Overview

This is the revised, final report of the Resolutions Subcommittee to the Convention, containing the preliminary Consent Agenda and Business Agenda. Please read the Change Log carefully for important updates. The next version of this document will be the official minutes of the Convention, which will be published after review by the Convention Planning Committee and the incoming NPC.

At the Convention itself, OpenSlides, our presentation and voting software, will always reflect the current order of business on the Autopilot page. In-person support for OpenSlides is provided at the Convention at the National Tech Committee’s Help Desk.

The Convention Planning Committee, in consultation with its Resolutions Subcommittee, the National Tech Committee, and National Office Staff were responsible for certifying the signature count for each proposal that appears in this document. A proposal’s appearance in this document does not guarantee that it will be heard at Convention and does not represent an endorsement by any DSA entity unless otherwise stated.

Requests for corrections, questions, and comments can be sent to 2025-resolutions-subcommittee@dsausa.org.

Guide to Proposal Numbering

Change Log

You may notice slight differences between how proposals look in this Compendium and how they originally appeared on the forum or in the author’s own document. Minor changes not warranting a full amendment have been made throughout, mostly to address technical issues or errors in spelling, grammar, or style. The latest version of the Compendium is the controlling document in every case. Substantial changes and corrections from the beta version are listed below:

General Updates

• You can find the Convention Planning Committee’s preliminary agenda under the Proposed Agenda and Order of Business heading, preceded by an explanation of our process.
• CA, Consent Agenda, has been prepared by the Resolutions Subcommittee as informed by the results of the Delegate Survey, which ran from July 3-17, and by applying the quantitative and qualitative criteria explained later in this document.
• Please note: at its meeting on July 29, the CPC voted to amend Convention Rule III.C.2 to reduce the threshold to remove an item from the Consent Agenda from a majority vote of delegates to a vote of 40 percent of delegates.
• Results of the survey can be found on the Convention Proposal Dashboard and in this spreadsheet.
• Additional reports have been submitted by the Budget & Finance Committee and the International Committee, which can be found under the Reports heading below.
• Advice from the Parliamentarian solicited by the Resolutions Subcommittee has been added for two items: CB01, Democracy Commission Comprehensive Structural Reform Proposal, on the division of the question and whether a single delegate may demand it. R06, One Member, One Vote for Federal Endorsements, on the way advisory polls may be called in DSA.
• Additional notes explaining the handling of proposals that overlap with provisions of CB01/CR01 (DemCom Proposals) have been added to the following items: R17, Democratize National Commissions and its interaction with CB01-5, National Commission Policy. R45, Voting Rights for All Members and its interaction with CR01, Democracy Commission DSA National and Chapter Affiliation Agreement. In addition, the language of R45 has been updated at the request of the authors to clarify its interaction with CR01.
• The second sentence of Section 3.C in CR01: Democracy Commission DSA National & Chapter Affiliation Agreement Proposal has been deleted at the request of the authors as duplicative of Section 4.
• CR02-A02, Democratic Socialist Internationalism, was initially published without its last two clauses. We regret the error.
• CR03, 2025 GNDCC Convention Resolution, has been corrected to include hyperlinks that were present in the original submission, but were omitted in previous versions of this document. We regret the error.
• A complete list of authors has been added under the heading for R34-A01, A Fighting Socialist Program for DSA, to reflect the merger of R12 and R23 into the amendment.
• R37 has been renumbered as R33-A02, Building a United Front Toward 2028, and is being offered as a substitute amendment to R33, Unite Labor & the Left to Run a Socialist For President and Build the Party.

Scoring Updates

• R19, From Palestine to Mexico: Fighting Fascist Attacks on Immigrants, was initially published with capacity and financial analysis belonging to a different proposal. We regret the error.
• The Budget and Finance Committee has completed their review of proposals and each one now has a Capacity Commitment and Financial Impact Score. You can refer to the Table of Capacity and Financial Scores to see all of them at a glance.

Respectfully submitted,

Chris W (Seattle, CPC co-chair, subcommittee co-chair)
Evan C (Metro Cincinnati and Northern Kentucky, subcommittee co-chair)
Aaron B (at-large, CPC Democracy Commission rep.)
Sean B (Metro Cincinnati and Northern Kentucky, CPC YDSA rep.)
Adithya P (Madison Area)
Richard S (Greater Baltimore)
Ruy M (at-large)
Tom J (Twin Ports)

Special thanks to Zachariah B (Senior Events Coordinator, CPC member), Christian, Shane and the whole Budget & Finance Committee, and Colin, Jen and the whole National Tech Committee.

Reports

The Resolutions Subcommittee solicited reports from each National Commission, Committee, and Working Group, especially those with priority campaigns as decided by the 2023 Convention. The Convention Planning Committee and its subcommittees also prepared reports, as described in the DSA Constitution and Bylaws, and Robert’s Rules.

