PRAASA Guidelines

PACIFIC REGION ALCOHOLICS ANONYMOUS SERVICE ASSEMBLY (PRAASA) GUIDELINES

PRAASA is sponsored by the Areas of the Pacific Region. The Region boundaries are designated in the AA Service Manual.

PURPOSE

The purpose of PRAASA is to develop greater unity among the members, groups, and Areas of the Pacific Region; to encourage the exchange of ideas and experiences; and to provide an opportunity for members to discuss pertinent aspects of AA. The Assembly and the PRAASA committee should always foster the Recovery, Unity and Service legacies of AA.

DELEGATES

The Delegates of the Pacific Region have overall responsibility for implementing the PRAASA. They will meet at the Conference each year to select, from among the interested Areas, the site for the PRAASA four years ahead. Special consideration should be given to bids from Areas which have hosted fewer Assemblies than other bidders. The Delegates select an Advisory Committee which represents the Pacific Region Delegates in lending continuity and guidance to host committees in the periods between PRAASA business meetings. The Delegate of the area whose bid is accepted shall appoint an archivist for that assembly within 60 days of the close of the Conference. The archivist will implement, under the supervision of the Advisory Committee, the updating of the Assembly history book as follows:

        a.   Compile a comprehensive historical report from the time of the bid until the applicable data is
              passed to the next hosting Area.

        b.   Use the same page format as previous Assembly histories.

        c.   Page numbering will continue from the previous Assembly history.

        d.   Forward one copy of the historical report to each Area Archives in the Pacific Region or to the
              Area Committee if there is no Archives. This report should be added to the appropriate section
              of the book maintained by the Area.

        e.   Additional memory-lane items and copies of the revised guidelines will be added to their
              sections of the Area history book.

        f.    All memorabilia will be passed to the Archives of the hosting Area to be stored and maintained
              by that Archives.   It is part of the Area history.

Advance planning is of great importance to an effective PRAASA. Therefore, the Delegate of the next host area shall announce the name and address of the next PRAASA chairperson at each Assembly business meeting.

 
GENERAL

The dates for the PRAASA shall be that weekend (Friday through Sunday) which includes the first Friday in March.

 1. A business meeting will be scheduled for each Assembly and listed in the program, which will also
     encourage all AA members to attend. All AA members in attendance shall have one vote.

        a.   Minutes and the Uniform Standard Financial Report from the preceding meeting shall be read for
              approval.

        b.   Bids shall be submitted from those Areas willing to host the Assembly four years ahead.

        c.   Motions concerning internal operations of the Assembly should be presented for approval, which
              will require a majority of the AA members present and voting. Whenever possible, motions
              should be submitted to the Assembly chairperson in sufficient time for inclusion in the registration
              packet.

 2. All current Delegates and the Trustee of the Pacific Region should attend the Assembly, which shall
     pay the Trustee’s expense in full.

3. After all expenses have been paid a positive balance may exist. If the balance is 0 to $1500, it will be
    sent to the current Delegate of the Area which will host in the second year following. This seed money
    will be transferred within 60 days after the close of each Assembly. In the same time span, any excess
    after taking out the $1500 seed money shall be divided equally among the next three Assemblies
    farthest in the future, with forwarded funds noted on the bottom of the Uniform Standard Financial
    Report.  Any excess transferred to those three Assemblies shall be a factor in setting the fee for
    registration. It should be the policy of the chairperson to keep the registration fee as low as possible to
    encourage attendance, particularly at the local level. A large surplus should be avoided.

4. Include a copy of the PRAASA guidelines with the other pertinent information in the packet given at
    registration.

 5. www.praasa.org is the official web site of the Pacific Region Alcoholics Anonymous Service
     Assembly and thus the host and domain registration shall be the responsibility of PRAASA to fund.
     The purpose of the site will be to provide information on upcoming PRAASAs as well as historical
     data from past PRAASAs. The custody of the site will be passed on yearly to the next hosting
     committee. To adhere to AA’s tradition of personal anonymity, last names of AA members and
     personal e-mail addresses will not be listed: photographs of AA members will not be used. Only links
     relating to the current PRAASA should be allowed.

