It is commonly believed that the consent of three-quarters of all AA groups in the world is required for certain major changes, e.g. to the Steps, the Traditions, and other documents. This is true, but subject to a major qualification, which changes the situation considerably.
[NB the Conference Charter has twelve articles, the twelfth of which contains the General Warranties of Conference. These are reiterated in substance in Concept Twelve.]
Current Conference Charter (United States and Canada), Article 3, Conference Relation to AA
But no change in Article 12 of the Charter or in the Twelve Traditions of AA or in the Twelve Steps of AA may be made with less than the written consent of three-quarters of the AA groups, as described in the Resolution adopted by the 1955 Conference and Convention. [My emphasis.]
This is commonly thought to mean that three-quarters of the AA groups in the world must agree for such a change to take place. Note the important qualification, however: as described in the Resolution adopted by the 1955 Conference and Convention.
This means that we have to read the Resolution to understand
what is meant.
AND IT IS UNDERSTOOD: That neither the Twelve Traditions of Alcoholics Anonymous nor the warranties of Article XII of the Conference Charter shall ever be changed or amended by the General Service Conference except by first asking the consent of the registered AA groups of the world. These groups shall be suitably notified of any proposal for change and shall be allowed no less than six months for consideration thereof. And before any such Conference action can be taken, there must first be received in writing within the time allotted the consent of at least three-quarters of all those registered groups who respond to such proposal.
Note the last relative clause, which, not being preceded by a comma, is a restrictive relative clause, which means that the three-quarters tally has as its denominator the number of groups who respond, not the number of groups who are registered with the various GSOs and were therefore balloted.
It is unfortunate that this clause has not made its way into the wording of the Conference Charter, because there is quite a difference between requiring the consent of three-quarters of balloted groups and requiring that of three-quarters of responding groups. Nonetheless, the texts are clear and not open to interpretation.
Bill W's essay is furthermore clear on this matter:
But Article 12 of the Charter stands in a class by itself. An amendment or a cancellation of any of its vital Warranties would require the written consent of three-quarters of all the directory-listed A.A. groups who would actually vote on any such proposals, and the considerable time of six months is allowed for careful deliberation.
Note that this text is contained in both the USA / Canada and Great Britain Service Manual / Structure Handbook.
There is one remaining anomaly, which is the fact that the Great Britain Conference Charter makes no reference to the 1955 Resolution, which means that, strictly speaking, the qualifying clause in the 1955 does not make its way as far as the Charter, as the overt link is severed.
But no change in Article 12 of the Charter or in the Twelve Traditions of AA or the Twelve Steps of AA may be made with less than the written consent of three quarters of all registered AA groups worldwide.
This is trivial, however, because the paragraph in question merely describes what would have to happen globally (which is essentially in the hands of the USA / Canada structure); it does not provide a basis for unilateral action to be taken by Great Britain. The fact that the Great Britain text appears to establish a far more exacting basis for radical change (three-quarters of registered groups, not three-quarters of registered groups who vote) changes nothing in practice. It does, however, excuse British readers for making the error in assuming erroneously that the denominator is three-quarters of registered groups.
Footnote: The omission of the hyphen in the phrase three-quarters in the Structure Manual is merely a solecism and has no impact on the reading.