual meeting to any day in March, rather than specifying the first Wednesday on or after March 14.
Increased, to 5% of the voting members, the number of members required to call a special meeting of the members or to propose an amendment to the Bylaws, from 50 members (to call a meeting) or 100 (to propose a Bylaw amendment). Five percent of the voting members was just under 200 members in 2022.
Reflected two changes in committees previously made by the Board: (i) the change of the name of the Strategic Planning and Policy Committee from "Long Range Strategic Planning Committee" and (ii) the creation of the Technology and Communications Committee. Also added the latter to the committees involved in the formation of the Nominating Committee.
Made other non-substantive changes to terminology and wording.
Amended March 24, 2020
Rewrote Sections 2 through 11 of Article VI to (i) make the description of the role of each standing committee reflect actual practice and the Board’s intention (informed by input from each committee), and to make the wording of the descriptions more consistent and (ii) make more minor changes to the description of the composition of committees and the like.
Amended March 15, 2023
Changed the name of what is now called the Emeritus class, inserted Article I, Section 5 setting forth the qualifications and terms of Emeritus membership, and provided that Emeritus members: (i) shall not be entitled to vote in elections of the Board of Trustees, or to vote on any other matter; (ii) may not be members of the Nominating Committee or voting members of any committee; (iii) may not be members of the Board of Trustees or officers of the Club; (iv) may not propose or second applicants for Active or Social membership; and (v) shall not be entitled to any distribution of assets upon the dissolution of the Club.
Amended March 20, 2024
Technical amendment to make those changes appropriate in light of the replacement of the Washington Nonprofit Corporation Act with an entirely new version, and clarifying changes to make existing provisions more clear and consistent with practice and interpretations applied. A copy of the amended bylaws, annotated with explanations of the changes was available to members before they voted on the amendment.