There's so much in here other than the question you posed in the title of your post..... To answer that question, though--lost or not, bylaws don't expire. If you passed a set when you got your 501(c)3 status and haven't changed them since, then those are still the bylaws.
Beyond that, I would do the following to start sorting through all this.
1) Check with the IRS to see if you still have exempt status, and, if so, you can get a copy of your determination letter from the IRS.
2) For the elections, if you don't have a determined group waiting in the wings to oust the currently elected officers--move on. If you do--those people need to figure out if all the drama is really worth it, or if they can channel their energies into helping the existing officers in some harmonious way while they wait for next year's elections to come up.
3) It's not a bad thing to revisit bylaws periodically. Sounds like you successfully found a way to get more time for the membership to review them, which is great. Since the old ones have been found, someone should prepare a list of differences and explain why the changes were made, so that people can vote intelligently on the new proposed ones.
- mum24kids
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Yes, I know, it's a lot. Thank you. Do you know where I can find supporting documentation for the first point - being that bylaws don't expire (which is my own assertion). The proposed ones are not wildly popular with most parents; they are dramatically different and highly restrictive, requiring participation in a minimum of 4 PTO events to be considered an 'active' member, and of course, only 'active' members are allowed to vote.
- Blumtnmama
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I don't know how to prove a negative in this case. I suppose it's possible that the bylaws were written with an expiration date clause, but I've never seen one. I think the people who are saying that they do expire have to provide proof of expiration.
PTA bylaws have to be reviewed every 5 years for a unit to remain in good standing. That may be what someone is confusing it with. But even those don't technically expire. It's not like once 5 years and 1 day goes by and they haven't been re-reviewed/voted upon that all the rules get tossed out the window and you start at ground zero.
- mum24kids
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Yes, that's my quandry - how we prove the negative. I think you're right, the onus would be on the board to prove their assertion of expiration. We weren't chartered through VA PTA, so even if we would be theoretically delinquent in their eyes, it's moot, as we're just one more dinky 501c3 in the landscape.
Thank you again.
- Blumtnmama
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