Petitions/recommendations to the 2024 Pacific Northwest Annual Conference Session need to be in the Conference Office by Monday, April 15, 2024. Per conference rules, resolutions submitted by this date shall be included in the Pre-Conference Handbook (PCH) which will be available in May.

Accepted petitions will also be included in the PCH to allow members the opportunity to prayerfully read and discern before they arrive at Annual Conference.

Per conference rules, other legislation can be submitted if a “late development prevented consideration by April 15th,” up to 10 days prior to the annual conference session (end of the day, Sunday, June 2, 2024). 

Accepted petitions shall be assigned to the appropriate focus sessions by the Executive Director of Connectional Ministries. Please refer to the relevant rules found below and the guidance at the top of the online submission form for more information.

(a) Recommendations, petitions, and proposals shall be presented to the Annual Conference in the form of resolutions without “Whereas” clauses. Such resolutions may be accompanied by an explanatory statement which shall not be subject to action by the Conference. They shall be submitted on forms provided online and on paper by the Office of Connectional Ministries.

(b) Any organization, minister or lay member of The United Methodist Church in the Pacific Northwest Conference may petition the Annual Conference by sending a petition to the Conference Director of Connectional Ministries for assignment to Focus Sessions.

(c) Recommendations, proposals, and petitions (including those for changes in the Conference Rules) to be considered at the forthcoming Annual Conference shall be submitted through the Conference Director of Connectional Ministries by April 15th, and shall be included in the Pre-Conference Handbook. Recommendations for proposals and petitions resulting from situations whose late development prevented consideration by April 15th, according to the determination of the Conference Director of Connectional Ministries, may be submitted up to ten days prior to the Conference and, when accepted, shall be distributed in the registration packet. The decision of the Director of Connectional Ministries may be appealed to the Bishop. The Director of Connectional Ministries shall assign the recommendations, proposals, and petitions received to the appropriate Focus Sessions.

(d) In addition to the procedure set forth in Sec. 2(c) above for the consideration of recommendations, proposals, and petitions, the Focus Sessions are empowered to initiate resolutions falling within the general scope of their respective fields.

(e) When the Pacific Northwest Annual Conference passes a petition that asks the Conference Secretary to correspond with members of the Senate or House of Representatives, at a state or national level, or with the Governor of a state or the President of the United States, such petitions must include the full name(s) of the person(s) to whom the correspondence is addressed, along with the full addresses and e-mail addresses.