Membership Code

B. Numbering
- Article numbers I through IX are reserved for the Bylaws. Article numbers XI through XIX are reserved for the Membership Code. Articles numbers XXI through XXIX are reserved for the Board Code.
- Changing the order and/or numbering/lettering of articles/sections/subsections in the Code without changing their text or their place in the Hierarchy of Authority (see I.6) shall not require a vote of the membership or of the Board and may be done by a joint decision of the VP/O and the Secretary.
- When the League Rules are amended, the numbering and references throughout the League Rules shall be adjusted to maintain consistency.
- References to other parts of the League Rules are enclosed in parentheses and begin with the word ‘see.’ A reference may omit the number/letter of the article/section/subsection if it is located in that same article/section. References to the California Corporations Code are enclosed in parentheses and begin with ‘see CORP §’ followed by the section number.

C. Majority
When calculating a simple majority or supermajority of the members:
- the numerator shall include all member school representatives who vote Yes;
- the denominator shall include all member school representatives who are present at the meeting (or who submitted their written ballot), including those who vote Yes, vote No, explicitly abstain, or do not vote;
- the denominator shall also include member school representatives who are represented by proxy at that meeting;
- the denominator shall not include member school representatives who are not present at the meeting and are not represented by proxy at that meeting (or who do not submit a written ballot).

D. Deadlines
- A deadline stated as being ‘N’ days prior to a given event shall be defined as being exactly ‘N×24’ hours prior to 11:59:59 PM (Pacific Time) of the day on which that event starts.
- A deadline stated as being ‘N’ days after a given event shall be defined as being exactly ‘N×24’ hours after 11:59:59 PM (Pacific Time) of the day on which that event ends.
- If a section stating a particular deadline conflicts with this sub-section, the section stating that particular deadline shall take precedence.

SECTION 2. Board Elections

A. Timeline
Board elections for the subsequent term shall be held at a Meeting of Members in March, April, or May.

B. Eligibility
Any natural person who is a high school graduate and is 18 years or older and is not prohibited from serving on the Board by the Bylaws may declare their candidacy for the Board.

C. Candidacy Declaration
- Candidates must declare their candidacy in writing to the VP/O and to the Inspector(s) of Election at least 2 days prior to the election. This deadline may be suspended for a particular candidate by a two-thirds vote of the membership.
- The VP/O must send the list of candidates in writing to the membership at least 1 day prior to the election.
- No person may be a candidate for more than one Board position at a time.

D. Inspectors of Election
- The VP/O shall appoint one or more the Inspector(s) of Election and shall notify the Board in writing. The Board may veto the VP/O appointee(s) and may appoint its own Inspector(s) of Election.
- Counting ballots and other election logistics shall be the duty of the Inspector(s) of Election.
- No Inspector of Election may be a candidate in the elections they inspect.
- All Inspectors of Election must be announced to the membership and to the candidates prior to the election.

E. Secret Ballot
All school representatives shall be guaranteed a secret ballot during Board elections. The Inspector of Election may see how school representatives voted, but may not share this information with any person who is not also an inspector of that particular election.

F. Verifiability
The election procedure must ensure that the vote count is verifiable and that no person casts more votes than they are entitled to cast.

G. Voting System
- If there is only one candidate for a Board position, that candidate shall be elected upon being confirmed by a simple majority vote of the membership.
- If there are two candidates for a Board position, the candidate receiving more votes shall be elected.
- If there are three or more candidates for a Board position, the IRV (Instant Runoff Voting) method shall be used. The school representatives shall rank the candidates from most to least preferred. The ballots shall be counted, and the candidate with the smallest number of voters who picked them as their top choice shall be eliminated. The voters who voted for the eliminated candidate shall have their ballots re-distributed to their second choice, if indicated, then their third choice, and so on. This procedure shall be repeated until only one candidate remains. That candidate shall be elected.
- If the election takes place during an even year, ties shall be broken in favor of the candidate whose last name, as it appeared on the ballot, comes first alphabetically. If the election takes place during an odd year, ties shall be broken in favor of the candidate whose last name, as it appeared on the ballot, comes last alphabetically.

SECTION 3. Meetings of Members

A. Member Roster
At least 10 days prior to any meeting of members, the Secretary shall send to the school representatives a roster of all schools that were voting members as of 14 days prior to that meeting. This roster shall be considered final for that meeting, except for any corrections of the mistakes brought to the attention of the Secretary prior to the start of the meeting.

B. Substitutes
A member school may designate a coach affiliated with that school as a substitute school representative for a particular meeting. This designation must be submitted to the Secretary and the VP/O in writing. Votes cast by the substitute representatives are final.

C. Proposal Submission
- Any school representative may sponsor a proposal to amend the League Rules.
- Each proposal shall include (1) the text added by the proposal, shown in blue, bolded, and underlined, (2) the text deleted by the proposal, shown in red and crossed out, (3) the text of the affected sections that remains the same, shown in black.
- The draft of any proposal to amend the League Rules shall be submitted in writing by its sponsor to the VP/O no later than 14 days prior to the meeting.
- The drafts of all proposals shall be submitted in writing to the school representatives no later than 10 days prior to the meeting.
- Proposal text must be finalized by its sponsor no later than 2 days prior to the meeting. This deadline may be suspended for a particular proposal by a two-thirds vote of the membership.

D. Proposal Amendments
- Any school representative may sponsor an amendment to another school representative’s proposal.
- Proposal amendments must be submitted in writing to the VP/O no later than 1 day prior to the meeting. This deadline may be suspended for a particular amendment by a two-thirds vote of the membership.
- Any proposal may be amended by a simple majority vote of the membership.

SECTION 4. Written Ballots

A. Scheduling
Written Ballots may only be called by a vote of the Board.

B. Proposal Submission
The only proposals eligible to appear on a Written Ballot are those approved for that purpose by the Board.

C. Voting Period
- Ballots are due 14 days after they are distributed to the membership by the Secretary (see II.19.A);
- Schools that become members after the start of the voting period shall not be eligible to vote on that written ballot.

SECTION 5. Tournament Meetings

A. Scope
- The provisions of this Code regarding Finances (see XII), General Operations (see XIII), Tournament Operations (see XIV), or Event Rules (see XV), as they pertain to a particular tournament, may be suspended and/or replaced for that particular tournament at a Tournament Meeting.
- A Tournament Meeting, as described in this section, shall not be considered a Meeting of Members. This does not preclude duly called Meetings of Members from being held during tournaments.

B. Calling a Tournament Meeting
- A tournament meeting may be called by the tournament director.
- It may also be called by a petition signed by the representatives of 25% of the member schools registered for that tournament.
- A tournament meeting may take place at any time between the tournament registration deadline and the end of the tournament.
- The tournament director shall make every reasonable effort to ensure that representatives of all schools eligible to vote at the meeting are informed about the time and location of that meeting.

C. Voting Eligibility
Representatives may vote at a tournament meeting only if:
- they represent a member school, and
- their school is registered for that tournament.

D. Approval Requirements
Decisions at Tournament Meetings may be made by a simple majority of all registered schools. When calculating the majority:
- the numerator shall include the representatives of all member schools registered for that tournament who vote Yes;
- the denominator shall include all member schools registered for that tournament.

