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Proposed Agenda Item Information at AA.org  answers questions you may have about PAIs. 

History:

  • There is no clear definition by the General Service Conference (GSC) of who the Founders and Co-Founders are. By extension, there no defining list of what their writings are. 
  • Lacking those definitions, there is a growing backlog at GSC of PAIs concerned with the Founder’s and C0-Founders’ writings.
  • Our Area Delegate reported on this obstacle, and the Area 02 committee is addressing this situation by submitting the PAI by September 31,  2025.
  • An ad-hoc committee was assembled to research and determine the responses in each section of the PAI below.

Part of the process is to get as much input from Area 02 as possible. Please spread the word.

 

Thank you for submitting your comments to Area 02, and being part of the greater whole of AA. Your comments will be considered by the Area 02 Ad-hoc PAI Committee, before submitting the final PAI to the General Service Conference.

Name
Who are you representing?

Begin Comments:

Section 1: Submit a clear and concisely worded motion.

To clarify and define who is considered Founders and Co-Founders of AA for the purpose of determining what constitutes their writings.

Section 2: What problem does this proposed item address?

AA does not have a current definition of “Founders and Co-Founders. This proposed item allows members to identify Founders and Co-Founders Writings to provide the basis for the threshold for modifications.

Section 3: What level of group conscience, if any, discussed the proposed agenda item? Make it clear who is submitting the item (an individual, group, district, area, etc.).

We want the most comprehensive, far-reaching outreach to Area 02. i.e. area, districts, groups. This agenda item is being submitted by Area 02. This was a topic of discussion at our Summer Assembly to submit this PAI from Area 02.

Section 4: Provide background information that describes and supports the reasoning for the proposal. List background material(s) included with the proposal:

According to GSO, during the past five General Service Conference's there were approximately 124 proposals for change, to undue change, or to protect against changes to the books Alcoholics Anonymous and Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions hence the need for clarification.

Since the changes in the 12X12, the PAI submission numbers have greatly increased.

From the 75th GSC alone, and the number of PAIs routed to Policy and Admissions (PAI #36, #93, and #96) and Report and Charter (PAI #81, #15) it is apparent there is ambiguity in defining the Founders and CoFounders.

In the 75th GSC Committee Considerations; Policy & Admissions; page 11: bullet point #8, states:

“The committee considered a request that a super majority of voting members be required to change or amend Founder’s Literature and took no action. The committee expressed the importance of this topic but also noted that developing a policy on possible voting requirements and procedures may be preemptive prior to defining what would be categorized as co-founders’ writings.”

In the 75th GSC Committee Considerations: Report & Charter; page 17 bullet point #2 states:

“The Conference Report and Charter Committee discussed the requests for a revision to Article Three of the Conference Charter in relation to changes to the co- founder’s writings and took no action. The committee noted that further clarification was needed on the definition of co-founder’s writings prior to considering changes in policy or to the Conference Charter.”

Section 5: What are the intended/expected outcomes if this proposed item is approved?

We will benefit from greater clarity and will result in a more positive environment for meaningful discussion and merits of Proposed Agenda Items, rather than discussing definitions of Founders writings.

The intended outcome is that the fellowship will have the definitions of Founders and Co-Founders thus allowing for discussing the merits of a PAI. It will clear the way for the PAIs waiting for these definitions.

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