March 2011 - 21

Orlando NABC

Orlando Board of Directors' meetings highlights
Decisions of the ACBL Board of Directors that were accepted at their meetings in Orlando in November are highlighted herein.
DECISIONS
New slow play regulations are effective immediately:
A. Slow Play Regulations
Slow play, especially habitual slow play, is a violation of law and subject to
penalty. Law 81C1 instructs the director of his duty to ensure that slow play
does not disrupt the game. Law 90A and Law 90B2 specifically provide for
procedural penalties to be given in cases of undue slow play, and Law 91A
empowers the director at his discretion to make such penalties disciplinary
and therefore not subject to being overruled by an appeal committee (same
as with Zero Tolerance penalties). Further, Law 12C2 permits the director
to award an artificial adjusted score when slow play prevents a board from
being played.
The preceding paragraph applies to all events. The following paragraph
addresses pairs‑type movements specifically but applies conceptually to all
events.
When a pair has fallen behind it is incumbent on them to make up the time
lost as quickly as possible whether at fault or not. All players are expected to
make a concerted effort to catch up when they have fallen behind, regard‑
less of the reason for their lateness. In the absence of compelling evidence
to the contrary, the director should presume that a pair finishing a round
late by more than two or three minutes on more than one occasion during a
session is responsible for the lateness. There is a strong expectation that the
director will penalize such a pair. The size of a penalty will tend to increase
for subsequent instances of slow play and for chronic or egregious slow play.
While warnings typically will be given before a penalty is assessed, failure to
do so in no way limits the director's authority to issue a penalty.
An appeal of an action taken by a TD with regard to time may be taken to
the Director in Charge of the tournament, and no further.
This regulation is not intended to override specific event conditions re‑
garding slow play.
B. Slow Play Appendices for NABC+ KO Events
Appendix E (VS) and Appendix E (S&W) are replaced with the following:
The tournament director is charged with the responsibility to ensure that
each KO match segment finishes within the allotted time. While a time moni‑
tor may be employed, the lack of a monitor in no way limits the TD's authority
to apply one or more of the remedies listed below. Discretion is expected, in
that the TD may choose to ignore an occasional minor late finish.
Players are expected to be aware, in a general sense, of time used and
remaining in a segment in which they are playing regardless of whether
a clock is in use or a time announcement has been made. An excuse of
"no announcement" or "no clock immediately visible" will not be considered
persuasive.
The TD may remove one or more boards from a segment. According to
Laws 12 and 86 the TD may award no score (when neither team is more at
fault than the other), an assigned score (when a result already exists at one
table which the TD wishes to preserve) or an artificial score in IMPs. Every
effort should be made to remove boards before they can be played at either
table, but not having done so does not preclude removing one or more later.
In consultation with the Director in Charge of the tournament, the TD may
require that a particular pair not play in a specified segment, not play against
a specified pair or not play together as a pair. The foregoing is expected to
be applied only due to egregious circumstances or to unduly repetitious of‑
fenders.
The foregoing is intended to make clear the intent that the TD is expected
and empowered to take action as deemed necessary to ensure the timely
finish of KO segments (and matches).
An appeal of an action taken by a TD with regard to time may be taken to
the Director in Charge of the tournament, and no further.
The ACBL Code of Disciplinary Regulations is amended and now reads
as set forth in the online Codified Minutes found at http://www.acbl.org/about/
codification.html.

The bylaws qualifications for ACBL President and Chairman were amend‑
ed to provide that both positions may be held only by a current member of the
Board of Directors. This amendment is not final until approved by the Board of
Governors.
The 2011 ACBL Auditors, Watkins Uiberall PLLC, were selected and appointed.
When there is a tie for the last qualifying position(s) of an NABC+ Swiss
event, all teams tied will qualify to continue in the event. If this results in an odd
number of teams, one additional team will be selected, using the current tie‑
breaking rules if necessary. Effective Immediately [Nay: 4]
Management's recommendations for the sites of the following NABCs were
approved: 2015 Spring New Orleans at the Marriott and Sheraton hotels March 12
- 22 [Nay 22]; 2015 Summer Chicago at the Hilton hotel Aug. 6 - 16 [Nay 1, 5, 12,
16, 17, 19; Abstain: 8, 14]; 2016 Summer Washington at the Marriott Wardman
Park hotel July 21 - 31; 2018 Fall San Francisco at the Hilton or Marriott hotels
Nov. 22 - Dec. 2 [Abstain: 11, 12, 17, 19]. [Because of changed circumstances,
the decision on San Francisco has been subsequently amended by the Executive
Committee to approve the 2019 Fall NABC be held at the San Francisco Marriott
as the host hotel.]
Overall awards shall be established for invitational clubs that participate in
ACBL‑wide games that have overall awards for open games, including charity and
international fund games, the ACBL‑wide Senior Pairs and, if it does not do so al‑
ready, for the Instant Matchpoint game. Effective as soon as can be implemented
by Management. [Nay: 4, 21, 22]
The sterling silver trophy purchased to honor the Grant Baze Senior Knockout
Teams is accepted. This trophy will be maintained at ACBL Headquarters.
Replace all Unit or District Charity Games with one class of Fund or Foun‑
dation games. There will be a maximum of four per year per Unit and four per
year per District. The fee structure will be the same as special Fund or Founda‑
tion games at clubs. Any of the four allotted sessions may be held as a Junior
Fund game, Charity game, Educational Foundation game or International Fund
game, except that February is reserved for Junior Fund games, April is reserved
for Charity games and September is reserved for International Fund games. Ef‑
fective immediately.
No one shall be denied the teacher stipend from the School Bridge Class
program based solely on the receipt of payment from another source; however,
the amount received from the School Bridge Class program when added to com‑
pensation from other sources shall not exceed 500 USD. Effective March 1, 2011.
[Nay: 5, 8, 9, 11, 14, 15, 17, 19, 20, 22]
The Chairman of the Board will now chair the Board Oversight Committee.
WBF Representatives Reimbursement Policy and Hosting a WBF Special
Meeting:
A. No expenses will be paid by the ACBL to the ACBL's WBF representatives for
attending the annual WBF Executive meeting.
B. The ACBL will host, when held in Zone 2 during an NABC, a WBF Manage‑
ment Committee or Officers Meeting. No more than one such meeting shall be
hosted per year.
C. ACBL shall provide up to 50 room nights, including one junior suite, for up
to five nights; light refreshments during the meeting; up to four lunches for ten
people during the meetings; and appropriate meeting space for up to four days.
Effective January 1, 2011. [Abstain: 1, 3, 8, 16, 24]
The 2011 budget projecting income over expenses of $140,880 was received.
ELECTIONS
Craig Robinson was elected ACBL President for 2011.
Joan Gerard was elected as ACBL representative to the World Bridge Federa‑
tion for a three‑year term, Jan. 1, 2011 through Dec. 31, 2013.
Dan Morse was elected as a 401k trustee for a four‑year term, Jan. 1, 2011
through Dec. 31, 2014.
Rose Meltzer was elected as chair of the Aileen Osofsky Goodwill Committee
to serve the unexpired term of Aileen Osofsky through December 2012.
Bill Cook Jr. was elected to fulfill the unexpired term of Craig Robinson as
Treasurer of the ACBL, from Dec. 31, 2010 through March 31, 2011.
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March 2011 Bridge Bulletin

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Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of March 2011