Committee on Civil Rights
AASHTO Liaison
Clarisse Bernardes Coble, Human Resource Director
ccoble@aashto.org
AASHTO Liaison
Clarisse Bernardes Coble, Human Resource Director
ccoble@aashto.org
Name
The name of this committee shall be the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO) Committee on Civil Rights.
Purpose
The committee shall work cooperatively with the Association’s Member Departments and as appropriate with other committees, agencies, and external organizations to provide equal access and ensure nondiscrimination in all programs and activities involving Federal dollars. This includes researching and evaluating the effectiveness of civil rights programs and reporting findings of issues, as well as sharing any best practices, to Member Departments on programs such as Disadvantaged Business Enterprise, Equal Employment Opportunity, On-The-Job Training, Non-Discrimination (Title VI), Americans with Disabilities Act and Supportive Services.
The Committee on Civil Rights shall make recommendations and render advice to the President and staff of the Association, and to other committees as to courses of action which they may follow to assure compliance with civil rights laws and regulations in their respective areas. The committee shall also establish and maintain outreach efforts to other transportation organizations with similar interests.
The committee shall identify and report to its parent committee on any federal regulatory mandates of national concern. Each Member Department shall be entitled to membership thereon.
Membership
Committee Structure
Officers
The officers of the Committee on Civil Rights shall be a chair and vice chair(s). The chair and vice chair terms of office shall be for two years, which terminates at the end of the first Committee on Civil Rights annual meeting after their term has lapsed, or two years from appointment if the Committee on Civil Rights does not meet annually. Committee chairs and vice chairs may be appointed for additional two-year terms.
Steering Committee
The Role of the Steering Committee shall include:
Subgroups may be established as follows:
Reporting
Meetings
Committee Meetings
In the event that the voting committee member is unable to serve, each Member Department may designate, by electronic notification or letter to the AASHTO committee staff liaison, prior to each committee meeting, the individual who shall serve as the Member Department’s representative on the committee.
Representation by a majority of all Member Departments, exclusive of the U.S. Department of Transportation, shall constitute a quorum to initiate and to transact general business. A majority vote of those members present, exclusive of the U.S. Department of Transportation, on matters of general business shall be considered binding on the committee. For adoption of a draft policy or technical document, a two-thirds favorable vote of all Member Departments, exclusive of the U.S. Department of Transportation, is required for approval, prior to being considered by other appropriate groups within AASHTO.
Strategic Plan, Annual Achievements Document, and Annual Work Plan
The committee shall establish a strategic plan and a work plan to help guide committee activities. The strategic plan shall be consistent with the AASHTO goals and objectives as outlined in the Association’s strategic plan. At a minimum, the committee’s strategic plan will be reviewed and updated as needed when AASHTO completes a new strategic plan.
The committee will maintain, at a minimum, a one-year work plan that describes the activities that will be implemented, the individual(s) or subgroups overseeing implementation, and a schedule for completion. The work plan shall be submitted to the Strategic Management Committee prior to the AASHTO annual meeting each year.
Annual accomplishment reports shall highlight the accomplishments of the committee since the last AASHTO annual meeting, and shall be submitted to the Board of Directors and the Strategic Management Committee prior to the AASHTO annual meeting each year.
Ethics
All meetings of the committee and its steering committee, subcommittee(s), task force(s), and technical committee(s) will be conducted in accordance with the AASHTO policies governing conflicts of interest.
Amendments
The Committee on Civil Rights charter may be amended by a two-thirds affirmative vote of the committee membership and then a two-thirds affirmative vote by the Board of Directors.