2026-04-06

Early Motions for Discussion

Part of the World Service Conference’s ongoing momentum towards becoming more
participatory is to send out Early Motions for your group to discuss, should you wish.
These motions will come before the WSC in San Francisco for your GSR or ISR to vote
on. There are three in all: two from the WSC Conference Committee, one from the WSC
Literature Committee.

If your group has a Group Service Representative (GSR) you might wish to hold a group
conscience and give them an indication of how the group would like to vote. If you do
not have a GSR going to the Conference this year, your local or regional Intergroup
would be a good place to make your views known so that the Intergroup Service
Representative (ISR) can take views into account when they vote.

Each delegate, however, is entitled to vote according to their own conscience, in the
spirit of the Right of Decision described in Concept 3 of the Twelve Concepts for D.A.
World Service.

The first two motions require 90 days notice. The third motion affects the D.A. Charter
and is being sent to the fellowship 120 days before the WSC as required. All three early
motions are contained in this document.

The motions are:
Motion 1:

The WSC Literature Committee moves that the Conference approve a concept for a
new literature project: The Voices of Women in Debtors Anonymous.
Background:
The WSC Literature Committee, in collaboration with the Underserved and
Underrepresented Outreach Committee, brings this motion forward in response to a
growing awareness that women’s experiences with debting and recovery in Debtors
Anonymous are both distinct and underrepresented in our current Conference-approved
literature. The proposed pamphlet, Voices of Women in Debtors Anonymous, is
intended to amplify lived experience, strength, and hope shared by women in D.A.,
while remaining firmly grounded in D.A.’s spiritual principles, discipline, and
compassion. This effort aligns with D.A.’s commitment to unity, inclusivity, and carrying
the message to all who still suffer.

Motion 2:

The WSC Conference Committee, on behalf of the Intergroup Caucus, moves to update
the Intergroup Caucus Statement of Purpose, also known as the Mission statement, to
reflect closer alignment with its current focus and activities. We move that the following
mission statement be adopted by the 2026/2027 Debtors Anonymous World Service
Conference:
Mission Statement of Intergroup Caucus
The main function of the Intergroup Caucus is to provide support to both new and
existing Intergroups. A goal is to help members understand the role of an
intergroup in the overall organizational structure of D.A. To this end, the Caucus
may create and maintain tools and resources, such as the Intergroup webpage
on the D.A. website and the Intergroup Service Handbook for Debtors
Anonymous.
Background:
This statement would replace the current mission statement and purpose, which
appears on the debtorsanonymous.org website under ‘Fellowship Services > World
Service Conference’ and is replicated in the D.A.M.S. It is:
Intergroup Caucus (IG)
The Intergroup Caucus is composed primarily of ISRs but also includes GSRs
and Trustees who have experience with their local Intergroups. The main function
of this caucus is to create tools, resources and a better understanding of the role
of an Intergroup in the overall organizational structure of D.A. The Intergroup
Caucus helps support both new and existing Intergroups. The Intergroup Caucus
also contributes to the efforts to regionalize D.A.
Rationale:
● First, while members of the Intergroup Caucus would ideally have experience
with intergroups, this is not a requirement.
● Second, since most meetings and intergroups now meet online, the necessity of
regionalizing intergroups is no longer the reality.
● Third, we want to promote the existence of literature available to support
intergroups.

Motion 3:

The WSC Conference Committee moves to amend Article 3 of the Debtors Anonymous
Charter to:
No change in Article Ten (10) of the Charter or in the Twelve Traditions of
Debtors Anonymous or in the Twelve Steps of Debtors Anonymous may be made
with less than the written consent of three-quarters (3/4) of the responding
Debtors Anonymous groups. All Fellowship-wide votes will include the option to
vote “abstain”. A responding group is defined as a registered group that submits
a yes, no, or abstention vote. A threshold of at least three-quarters (¾) of all
registered groups of D.A. need to respond for the motion to be binding.
Background:
Important to note: The 3/4 threshold is to further ensure that any change to the 12 Steps
and 12 Traditions cannot be made without substantial unanimity, and that we have
sought sufficient engagement with the Fellowship before any changes are made. All
abstention ballots will be counted towards the minimum number of ballots returned. It
will have the same effect as a “no” vote when determining if the 75% threshold has
been met.
Below is the memo outlining our rationale, and the supporting slide deck illustrating our
proposed changes.
If you have questions and/or would like a representative from the Conference Charter
Subcommittee to speak during your home group’s business meeting regarding this
motion, please reach out to wsc.cc@debtorsanonymous.org.
Rationale:
The Conference Committee created a working group to study the Debtors Anonymous
Charter. In doing so, we discovered that the Charter has 4 different criteria (in Articles 3,
4, and 9) which constitute a passing vote. See resource #1 (attached chart) below.
We believe that most delegates to the WSC, and almost all D.A. groups, are not aware
of these differences, which may create enough confusion to diminish an informed group
conscience.
Since most GSR/ISRs serve 3 years, and some may only attend the WSC for 1 or 2
years, we would like to make the charter voting process reasonable and easy to
understand for voting members, or for any fellow in D.A. for that matter. In 2026, we
believe streamlining Article 3 is a logical first step in simplifying the Charter while
preserving its intent. Here is our rationale:
● In particular, Article 3 of our current Charter is problematic because it mandates a
process that is almost impossible to accomplish. Or in stronger terms, it sets up
the Fellowship for failure. Article 3 calls for ”written consent of ¾ of Debtors
Anonymous groups.” For Fellowship-wide votes, non-responses are counted as
“no” votes.