ARTICLE XII. FINANCES

SECTION 1. Adjustment for Inflation

A. Appendix A (CFL Inflation Adjustment Summary) shall list all dollar values included in this Membership Code.

B. On or about August 20 of each year, the Treasurer shall update Appendix A to add the ‘base’ column for the current year. For each row, the current year’s base number is obtained by adjusting last year’s base number for inflation using the Chained Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers, yielding a precise number of both dollars and cents (see http://data.bls.gov/cgi-bin/cpicalc.pl ).

C. The Treasurer shall then add the ‘rounded’ column for the current year. For each row, the current year’s rounded number is obtained by rounding the current year’s base number to the nearest whole dollar. The Treasurer shall then update the dollar values in the Membership Code using the rounded numbers for the current year.

D. When engaging in financial transactions, CFL shall use the rounded numbers for the current year. When the subsequent year’s treasurer, however, adjusts the numbers for inflation again, they shall use the base number as the starting point.

SECTION 2. Collection of Dues

A. The CFL membership dues shall be $160 school per year.

B. CFL membership dues must be received on or before October 1 (see Section 4.B).

C. The invoice for payment of membership dues must be made available to potential member schools on or before September 1.

SECTION 3. Tournament Fees

A. The entry fees for regular CFL tournaments are $13 per student. The entry fees for State Qualifying tournaments are $25 per student. The tournament director will set the deadline (see XIII.6) after which entry fees are non-refundable.

B. The nuisance fine is $25 per incident, paid in addition to the entry fees. A nuisance fine shall be imposed for:
- dropping an entry after the drop deadline (see XIII.6), including students not showing up to one or more rounds,
- changing student name(s) in an entry after the registration deadline (see XIII.6),
- adding entries after the registration deadline (see XIII.7).

C. The tournament director may waive tournament fines. Fines may not be appealed after the awards ceremony of the tournament.

SECTION 4. Collection of Payments

A. Following the last league tournament of October, December, January, and March, the Treasurer shall send to each school a statement listing the school’s balance due, starting balance for the fiscal year (see I.7), fees incurred by the school during the fiscal year, and payments received from the school during the fiscal year. Each statement should be accompanied by the invoices for all tournaments listed in it. The Treasurer may also send out interim unofficial statements.

B. The balance is due 30 days from receipt of the official statement. Late payment shall incur a $64 fine per official statement.

C. By February 1st, schools must pay all fees incurred in the previous calendar year. By July 1st schools must pay all fees incurred for the current academic year. Schools not completing these requirements will be prevented from competing in tournaments until their fees are paid.

D. The Treasurer may consider at their discretion a proof of payment request or member school account records showing owed fees debited as sufficient to allow schools’ entries to compete after deadlines and/or to suspend late payment fines.

E. An exception to the rules in subsections A-C of this section can be made by a two-thirds vote of the Board.

SECTION 5. Expenditures

A. CFL funds shall only be spent on items that are necessary for league operation and/or further the purposes of the league (see I.4) and/or are explicitly authorized in this article.

B. The Board, unless overruled by the membership, shall have the power to spend CFL funds and/or to designate committees and/or individuals with the conditional or unconditional power to spend CFL funds. The Board, unless overruled by the membership, shall also have the power to decide where CFL funds are held/invested.

C. No CFL funds may be spent unless the expenditure is authorized by the membership and/or the Board and/or a designee of the membership and/or the Board.

SECTION 6. Reimbursements

A. No reimbursements will be made prior to the Treasurer receiving an invoice, receipt or other adequate documentation of the expense.

B. A school is entitled to a reimbursement for food served to judges and coaches at any tournament hosted by that school at a rate of $13 per each judge or coach present, assuming one coach per school.

C. A school may also request reimbursement of custodial and district or school-mandated fees incurred.

D. If documented costs of hosting exceed concession revenue plus reimbursed costs, schools may receive up to $615 to cover losses.

E. An individual may request reimbursement of expenses incurred on behalf of CFL. Reimbursable expenses include travel, lodging and meals connected with attendance at California High School Speech Association (CHSSA) meetings, copying and printing, and other incidental costs resulting from the conduct of CFL or CHSSA business. The Treasurer (unless overruled by the Board) and the Board may create restrictions on reimbursements covered in this subsection.

SECTION 7. Reserve Fund

A. The league shall maintain $12312 in the CFL Reserve Fund.

B. All Reserve Fund expenditures must be authorized by the Legislature or by a two-thirds vote of the Board. The power to authorize Reserve Fund expenditures may not be delegated to designees.

C. If the Reserve Fund shall at any point in time have less than $12312 in it, the Board must take steps to increase the Reserve Fund back to $12312 as soon as possible.

SECTION 8. Financial Disclosure

A. For each transaction that CFL engaged in during that Treasurer’s term, the Treasurer or designee must maintain a digital record of the amount paid or received, the legal entity that either paid or received the funds, and the reason for the transaction. The Treasurer must also maintain a digital record (scanning any paper documents when necessary) of any relevant supporting documentation, including tournament invoices, receipts and other documentation accompanying reimbursements (see 6), bank statements, check deposit receipts etc. The Treasurer must also keep records of the total amount of CFL assets and where those assets are held/invested.

B. The Treasurer must release all financial records (except see subsection C) to the CFL school representatives at least two days prior to each Meeting of Members. As of the day of the Meeting of Members, those records should be no more than 30 days out of date. The Treasurer or designee shall then present at the Meeting of Members a brief overview of the financial state of the league.

C. The Treasurer should withhold from release any supporting documentation that contains sensitive financial information (e.g. bank account numbers on check deposit receipts). The Treasurer shall, however, give access to these records to the Board and ensure that the records are passed on to the successor Treasurer.

D. All financial records that were released to the school representatives for the last Meeting of Members of the fiscal year shall be made public and available on the official CFL website prior to the end of that fiscal year.

ARTICLE XIII. GENERAL OPERATIONS

SECTION 1. Tournament Eligibility for Schools

A. Only CFL member schools and CFL observer schools may compete at CFL tournaments.

B. Any school which is not eligible to become a voting member (see II.1) but meets the following criteria shall be eligible to become a CFL observer school:
- is located in the following counties: San Mateo, Monterey, San Benito, Santa Clara, Santa Cruz; and
- serves students in grades 9 through 12; and
- is an accredited public school, or is a registered private school that has filed the mandatory Private School Affidavit per California Education Code 33190.

C. The process for registering as an observer school shall be the same as the process for registering as a member school. League participation fees for observer schools shall be the same amount as membership dues.

D. (See XII.4.C)

E. Additional tournament eligibility requirements for schools and/or tournament participants may be set by the Board Code.

SECTION 2. Tournament Eligibility for Students

A. Students participating in CFL tournaments shall meet the academic requirements for co-curricular participation established by their schools and/or school districts. Students must be enrolled in the school they represent in grades 9 through 12.

