The division championship committees shall maintain oversight responsibility for applicable playing regulations in the areas of player safety, financial impact, image of the sport, the impact on the ability to administer any rule during the regular season and during the administration of the championship in the applicable sport, and approve appeals for division -specific exceptions to the applicable playing regulations when significant financial impact may occur (subject to the final authority of the Executive Committee).
All proposed playing rules changes for a given year involving safety, financial impact or the image of the sport will be reported to the championships committees for consideration at their meetings as outlined in the attached schedule.
If the division requires Management Council or Presidents Council ratification of the championships committee action, that action must take place at the applicable meetings as outlined in the attached schedule.
If a proposed rules change is adopted by all three divisions, no further action is required; the change will be published in the next edition of the appropriate playing rules book.
If the proposed rules change is unanimously defeated by all three divisions' governing structures, it is considered dead.
If the proposed rules change is not adopted by all (e.g., one group is different from the other two) three divisions, the appropriate rules committee is obligated to state and forward the respective governing structure's positions (i.e., championships/ management/ president) on the issue (most rules committees would have to convene via conference call for this purpose) when it is forwarded to the Executive Committee. The Executive Committee will be required to act upon that recommendation at its meeting (per the attached schedule). If the playing rule has financial ramifications, the Executive Committee has the authority to approve the change on a division -by-division basis. If the change does not have financial ramifications, the rule must be the same for all three divisions.