6. TRANSLATION EQUIPMENT: The translation equipment will be the responsibility of the current
     PRAASA host committee. The current committee will be responsible for inventory/transfer/shipping of
     the equipment to the next host committee. The equipment will be stored in a protected environment.

 
CHAIRPERSON

The Assembly chairperson should have a general overall knowledge of AA and experience with conventions, conference or assemblies will be helpful. He/she should be willing to devote considerable time and effort for a period of about 13 months. Some of the chairperson’s many responsibilities follow:

 1.     Make commitments and agreements only for the specific Assembly which he/she chairs.

2.     Select an Assembly committee including a secretary, treasurer, and others as needed.

3.     Arrange for the meeting place.

4.     Determine how housing and transportation will be handled.

5.     Produce and mail fliers at least twice, once early (four to six months prior) and again about six
        weeks prior to the Assembly date. The mailing list furnished by the preceding chairman should be
        kept confidential.

6.     Notify Box 459 and the Grapevine, approximately 4 months in advance.

7.     Formulate a program to cover such aspects of AA as the General Service Conference agenda
         topics and other topics directly concerning AA. Only AA members and trustees should participate in
         the AA program. GSRs, DCMs, and  other service people who have not been on a PRAASA
         program should be seriously considered for participation.  Printed programs shall include,
         verbatim, the PURPOSE of PRAASA as has been defined elsewhere in these PRAASA
         Guidelines; for printing purposes, estimate 2.5 programs for each person expected at the
         Assembly.

8.     Provide literature needed. Good judgement will be used so that only conference-approved literature,
        Grapevine material, local service material and PRAASA tapes may be displayed or sold, but not
        trinkets or tapes from other meetings.

9.     Submit a Uniform Standard Financial Report to the Area Delegates and the Regional Trustee within
        90 days from the close of
         the Assembly.

10.   Turn over to the current Delegate of the next hosting Area a copy of the Uniform Standard Financial
         Report, a mailing  list and a copy of the business meeting minutes; and maintain a file of all letters,
         reports, printed matter and other material pertaining to the Assembly.

11.   Direct the treasurer to distribute funds specified in paragraph 3 under General.

12.   Plan on providing certified interpreters for the deaf. This service will be cancelled if no requests have
        been received within a deadline consistent with local practices for this service.

13.   Plan on providing professional translators for Spanish-speaking participants. This service will be
        cancelled if no requests have been received within a deadline consistent with local practices for this
        service.

THE END
 

The foregoing PRAASA Guidelines are updated by direction of the Assemblies through 07 March 2009.

____________________________________________________________________________________
 
LIST OF PRAASAS
CNI
Fresno
68
Sacramento
87
Fresno
02
 
 
 
 
NV
Reno
69
Las Vegas
73
Reno
79
Las Vegas
86
Reno
03
AZ
Phoenix
70
Tucson
76
Tucson
91
Tucson
05
 
 
SC
Santa Maria
71
Bakersfield
90
Los Angeles
10
 
 
 
 
WW
Pasco
72
Seattle
77
Tacoma
95
Bellevue
12
 
 
ID
Boise
74
Pocatello
85
Boise
98
 
 
 
 
UT
Salt Lake City
75
Salt Lake City
88
Ogden
00
 
 
 
 
HI
Honolulu
78
Honolulu
89
Kailua-Kona
99
Hawaii
11
 
 
MSC
Anaheim
80
Torrance
93
Irvine
04
 
 
 
 
AK
Anchorage
81
Juneau
94
Anchorage
08
 
 
 
 
OR
Portland
82
Portland
92
Portland
07
 
 
 
 
CNC
Santa Clara
83
San Jose
96
Oakland
09
 
 
 
 
SDI
San Diego
84
San Diego
97
 
 
 
 
 
 
WSE
Spokane
01
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
CC

Woodland Hills

06