B. Speech:

1) All of the following requirements must be met in order for a student to be entered in the Novice division:
- The student is in their first ten months of forensics competition (does not have to be consecutive)
- The student did not attend a competitive event-specific camp with adults as primary instructors
- The student has not competed in more than 3 tournaments as an elementary or middle school student.
- The student has not, while in high school, advanced to elimination rounds at any Varsity League Speech Tournament.

2) In Duo, if one person is a Novice and the other Varsity, they must compete in Varsity.

C. Debate:

1) All of the following requirements must be met in order for a student to be entered in the Novice division:
- The student is in their first ten months of forensics competition (does not have to be consecutive)
- The student did not attend a competitive event-specific camp with adults as primary instructors
- The student has not competed in Varsity competition at any debate tournament
- The student has competed in no more than one Varsity speech tournament
- The student did not “advance” beyond prelim rounds of any Novice debate tournament (including 3-0 record in CFL Novice)
- The student has not competed in more than 3 tournaments as an elementary or middle school student.

2) Students may compete in the Junior Varsity division of one CFL debate tournament and retain their Novice eligibility if their record at the JV tournament is 0-4 or 1-3. A second JV win or a second JV tournament automatically makes the student ineligible to compete as a CFL Novice.

3) Students who are no longer eligible to compete in the Novice division but have yet to be promoted to the Varsity level (see #5 below) are eligible to compete in the CFL Junior Varsity division.

4) All students shall be eligible to compete in the Junior Varsity division with the following exceptions:
- The student has a 4-0 record at any Varsity division CFL debate tournament
- The student has qualified to the CHSSA State Tournament or the NSDA National Tournament in any debate division
- The student has been the champion of any Varsity or Open debate division of a non-CFL tournament with more than twelve entries.

5) In Policy, Parliamentary, and Public Forum, a pair with uneven levels of experience will compete under the rules applicable to the more experienced partner.

D. In Congress, there are no designated novices, but new students compete at the House level.

E. Coaches may apply for an exception to these rules by appeal to the VP of the appropriate event.

SECTION 3. Eligibility of Judges

A. Judges must not be enrolled in high school and must be at least 18 years old except that varsity competitors may judge novice events.

B. Schools may strike judges for cause and those judges shall not be assigned to judge that school's competitions.

1) No school may strike the entire judging pool from any school.

2) Strikes may be overridden by a panel of at least three officers for the good of the tournament.

C. Coaches who object to having first year out CFL competitors judge their students, must inform the judges room staff before the start of each tournament.

1) Those judges shall not be assigned to judge that school’s competitors.

2) Strikes of first year students may be overridden by a panel of at least three officers for the good of the tournament.

D. No coach or individual acting as coach / supervisor of a competing school may judge at a tournament once they have been working in the tab room or the judges room at that tournament unless excused to do so by the Tournament Director because of lack of judges without conflicts.

E. Judge Comportment: Any judge found to be unruly, excessively disrespectful, aggressive or a danger to the students by any CFL coach must be reported immediately to the Tournament Director. The TD should interview the judge as soon as possible and may excuse the judge without penalty to that judge's school.

F. Judge Instructions:

1) Judge instructions for each event shall be read aloud to the judges at the beginning of the tournament and when the number of recently arrived judges is approximately more than half the judge pool. These oral instructions shall be standardized so every judge gets the same instructions.

2) Brief reminders of basic expectations of the judges shall be given before every round.

3) Printed copies of judge instructions (see Appendices C, D, E, F, G) must be available to all.

G. Elimination Round Judge Allocation: When circumstances permit, all effort will be taken to distribute judges from schools still competing before using judges from eliminated schools. All effort will be made to ensure judging assignments are balanced.

SECTION 4. Student Conduct

A. Students at tournaments must follow the rules of their school and the tournament host school.

B. Students may not enter competition rooms before a judge or tournament official arrives.

C. Students may not leave host school grounds during a tournament until released by their official chaperon.

D. Students may not manipulate speaker order.

E. Any theft, damage or defacement of property will be prosecuted to the fullest extent allowed by law. Students in violation of these rules may be barred from participation in CFL.

F. Tardiness: Individuals arriving within 15 minutes of the beginning of competition may be allowed to compete in round 1. Schools and/or individuals arriving more than 15 minutes late, but prior to the second round of their event, may compete in the second round at the discretion of the Tournament Director, but shall receive an automatic loss in round 1 with a forfeit win being given to the opponent, or last place in the room in the case of Speech. Participants whose tardiness results from conflicts or errors in tournament operation shall be given a bye at the discretion of the tournament director. Students who have not arrived by fifteen minutes into the second round of their event shall be dropped from the tournament.

SECTION 5. Coaches’ Responsibilities

A. The specific site rules governing the host school must be followed.

B. Each coach who has entries in the tournament shall be an assistant to the tournament director.

C. Each school which enters a tournament must have a coach or other designated adult who will assume responsibility for tournament duties for the duration of the tournament. This individual may only be counted as a required judge if they have not been assigned to a tournament duty. This legal representative of the school must have consent-to-treat forms at the tournament for each of the school’s students competing that day. This representative must be available to stay in the tab room or be easily contactable and have the following information:
- a roster of all students competing, with cell phone numbers,
- all emergency forms for every single student,
- a list of judges with cell phone numbers, and
- a list of entries covered by each judge.

D. Coaches must register competitors by the deadline specified by the tournament director. Competitors of a coach tardy by more than fifteen minutes beyond the time frame will be dropped from the tournament unless the coach communicates with the Tournament Director. (Tournament Directors must provide a number where they can be reached the morning of the tournament.) Competition in subsequent rounds will be at the discretion of the Tournament Director. Schools / coaches who are consistently late may be penalized by decision of the majority of officers.

E. Coaches shall know their school and/or school district's rules for co-curricular eligibility and liability and shall inform their students and enforce rules accordingly.

F. Coaches shall inform their students of the CFL rules of conduct for student participants. A coach who fails to meet their tournament operation responsibilities shall be incur the following penalties: lack of medical consent forms for all students competing at a tournament (entire school will be dropped), coach arriving after registration period is closed (all entries dropped from 1st round), CFL officer failing to meet tournament operation responsibilities (after approval of a majority of officers, the president will write a letter to that school’s principal; further offense coach in question will be barred from league tournaments).

G. Coaches or designated adults performing coach's duties shall not divulge results or ballot information prior to the conclusion of the tournament.

H. Coaches shall not interfere with the tabulation or results of events.

I. When circumstances permit, coaches may be excused from tournament coach commitment (i.e. tournament duties) when all competitors from that school have been eliminated with Tournament Director approval.

SECTION 6. Entry Deadlines

A. Invitations. All tournament invitations and forms must be distributed / made available to the coaches at least 3 weeks before the tournament. Updates on tournament information should be made with as much advance notice as possible.

B. Entries must meet the deadline set by the tournament director and must be received in the format requested. Deadlines may not be earlier than one week prior to the tournament.

SECTION 7. Late Registration

Late registration for a school may be accepted at the discretion of the tournament director, with the exception of State Qualifying tournaments

SECTION 8. Protests

A. The protest shall contain a summary of the facts of the case. It shall also contain the citation(s) of the rule(s) that had allegedly been violated (see CFL Code XIII, XIV, XV and CHSSA Rules and Regulations IX, XI, XIII). Upon request, the tournament director shall designate a coach to assist in the drafting of the protest.