At any given time, as a decentralized, volunteer-based Fellowship, there is no
way to know the actual number of D.A. groups and whether the contact
information for those groups is still accurate. If a registered meeting has closed, it
is unlikely the members of that group will reach out to the GSO to let us know it
has disbanded. The first time the Fellowship tried to implement the process
described in Article 3 was in 1997 and “nearly half of the ballots were returned as
addressee unknown.” In 2010, 63% of registered meetings did not respond to a
Fellowship-wide vote on Tradition 11. In 2024, after employing a company to
oversee the vote, the motion did pass, but involved such great cost, time, and
effort that it placed a burden on the GSB and other volunteers. And still 20% of
groups did not respond.
● When D.A. adopted A.A.’s Conference Charter, it did not include the full text of
A.A.’s original Article 3 language with the 1955 resolution (which appears
separately from their Charter). According to the text of the resolution, A.A. counts
only responding groups in Fellowship-wide votes, as long as a minimum of three
quarters (¾) of all groups respond. Once that minimum of three quarters (¾) of
groups is met, then three quarters (¾) of the responding groups must vote yes
for the motion to pass. This is similar to the proposed motion being presented
here.
A.A.’s current Charter (for US & Canada), Article 3 states:
But no change in Article 12 of the Charter or in the Twelve Traditions of
A.A. or in the Twelve Steps of A.A. may be made with less than the written
consent of three-quarters of the A.A. groups, as described in the
Resolution adopted by the 1955 Conference and Convention.
The resolution from the 1955 Conference is not directly in the A.A. Charter,
although it is available on page 127 of A.A.’s 2024-2026 Service Manual. The
Resolution for 1955 A.A. Conference and Convention states:
AND IT IS UNDERSTOOD: That neither the Twelve Traditions of
Alcoholics Anonymous nor the warranties of Article XII of the Conference
Charter shall ever be changed or amended by the General Service
Conference except by first asking the consent of the registered A.A.
groups of the world. These groups shall be suitably notified of any
proposal for change and shall be allowed no less than six months for
consideration thereof. And before any such Conference action can be
taken there must first be received in writing within the time allotted the
consent of at least three-quarters of all those registered groups who
respond to such proposal.
Further, as described on page 122 of the A.A. 2024-2026 Service Manual, in
1957, Bill W. himself brought an amendment of the original 1955 Charter to
include modification of the 12 Steps (in addition to the 12 Traditions) by the same
process. Please see footnote below for the history of the amendment allowing for
changes to AA’s Twelve Steps.(1)
This research regarding A.A.’s precedent has largely been absent from prior D.A.
motions modifying Article 3.
● There have been at least 7 attempts to change the vote-taking process outlined
in Article 3, with a proposal of changing written consent of ALL D.A. groups to
RESPONDING groups five times, in 1997, 2001, 2002, 2004, and 2009. WSC
Conference Committees made up of different GSRs over the course of almost 30
years have proposed the same solution numerous times, reflecting their concern
that the current policy is unworkable. This also points to future continued
disagreement, contention, and replicated effort as new GSRs may continue to
object to this problematic process unless the Charter is remediated now.
Additional Resources:
1) Appendix I – Slide Deck
2) Appendix II – D.A. Charter
3) Appendix IV – 2026 A.A. Charter + 1955 Resolution
Footnote (1)
Revised by the 1957 Conference as follows: “Bill has suggested that the
third article of the Conference Charter, i.e., Conference Relation to A.A.
(Second paragraph page 58 of the Third Legacy Manual), be amended to
read: ‘But no change in Article 12 of the Charter or in A.A. Tradition or in
the Twelve Steps of A.A. may be made with less than a written consent of
three-quarters of the A.A. groups, as described in the resolution adopted
by the 1955 Conference and Convention.’
Note that while the resolution only included the Twelve Traditions and the
Warranties, A.A. voted to include the Twelve Steps in 1957.

With the growth of our D.A. Fellowship since its founding, it might be important to
consider the broader A.A. threshold for adopting a change. It should be noted
that the A.A. process does not include an option for abstentions in the votes that
must be returned, unlike our current process in which abstentions count as no
votes.