The Convention will consider reports to adopt, like the Credentials Report, in the course of its business. Below are all the reports submitted to the Subcommittee on or before August 3.

• Budget & Finance 2024 Annual Report
• Budget & Finance 2025 Convention Report
• Budget & Finance 2025 Proposal Scoring Summary
• Convention Planning Committee Monthly Reports
• Credentials Subcommittee Report
• Democracy Commission Report
• Green New Deal Campaign Commission Report
• International Committee Report
• Rules & Elections Subcommittee 2025 NPC Candidate Compendium

Capacity Commitment & Financial Impact Scoring

The Budget & Finance Committee is happy to introduce the replacement for the “cost-out” process at the National Convention.

At previous conventions, each resolution was individually “costed out” in isolation, often through detailed staffing hour estimates and financial spreadsheets. This system was time-consuming, confusing for delegates, and ultimately didn’t give a clear picture of how different resolutions interacted or added up in terms of total organizational impact.

In conjunction with staff, Budget & Finance has decided to move away from the old cost-out system because it wasn’t helping delegates make informed, strategic decisions about what the organization could realistically afford to implement. Resolutions were often passed with staffing or spending mandates that exceeded our actual capacity.

The replacement to the cost-out process is a clear, two-part scoring matrix that assesses:

• Staffing and member capacity required (rated 1 to 4)
• Non-current personnel financial costs (also rated 1 to 4)

Each resolution will be scored in these two areas, and those scores will appear alongside each resolution during convention. This new system gives a holistic, accessible view of the practical impact of what we pass—without burying delegates in spreadsheets.

Amendments are scored based on how it would affect the overall scoring of the underlying resolution if adopted. You can find the combined Cost Out Scores here!

2025 Convention Resolution Scoring Matrix

Process

Each resolution and accompanying amendments will receive scores in two categories as outlined below. These scores will be decided through consensus between staff, B&F and the Personnel Committee, and short explanations with backup information will be provided for each score so delegates understand how values were assigned.

Capacity Commitment (Staff + Member Time)

This category evaluates the total time required from both staff and members to execute the resolution. The scoring reflects the overall effort, combining staff coordination and member involvement.

• 1: Minimal
  • Staff: No significant involvement or minimal coordination required.
  • Member: Requires only a single action from members (e.g., a vote or one-time event participation).
  • Example: A resolution that requires a one-time vote or minimal member input
• 2: Low to Moderate
  • Staff: Some staff involvement needed but manageable by existing staff without significant strain.
  • Member: Requires minimal to moderate participation from the membership (e.g., attending a couple of meetings, completing a few tasks).
  • Example: A resolution that asks members to attend a few events or participate in a simple project, with minimal staff coordination.
• 3: Moderate to High
  • Staff: Involves moderate staff time and coordination (e.g., organizing multi-step initiatives or programs).
  • Member: Requires moderate to substantial participation from members (e.g., sustained volunteer efforts, multiple events, or ongoing actions).
  • Example: A resolution for a grant program and members to participate regularly in related actions.
• 4: High
  • Staff: Requires significant involvement from existing staff or the hiring of new staff.
  • Member: Requires heavy or ongoing time commitment from members, such as forming a new national body or long-term project participation.
  • Example: A resolution calling for major structural changes or national-scale mobilization, demanding substantial staff coordination and member engagement.

Financial Impact

This category assesses the financial costs and resource utilization beyond current personnel time. Each will be an estimate per year.

• 1: Less than $5000
  • No additional financial cost or uses an existing resource (e.g., free software, in-kind donations/resources).
  • Example: A resolution that does not require financial expenditure or uses only existing resources that don’t require fee per use.
• 2: $5000 to $10,000
  • Requires small spending or uses a limited amount of finite resources that can be easily managed.
  • Example: A resolution requiring small-scale purchases (e.g., printing, supplies for a single event).
• 3: $10,000 to $50,000
  • Requires moderate financial outlay or substantial use of finite resources (e.g., marketing, external consulting).
  • Example: A resolution that needs funds for multiple in-person events, moderate campaigns, or external consultant fees.
• 4: Greater than $50,000
  • Requires significant expenditure or major use of finite resources (e.g., large-scale campaigns, hires, major infrastructure investments).
  • Example: A resolution that requires large funds for national campaigns, extensive travel, consultant fees, hiring of new staff positions, or major infrastructure upgrades.

Sample Scoring Table

Right to Reply

Finally, the Budget & Finance Committee understands that authors may not agree with the analysis provided. Authors who disagree with the scoring were given the opportunity to provide a reply, not to exceed 250 words. However, no rebuttals were submitted as of the date of publication.