B. The protest shall be submitted in writing by the chaperone of the protesting entry to the tournament director. The chaperone of the protested entry shall be notified promptly.

C. Protests occurring after the end of the tournament must be submitted before the end of the next day after the tournament. All protests must be adjudicated by the end of the second day after the tournament.

D. For each protest, the tournament director shall appoint a protest committee consisting of 3 CFL coaches not affiliated with the schools/people involved in the protest.

E. The protest committee shall determine the facts of the case by interviewing the people involved in the protest.

F. The protest committee shall impose consequences per the CHSSA enforcement guidelines (see CHSSA Rules and Regulations IX.4 and XI.1), or NSDA Rules in the case of evidence.

G. The decision of the majority of the protest committee shall be final.

H. A round result being overturned by a protest committee or to correct a tabulation error shall not require a retroactive change to power-matched preliminary round pairings if they have already been published.

I. In the event of a tabulation error, the corrected results shall be used. Mistaken announcements based on incorrect tabulation may not serve as grounds for an award or qualification.

SECTION 9. Sweepstakes

A. CFL Sweepstakes Awards shall be awarded to the top 10 schools that earn the most points during the State Qualifying tournaments.

B. Points shall be earned as follows:

1st place = 9 points

2nd place = 7 points

3rd place = 6 points

4th place = 5 points

5th-7th places = 4 points

8th-14th places = 2 points

C. Points for Presiding Officers shall be earned as follows:

1st place = 6 points

2nd place = 4 points

D. Points for debate events shall be earned as follows:

1st place = 18 points

2nd place = 14 points

3rd place = 12 points

4th place = 10 points

5th-7th places = 8 points

8th-14th places = 4 points

E. If schools earn the same total of Sweepstakes points, the school with the greatest number of 1st-place entries among all State Qualifier tournaments will be given the higher overall ranking. When practical, further ties will be broken based on the number of 2nd-place, 3rd-place, etc. If such ties cannot be feasibly broken, duplicate awards for the higher ranking will be awarded.

SECTION 10. Entry Limitations

A. Aside from the double-entry restrictions placed in XIII.1.C (Debate), XIII.2.D (Speech), and XIII.3.C (Student Congress), there shall be no restrictions on tournament entries outside of the limitations of the host school.

B. Once the registration deadline has passed, if a tournament is over capacity, the Tournament Director shall use the following procedures with the intent of bringing the tournament under capacity with as few entries dropped as possible.

1) See if additional rooms can be reserved at the host site.

2) See if schools are willing to voluntarily drop entries. Voluntary drops will apply to Step 7 if needed.

3) Investigate potential option of split sites

4) Revise the tournament schedule.

5) If Steps 1 and 2 cannot bring the tournament under capacity, analyze the entry totals in each event. If the elimination of one or two entries in a given event(s) will reduce the number of rooms used, all schools in that event(s) shall be asked to drop an entry with the exception of schools with a total of six students or less. Students who drop should be moved to another event if doing so will not add to the number of rooms needed for the tournament.

6) If Steps 1-3 cannot bring the tournament under capacity, all coaches with double-entered students shall be asked to limit all of these students to one entry apiece.

7) If Steps 1-4 cannot bring the tournament under capacity, Each school’s allocation to be based on previous year’s entry at same tournament. Schools get 70% of the previous year’s entries in each event as the “baseline” with the remainder going to the waitlist. New school (or schools without entry the previous year) will get 70% of their entry with the remainder going to the waitlist. A random order would be established and then each school wait-listed would be allocated to the open rooms in a snake-pattern. The order in which competitors are entered is the preference that they will be entered into the tournament

8) If none of the steps above bring the tournament under capacity, the Tournament Director shall have the sole discretion to drop entries as needed, provided that entries from schools with no voluntary drops shall be removed first.

C. Students who drop as a result of the procedures above shall be placed on a waiting list in chronological order based on the date and time the student was dropped. If additional entries are dropped after the tournament is brought under capacity, the Tournament Director shall inform the appropriate coach that their wait-listed student may re-enter the tournament.

D. These steps must be implemented and all coaches appropriately informed no later than 72 hours prior to the first round of the tournament.

SECTION 11. Open Rooms

A. Competitors and judges may not prevent observers from watching rounds or taking notes while observing during varsity rounds. Competitors or judges who disallow observers may be subject to sanction.

B. Observers who are intentionally disruptive may be removed by judges and may be subject to sanction by the CFL including, but not limited to, suspension of CFL eligibility or the removal of a team’s entry from the tournament.

C. A Novice/JV debate round should be made open to observers only if all debaters competing in that round agree to that.

D. The tournament director may restrict observers for reasons of public health or due to facility constraints.

ARTICLE XIV. TOURNAMENT OPERATIONS

SECTION 1. Tournament Types

A. A 'preliminary tournament' is a CFL-run tournament at which the winners of the varsity division receive wildcards to a state qualifier.

B. A 'state qualifier' is a CFL-run tournament at which the winners qualify to the CHSSA State Championship.

C. Other CFL tournaments may be run at the discretion of the Board.

SECTION 2. Debate Preliminary Tournaments

A. Each tournament shall consist of four rounds.

B. One judge should adjudicate each round.

C. If an entry debated aff in round 1, they are due neg in round 2, and vice versa. If an entry debated neg in round 3, they are due aff in round 4, and vice versa.

D. Pairing rounds 1 and 2: Rounds 1-2 are randomly preset. Preset rounds are sectioned with the following priorities in order:

1) Avoid two entries from the same school debating each other

2) Avoid entries debating each other more than once

3) Avoid any entry debating on the same side more than once

4) Avoid any entry drawing a bye more than once

E. Seeding for rounds 3 and 4: After round 2, entries are seeded by the following:

1) Highest number of rounds won

2) Lowest (best) average opponent seed

3) Coin flip

Debates are assigned within brackets. All entries with the same win count are grouped in the same bracket. If necessary to balance brackets, pull entries up (due to debate the short side in a sidelocked round) from the nearest bracket below possible. The pull-up(s) should have the worst opposition score and should not force a debate between entries in the same school or that have previously debated.

F. Pairing rounds 3 and 4 (high-low powermatch within win-loss brackets): Once the bracket has an even number of entries, pair entries such that the entry with the best seed debates the entry with the worst seed. Then the second best debates the second worst, and so on. The following priorities should be used in pairing powermatched debates:

1) Avoid two entries from the same school debating each other. If a school comprises at least 40% of the entry pool in any event, the tournament director(s) may allow two entries from that same school to debate each other if it means avoiding sidelock issues or double or triple pull-ups in a bracket.

2) Avoid entries debating each other more than once

3) Avoid any entry debating on the same side as a previous round in sidelocked rounds.

Pair entries according to their position in the bracket as determined by seed. Break this pattern of high-low powermatching as minimally as possible to avoid higher pairing priorities. In an event with an uneven number of entries, the bye goes to the entry with the worst seed overall that has not yet been awarded a bye.

G. Lag-powermatching: The tab director may elect to pair Round 3 or Round 4 without inclusion of the previous round if tournament situations prevent full power-pairing within a reasonable time frame.

H. Events: The events for competition shall be Lincoln Douglas, Policy Debate, Parliamentary Debate and Public Forum though not all events must be offered at the same tournament.

I. Entry limitations: No student shall be allowed to participate in more than one event per tournament.

J. Forms:

Official CFL ballots shall be used for all rounds (see Appendices C, D, E, F, G).

K. Awards:
- Awards shall be given to all undefeated competitors in all divisions.
- In varsity, these contestants will be deemed "wildcard" entries to the state qualifying tournament in their respective event.

SECTION 3. Speech Preliminary Tournaments

A. Number of rounds: Each event shall consist of three preliminary rounds, followed by a (semi-)final (elimination) or final round. One judge is used in each preliminary round. Three judges must be used in each semifinal or final panel. The third round may be a semi-final round.

B. Unless there is an unbreakable tie in preliminary rounds, each finals panel shall consist of 7 entries. An event with 110 entries or more shall break 5 finals panels of a minimum of 35 entries. An event with between 90 and 109 entries shall break 4 finals panels of a minimum of 28 entries. An event with between 50 and 89 entries shall break 3 finals panels of a minimum of 21 entries. An event with between 21 and 49 entries shall break 2 finals panels of a minimum of 14 entries. An event with 20 or fewer entries shall break one finals panel of a minimum of 7 entries (unless there are fewer than 7 entries in the event).

C. Events: Unless divided between two campuses or days, each league speech tournament shall consist of one tournament consisting of those events currently offered by CHSSA. Tournaments may be divided so that half of the events occur on one date and the other half on a second date. The events to be held on each date shall be decided by the members when the tournament schedule is finalized.

D. Double Entry: No student may participate in more than two events at a single speech tournament. If the tournament is divided, with half the events held on two separate dates, students may double enter on both dates. No student may double enter in both Foreign and Domestic Extemp at a single tournament.

E. Preliminary rounds

1) Round One: The first round of each event will be preset using a random draw. Entries are to be changed from one section to another only to minimize entries from the same school in the same section.

2) Rounds Two and Three: The second and third round of each event will also be preset using a random draw. Typically, the tabulation software will to its best ability avoid paneling together the following in the precedence listed:

a. Contestants from the same school.

b. Contestants who have competed against each other in preceding rounds.

3) In preliminary rounds, only sections of five, six, or seven are permitted. Unless there are fewer than ten entries in the event, under no circumstances should there be more than seven or fewer than five entries in any section. Section sizes of six and seven are ideal.

4) Speaking Order: In preliminary rounds, speaking order should be varied. Typically, the tabulation software will to its best ability assign each entry a top, middle, and bottom speaker order, not to be repeated in preliminary rounds unless unavoidable.

a. Double Entries: Accommodate double entries by permitting entries to speak early in one event and later in another.

b. Rankings: Each judge will rank entries from one as the best to seven (six or five , depending on the panel) as the worst. Whenever a judge has marked an entry lower than fifth in a preliminary round, such rank will be treated as a fifth in tabulation for the first two tiebreaks only. For the latter two tiebreaks, ranks lower than fifth will be truncated to the smallest section.

F. The Elimination Round

1) A minimum of seven (7), fourteen (14), twenty-one (21), twenty-eight (28), or thirty-five (35) entries (see B) will be selected to participate in the elimination round on the basis of lowest cumulative score of ranks from the entry’s preliminary rounds.

2) Breaking Elim Round Ties:
If the cumulative score of ranks brings the total number of qualifiers to more than the number as determined by paragraph B, determine the advancing entries in the following order of precedence:
- If the entries are tied, the entry with the most number of ones, twos, etc., in preliminary ranks (higher reciprocals) advances.
- If the entries are still tied, the entry with the lowest cumulative score of ranks truncated to the smallest section, from the entry’s preliminary rounds advances.
- If the entries are still tied, the entry with the most number of ones, two, etc., in preliminary ranks (higher reciprocals) truncated to the smallest section advances.
- If the entries are still tied, include those tied in the semifinals.

3) Sectioning the Elimination Round:
The entries should be seeded by the tiebreaking priorities indicated by clauses 1 and 2 of paragraph F. Place entries in sections, by their seeding, in a serpentine or snaking pattern. Begin with the first seed in section one and continue to place seeds in separate sections until placing an entry in the last available section. Place the next seeded entry in the next available section and continue to place entries in separate sections. Move entries from sections to avoid an imbalance of schools; two (or more) entries may only be swapped with each other (one another) if they have the same (tied) cumulative rank.

4) Rankings:
In semifinal rounds only, judge rankings of 6 and 7 shall be counted as 6 and 7, respectively.
- In the event where there are unbreakable ties and tied entries advance to semifinals creating an uneven balance between the two sections, rankings will be truncated to the smallest section, e.g., a break of 15 entries creates one room of 7 and one room of 8, of which any entry ranked with an “8” in the room of 8 will have their rank truncated to a “7.”
- If cumulative rank of semifinals is needed to break ties between unbalanced sections, there will be truncation of ranks to the smallest section.
- If Judge Preference is needed to break ties in the unbalanced section, there will be no truncation of ranks.

5) Final Placement and Determining Wildcards
Final placement is determined by the lowest total of preliminary ranks added to three elimination round ranks. If a tie exists among entries, determine final placement by using the following tiebreakers in order of precedence:
- The cumulative rank of elimination round judges only. Speakers tied need not have been in the same panel.
- If tied entries met in the elimination round, determine judges’ preference in the elimination round.
- Greatest number of ones, twos, etc., (highest reciprocals) in the elimination round only.
- Greatest number of ones, twos, etc., (highest reciprocals) of preliminary ranks added to elimination ranks.
- Preliminary seed (see F.1-2)

G. Awards: Awards shall be given to students receiving a wild card. The top 7 students in the final round in those events with fewer than 90 entries, shall receive wild cards. The top 10 students in the final round in those events with between 90 and 109 entries shall receive wild cards. The top 14 students in the final round in those events with more than 110 entries shall receive wild cards. In the case of unbreakable ties for a wild card, all tied entries shall be awarded a wild card.

SECTION 4. Congress Preliminary Tournaments

A. Sessions:
Each tournament shall consist of two sessions with one break in between. Each session’s duration will depend on the tournament schedule but shall not be shorter than 90 minutes. VP/C may rotate judges between sessions.

B. Topics:
Each school may submit bills or resolutions prior to each Congressional Debate league tournament. These topics will be forwarded to the VP/C and the host school for approval. Resolutions/bills must be received no later than three weeks prior to the date of the competition.

C. Entries:
The number of entries may be designated by the host school. Up to three more experienced entries per school may be placed in the Senate. VP/C shall make every effort to pair the House chambers with 12-15 competitors, and the Senate from 8-20 competitors. The Senate needs 8 or more entries for one wildcard, and 11 or more entries for two wildcards. School entries will be divided equally and randomly among the houses as much as possible.