Agenda Process

The Resolutions Subcommittee, in consultation with the Programming Subcommittee and Convention Planning Committee, will present a preliminary Consent Agenda and Business Agenda for a vote at the start of Convention. The Delegate Survey is just one of the tools we used to help build both agendas. Each of the following six criteria are considered holistically. No one single criteria is necessarily the most important, but each serves the goal of prioritizing and facilitating high quality political debate.

Quantitative Criteria

• Delegate Survey results: eligible proposals with supermajority support will qualify for the Consent Agenda, and will be considered all at once as the first order of business. The rules explaining the Consent Agenda are provided below.
• Signatures gathered: since the Delegate Survey is only open to duly-elected Delegates and Alternates (seated or not), the Discussion Forum is the only place the general membership of DSA can signal their support for a proposal.
• Amendments qualified: the existence of eligible amendments, and the number of amendments to a proposal indicates a baseline level of interest in the main motion.

Qualitative Criteria

• Previous priority designation: Consensus Resolutions (CR) will generally qualify for consideration on either the Consent Agenda or the Business Agenda as the work of a body that has been directed to produce proposals by a previous convention (like the Democracy Commission) or a committee that has been designated as a priority (like the GND Commission).
• Political salience: proposals relevant to the current political situation or that resolve open political questions in the organization.
• Convention’s prerogative: some proposals, such as Constitutional or Bylaws amendments, must be decided by the delegates, and cannot be referred to the NPC.

Proposed Agenda & Order of Business

Friday, August 8

In session 9:00 am to 8:00 pm

• Call to Order and Opening Reports
• Opening Address from the Co-Chairs, 9:00 am
• …

Saturday, August 9

In session 9:00 am to 6:00 pm

• Reconvene, 9:00 am
• …

Sunday, August 10

In session 9:00 am to 4:00 pm

• Reconvene, 9:00 am
• …

CA: Consent Agenda

Submitted by the Convention Planning Committee. Qualified under Convention Rule III.C, with 1001 survey responses as of Jul 17, 2025. Resolutions Subcommittee Review Status: Completed, Budget & Finance Review Status: Completed

Summary

This resolution is a vehicle to adopt multiple proposals at once in the interest of time…

Full text

Whereas, the Convention Planning Committee, in consultation with its Resolutions Subcommittee, is empowered to propose a Consent Agenda of widely-accepted motions under Convention Rule III.C in the interest of time at Convention,

Be it resolved, the 2025 Convention of the Democratic Socialists of America adopts the following items by majority vote:

• Amending CBO2, One Member, One Vote for National Leadership Elections with: CB02-A01: Power to the Members: Deliberative Democracy for One Member One Vote
• …

All General Orders

Where the Order of Business says “General Orders” we will be debating these proposals, in this sequence…

• CB03: Setting Fee Structures for the Organization’s Print Publications
• …

Reported but not recommended

“Recommended” is not a judgement on the merits of the proposal…

• CB05: Members Decide
• …

Constitution & Bylaws Amendments (CB)

To be considered for debate at the Convention, proposed changes to the Constitution or Bylaws must have a minimum of 250 signatures…

CB01: Democracy Commission Comprehensive Structural Reform Proposal

Submitted by Aaron B (Southeast MN), Connell H (River Valley), Ramsin C (Chicago), Allison K (New York City), Kristian H (North Texas). Qualified on Apr 23, 2025, with 519 signatures as of May 11, 2025. Resolutions Subcommittee Review Status: Completed, Budget & Finance Review Status: Completed

Introduction

DSA’s 2023 Convention voted to create the Democracy Commission…

Resolutions (CR, R)

To be considered for debate at the Convention, resolutions must have a minimum of 250 signatures of support…

CR01: Democracy Commission DSA National & Chapter Affiliation Agreement Proposal

Submitted by Aaron B (Southeast MN), Connell H (River Valley), Ramsin C (Chicago), Allison K (New York City), Kristian H (North Texas). Qualified on Apr 23, 2025, with 519 signatures as of May 11, 2025. Resolutions Subcommittee Review Status: Completed, Budget & Finance Review Status: Completed

Summary

Once put into operation by the bylaws changes in CB01, this resolution establishes the chapter affiliation agreements for DSA…

Platform Changes (PC)

To be considered for debate at the Convention, amendments to the platform must have a minimum of 250 signatures of support…

PC01: Ecosocialism Within Ecological Limits: Expanding the Green New Deal

Submitted by Sämu B, Boston. Alexandria S, At-Large. Coilean M, Metro DC. Qualified on Apr 7, 2025, with 284 signatures as of May 11, 2025. Resolutions Subcommittee Review Status: Completed, Budget & Finance Review Status: Completed

Summary

Our resolution modifies the Green New Deal part of DSA’s platform to include language supporting ecosocialist organizing principles…

Index by Portfolio

Electoral

• R04: For a Socialist Party in Years, Not Decades
• …

Internationalism

• R01: DSA for One Palestinian State
• …

Additional Resources

• Official Convention Website
• …