D. Presiding Officers:
There will be one presiding officer for the first session (see A) and, whenever possible, a second for the second session. For purposes of awards, one presiding officer must be chosen by the members of that house. The vote for PO will be taken first and then the ballots from the judges recorded. Judges may rank Presiding officers from 1-9 on their ballot. If a person has won the PO award and is listed as an outstanding speaker, they may receive both awards.

E. Parliamentarian:
The tournament director may assign coaches or designated adults to serve as parliamentarians. Responsibilities will include:

1) Opening the house and distributing necessary materials.

2) Making sure there is one or more presiding officers with the necessary materials for presiding over a meeting.

3) Acting as arbiter in the area of parliamentary procedure when needed to facilitate and maintain fairness of debate.

4) Maintaining security over property in the host classroom.

5) Closing the house, gathering materials and distributing awards.

F. Recency and Priority shall reset after the 30 minute break.

G. NSDA Points:

Judge/Scorer(s) will evaluate each speech given by congressperson on a scale of 1 to 6 with 6 being the highest. This score will be used to assign NSDA Points to all who are not ranked. A first place will receive 16 NSDA points, second 14, third 12, fourth 10, fifth 8, and all others from 1 to 7 depending on how many speeches each has given. For the Senate, add 2 points to each category.

H. Awards will be given to one presiding officer, as well as first, second and third place speakers.

I. Wildcards will be given to the first place rank in any House chamber, or a top-two rank in the Senate chamber. If there is an unbreakable tie with a student receiving a wildcard, each student in that unbreakable tie will receive a wildcard.

SECTION 5. Debate State Qualifier(s)

A. State Qualifying competition shall be offered in each of the following events, though these may happen at two separate tournaments: Lincoln Douglas Debate, Policy Debate, Parliamentary Debate, Public Forum.

B. Eligible contestants shall have had at least one varsity win in a CFL competition during the current term (see II.1.B.4). One entry per event from each school may enter without a varsity win in each qualifier.

C. Each school may enter up to 5 entries each in LD, PF, Policy, and Parliamentary debate. Wild-card entries (see 2.K) do not count against the school's per-event entry limit. In PF/Parli/Policy the two partners receive their wild card as a team. Wild cards may only be used for the debate event in which they were won.

D. Rounds 1 and 2 shall be paired randomly. Every wildcard entry shall receive a bye in either Round 1 or Round 2. Debates are paired randomly, avoiding wild-card entries hitting each other in Rounds 1 and 2.

E. All preliminary rounds shall be judged with panels of two judges.

F. Rounds 3, 4, and 5 shall be power-matched high/low within bracket. Brackets shall be broken for the following reasons as needed: to prevent same-school matchups, to prevent competitors from debating the same opponents twice, and in round 4 to obey side constraints.

G. The elimination round(s) shall be paired in the following way:

1) All entries with a 10-0 ballot count will automatically qualify for CHSSA State.

2) The remaining debaters that meet both of the following requirements are eligible to compete in the elimination rounds:
- Debaters must have a ballot count record of 7-3, 8-2, or 9-1.
- Debaters must be in the top number of entries, where that number is three times the number of remaining entries CFL can send to CHSSA State in that event.

3) Competitors shall be ranked according to the following criteria in the following order:
- total ballots won
- high/low adjusted speaker points
- second high/low speaker points,
- opponent seed.

4) Elimination rounds shall be determined as follows:
- The number of elimination rounds is to be determined by the number of entries that meet both requirements outlined in G.2.
- If the number of eligible entries is more than two times the remaining entries to CHSSA State, there will be two elimination rounds. The first elimination round shall be calculated such that the second elimination round has the same number of debates as the number of remaining CHSSA State slots. Top entries shall receive byes in the first elimination round as necessary.
- If the number of eligible entries is equal to or less than two times the remaining entries to CHSSA State, there will be one elimination round. The elimination round shall have as many debates as is necessary to eliminate enough entries so that the number of remaining entries equals the number of remaining CHSSA State slots. Top entries shall bye to CHSSA State as necessary.
- If the number of eligible debaters is less than the number of remaining entries to CHSSA State, the tournament will bye all of those debaters to CHSSA State. The remaining slots will be determined by 1 elimination round pairing debaters with records lower than 7-3 until the total number of competitors is twice the remaining spots to CHSSA State.
- If the number of eligible entries is exactly equal to the number of remaining slots, there will be no elimination round and those entries shall receive auto-byes to CHSSA State.

H. If two entries from the same school are set to meet in an elimination round, that school's coach may advance one of those entries over the other without a debate.

I. Awards shall be given to all qualifiers and first alternates.

SECTION 6. Speech State Qualifier

A. The State Qualifier shall consist of one tournament consisting of those events currently offered by CHSSA.

B. Requirements for scripts established by the CFL must be met for competition prior to State Qualifying Speech tournaments.

C. Each school shall have a basic allotment of 22 entries, with no more than 5 in any one event. Wild card entries (see 3.G) do not count against the school's per-event or total entry limit. In Duo, the two partners receive their wild card as a team. Wild cards may only be used for the speech event in which they were won.

D. Each event shall consist of three preliminary rounds, followed by a semifinal round. Three judges must be used in each preliminary round. Five judges must be used in each semifinal round.

E. If 14 or fewer entries are entered in a given event, run a fourth preliminary round rather than a semifinal round, and determine qualifiers and alternates based on preliminary seeding (8.a and 8.b).

F. Preliminary Rounds

1) Round One:
The first round of each event will be preset using a random draw. Entries are to be changed from one section to another only to minimize entries from the same school in the same section.

2) Round Two:
The second round of each event will also be preset using a random draw. Contestants may be changed from one panel to another to avoid paneling together the following in the precedence listed:
- Contestants from the same school.
- Contestants who have competed against each other in preceding rounds.

3) Round Three:
The third round of each event is “powered” and is sectioned in a “snaking” pattern. The entries should be seeded by the tiebreaking priorities(see H.1-2). Place entries in sections, by their seeding, in a serpentine or snaking pattern. Begin with the first seed in section one and continue to place seeds in separate sections until placing an entry in the last available section. Place the next seeded entry in the next available section and continue to place entries in separate sections. Move entries from sections to avoid an imbalance of schools; two (or more) entries may only be swapped with each other (one another) if they have the same (tied) cumulative composite rank.

4) Section Size:
Only sections of five, six, or seven are permitted. Unless there are fewer than ten entries in the event, under no circumstances should there be more than seven or fewer than five entries in any section. Section sizes of six and seven are ideal.

5) Speaking Order:
In preliminary rounds, speaking order should be varied. Each entry should receive a top, middle, and bottom speaker order, not to be repeated in preliminary rounds unless unavoidable.

6) Double Entries:
Accommodate double entries by permitting entries to speak early in one event and later in another.

7) Rankings:
Each judge will rank entries from one as the best to seven (or six, depending on the panel) as the worst. Whenever a judge has marked an entry lower than fifth, such rank will be changed to fifth before tabulation begins, except as explicitly noted in the procedure for breaking semifinal ties (see G.2).

G. The Semifinal Round

1) Fourteen (14) entries will be selected to participate in the semifinal round on the basis of the lowest cumulative score of individual judges’ ranks truncated to 5, except the one worst, from the entry’s preliminary rounds. The round shall consist of two panels of seven contestants each, each evaluated by 5 judges.

2) Breaking Semifinal Ties: If the cumulative score of individual judges’ ranks brings the total number of qualifiers to more than 14, determine the advancing entries in the following order of precedence:
- If the entries are still tied, the entry with the most number of ones, twos, etc., in individual judges’ ranks truncated to 5 (higher reciprocals), except the one worst, advances.
- If the entries are still tied, the entry with the lowest sum of individual judges’ ranks truncated to the smallest section, except the one worst, advances.
- If the entries are still tied, the entry with the most number of ones, twos, etc., in individual judges’ ranks truncated to the smallest section (higher reciprocals), except the one worst, advances.
- If the entries are still tied, the entry with the lowest sum of individual judges’ ranks truncated to 5, including the one worst, advances.
- If the entries are still tied, the entry with the most number of ones, twos, etc., in individual judges’ ranks truncated to 5 (higher reciprocals), including the one worst, advances.
- If the entries are still tied, the entry with the lowest sum of individual judges’ ranks truncated to the smallest section, including the one worst, advances.
- If the entries are still tied, the entry with the most number of ones, twos, etc., in individual judges’ ranks truncated to the smallest section (higher reciprocals), including the one worst, advances.
- If the entries are still tied, include those tied in the semifinals.

3) Use the same procedure outlined in sectioning “Round Three” (see F.3) to establish the “snaking” pattern.

4) Rankings: In semifinal rounds only, judge rankings of 6 and 7 shall be counted as 6 and 7, respectively.
- In the event where there are unbreakable ties and tied entries advance to semifinals creating an uneven balance between the two sections, rankings will be truncated to the smallest section, i.e. a break of 15 entries creates one room of 7 and one room of 8, of which any entry ranked with an “8” in the room of 8 will have its rank truncated to a “7.”
- If cumulative rank of semifinals is needed to break ties between unbalanced sections, there will be truncation of ranks to the smallest section.
- If Judge Preference is needed to break ties in the unbalanced section, there will be no truncation of ranks.

H. Final Placement and Determining Qualifiers
Entries qualifying for the State Tournament are selected by determining the lowest total of individual judges’ preliminary ranks truncated to 5, except the one worst, added to the five semifinal ranks, which are multiplied by 2. If a tie exists among qualifiers or alternates, determine final placement by using the following tiebreakers in order of precedence:
- The cumulative rank of semifinal round judges only, truncated to the smallest section. Speakers tied need not have been in the same panel. Ranks are not multiplied by 2.
- If tied entries met in the semifinal round, determine judges’ preference in the semifinal round. Ranks are not multiplied by 2 and are not truncated.
- Greatest number of ones, twos, etc., (highest reciprocals) in the final round only, truncated to the smallest section. Ranks are not multiplied by 2.
- Greatest number of ones, twos, etc., (highest reciprocals) of preliminary individual judges’ ranks truncated to 5, except the one worst, added to semifinal ranks, which are multiplied by 2.
- Preliminary seed (see G.1 and G.2)

I. If the league is allocated 4 or fewer entries to the state tournament in any given event, a final round of the top 7 must be held after the semifinal round.

SECTION 7. Congress State Qualifier

A. Each CFL school will be allowed 7 free entries (one may be a PO). Wild card entries (see 4.I) do not count against a school's 7 entries. In no case may any school bring more than 14 Congress entries to the State Qualifying Tournament. Wildcards must be balanced among the chambers.

B. If there are more PO candidates than houses, a test of Parliamentary Procedure will be administered. The top students will advance and the others will be added to the Houses.

C. Students are to be listed in order of strength. There will be 3, 4, or 5 houses, depending upon the number of entries.

D. NSDA points will be awarded the same as in the Senate of a preliminary tournament (see 4.G).

E. If, at the Fall CFL meeting it is determined that there is a minimum of eight hours available, then the State Qualifier for Congress shall consist of two sessions, the preliminary session and the super session.

F. Preliminary session:
- The preliminary session shall consist of up to 5 qualifying House chambers of up to 18 participants each.
- The preliminary session shall consist of two segments of at least 1.5 hours with a 0.5 hour break.
- During the break, scorers will return ballots and be reassigned.
- There shall be no more than 2 Presiding Officers for each preliminary session, sharing time equally.
- Each house shall have at least three scorers to evaluate the representatives.
- Three scorers will be assigned to evaluate Presiding Office contestants. These scorers shall rotate among all House chambers at pre-designated times, giving every effort to give equal time to each contestant.

G. Super Session
- The super session shall be selected equally from each house. If 3 houses, 21 advance. If 2, 4 or 5 houses, 20 advance.
- The super session shall consist of the top two Presiding Officers as determined by the scorers in the preliminary session (low cumulative total, then greatest number of first, seconds, etc.)
- The super session shall be at least 2.5 hours long. There will be a 10 minute break in the middle of the session and the POs will rotate at that time.
- At least five scorers shall be selected to evaluate representative contestants.
- After the session, scorers will return ballots.
- There shall be one Presiding Officer for each half of the super session. POs may agree to who goes first or can flip a coin.

H. Selection of Congressional Debate qualifiers
- Selection of representatives to the State Championship shall be based on the lowest cumulative ranking, truncated to 10, of the scorers in the super session. If there are ties amongst qualifiers or alternates, determine placement by using the following tiebreakers in order of precedence:
- Judges’ Preference amongst those tied in the Super Session
- Reciprocals (greatest number of ones, twos, etc.) truncated to 10 in the Super Session
- Ranks truncated to 10 in the Super Session, dropping the best and worst rank
- Reciprocals (greatest number of ones, twos, etc.) truncated to 10 in the Super Session, dropping the best and worst rank
- Lowest cumulative total from all judges, including the preliminary sessions (truncated to 10)
- Reciprocals (greatest number of ones, twos, etc.) from all judges, including the preliminary sessions (truncated to 10)
- Chair (Parliamentarian) rank in the Super Session only
- Alternates will be chosen by order of finish in the Super Session. Should the alternates in the Super Session be exhausted, the VP/C should draw the next alternate from those who did not advance from the preliminary sessions based in order of precedence:
- best non-advancing chamber rank (i.e. should the Top 5 speakers in each chamber advance to the Super Session and alternates have been exhausted, the next alternate must have placed 6th in their preliminary chamber)
- the lowest cumulative score truncated to 10 amongst those with the best non-advancing chamber rank in all houses (i.e. if there are four speakers tied with a chamber rank of 6th, and the speakers have a cume of 36, 30, 33, and 41, respectively, then speaker 2 would be the first alternate, speaker 3 would be the second alternate, so on and so forth)
- If alternates in the preliminary session are still tied after the above methods have been exhausted, draw alternates from the following preliminary tiebreakers: reciprocals truncated to 10 (greatest number of ones, twos, etc.) from all judges in the preliminary sessions, then ranks truncated to 10 and dropping the best and worst ranks, then finally reciprocals truncated to 10 (greatest number of ones, twos, etc.) from all judges in the preliminary sessions and dropping the best and worst ranks.
- If a tiebreak cannot be broken, a runoff round shall be held amongst tied alternates to determine qualifiers.
- If a congress qualifier cannot attend, or has double qualified and chooses to compete at the State Championship in their other event and not Congress, the first person listed as alternate moves up. This has nothing to do with which house the original qualifier was in.

I. Selection of the Presiding Officer Qualifier
- Selection of the Presiding Officer to the State Championship will be by the majority vote of the representatives and the judges in the super session. Ties shall be broken by judges’ preference.

J. If less than eight hours are available for the State Qualifying Congress Tournament, the VP/C will have sole discretion to shorten session times or use whatever method reasonable to determine State Qualifiers and Alternates.

SECTION 8. Emergencies

A. In the event that a state qualifying tournament has to be canceled due to unforeseen circumstances fewer than 15 days prior to the scheduled start of that tournament, the Board shall create an alternative set of procedures for determining the qualifiers and alternates to the CHSSA state tournament.

B. In the event that the tabulation software significantly malfunctions, the tournament director may use a different tabulation method. To the extent practicable, the tournament director shall ensure that the method chosen yields the same pairings as properly functioning tabulation software would.

ARTICLE XV. EVENT RULES

SECTION 1. CHSSA Rules

CFL tournaments shall use CHSSA event rules except when specified otherwise in this article. (See CHSSA rules and regulations Article IX, Article XI, and Article XIII: http://www.chssa.org/rulesandregulations/ )

SECTION 2. Debate Evidence Rules

All CFL debate tournaments shall adhere to the NSDA’s evidence rules as stated in the High School Unified Manual. Instances of “tabulation committee” in the rules are taken to mean the tabroom director and at least two other coaches not involved in the challenge.

SECTION 3. Novice Policy Debate Topics

A. Policy debaters competing in the novice (but not JV or varsity) division of a CFL tournament shall, if they are on the affirmative side, present a case that falls within one of the five CFL-approved case topic areas.

B. The first novice case area choice shall be offered to the SVUDL. The full list of novice case options is then finalized by the rest of the interested CFL policy coaches.

C. Novice Policy Topic Areas shall be finalized within 14 days after the first Meeting of Members of the term.

SECTION 4. Parliamentary Debate Topic Committee

A. The Parliamentary Debate Topic Committee shall have the final say on all matters related to parliamentary debate resolutions and topic areas at all CFL tournaments.

B. Although Committee members should try to reach a consensus, all Committee decisions can be made by a simple majority vote.

C. The Committee shall have the power to delegate resolution writing to any person, but Committee members should review and approve all resolutions before they are announced to competitors at the CFL tournament.

D. The Committee shall be composed of the VP/T and up to four regular members.

E. Each Committee member should be an adult with significant experience competing in and/or coaching parliamentary debate. Committee members need not be current CFL coaches. CFL officers may double as Committee members.

F. Regular Committee members shall be elected by the membership, except as in subsection G. Each representative may vote Yes, No, or Abstain on each of the candidates, but no representative shall cast a Yes vote for more than four candidates. To be elected, the candidate must receive more Yes votes than No votes, and must also be in the top four candidates based on the number of Yes votes received.

G. The Committee shall have the power to remove regular Committee members and fill regular Committee member vacancies by an affirmative vote of at least three committee members. A regular Committee member can also be removed by the Legislature or the Board. In the event that the number of committee members falls below three, the VP/T shall appoint additional members to bring that number up to three.

H. The terms of Committee members shall expire at the conclusion of the term (see II.1.B.4). A Committee member may serve more than one term.

SECTION 5. Extemporaneous Speaking Topics

A. When possible, four of the five topic areas announced by CHSSA for the upcoming state tournament will be used in each CFL Speech tournament.

B. The tournament invitation will announce which of the four areas are being used and will list them in round order.

C. Broadly newsworthy topics shall be drawn from The Economist, New York Times, Washington Post, Christian Science Monitor, Wall Street Journal, and BBC News published no more than five months prior to the tournament.

D. CFL will hire topic writers to prepare questions as per this section. Hired topic writers may not be coaches of the CFL, or presently associated with any CFL member school.

SECTION 6. Extemporaneous Speaking Tournament Protocol

A. The preparation room will have 2 proctors assigned by the VP/S.

B. The tournament director will designate up to 4 coaches (2 USX / 2 FX) to observe and fact check student speeches.

1) Designated coaches will flow student presentations.
- Coaches may not observe their own students.
- Coaches should move randomly throughout the panels listening to 2 or 3 speeches in a panel.

2) At the completion of the round sources articulated in each student’s speech will be checked for validity.

3) Definition of valid.
- Sourced material that supports the students’ claim is considered valid.
- Minor mistakes do not automatically make a source invalid. The designated coach that heard the speech can use discretion for issues like transposed numbers (12th instead of 21st) or similar sources (Chicago Tribune instead of Chicago Sun Times).
- Students with minor mistakes will be instructed as to the importance of academic work accuracy.

4) Any speech with a source that can’t be verified will go through the following steps.
- The student and their coach will be informed of the potential falsification.
- The student will have 15 minutes to provide the requested source material.
- If the student can provide the source, there is no violation.
- If the student cannot provide the source, and this is a first offense, they will be ranked last in the round.
- If the student cannot provide the source, and this is a second offense, they will be disqualified from the tournament.
- Consequences for additional offenses will be determined by an unaffiliated 3 person panel of board members.
- Any sanction can be appealed using the CFL protest protocol.

SECTION 7. Congressional Debate Rules

A. Bills/resolutions may not be laid on the table. All business before the House or Senate must be completed before the end of a session.

B. Contestants may not suspend the rules.

SECTION 8. Lincoln-Douglas (LD) Topics

A. LD tournaments held September to December shall use the NSDA topic for the month during which they are held (except as in sub-section B and C of this section).

B. LD tournaments held January 1 through February 14 shall use the NSDA LD January/February topic.

C. LD tournaments held February 15 through May shall use the NSDA LD March/April topic.

SECTION 9. Public Forum (PF) Topics

A. PF tournaments shall use the NSDA topic for the month during which they are held (except as in sub-section B of this section).

B. PF tournaments held after February 15 shall use the March NSDA topic.

SECTION 10. Maverick Entries

A. A maverick entry is a Policy, Parliamentary, or Public Forum entry composed of only one debater.

B. Maverick entries are allowed in the Novice/JV division only.

C. Every school may register up to one maverick entry per tournament.

D. A maverick entry shall cost the same as a regular two-student entry (see XII.3.A).

SECTION 11. Hybrid Entries

A. A hybrid entry is a Policy, Parliamentary, Public Forum, or Duo Interpretation entry composed of two students enrolled in different schools.

B. Hybrid entries are allowed in the Novice/JV division only.

C. Every school may register up to one student per tournament as part of a hybrid entry.

D. Approval of each hybrid entry must be submitted in writing to the tournament director by the head coaches of both schools.

This membership code was adopted at a Meeting of Members on January 31, 2022

It was last amended at a Meeting of Members on January 29, 2024