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Membership Code of Ethics & Conduct
The Texas Deer Association holds its officers, board members, staff and individual members to a high professional standard. Any member of Texas Deer Association may have any or all of its membership privileges suspended for a period of time, or may be expelled with loss of all membership privileges, or other disciplinary action taken by the State Board for any violation of TDA’s Bylaws or Code of Ethics and Conduct. 1. Wrongful conduct as it pertains to the deer industry and may include, but is not limited to, the following:
a. Deceit.
b. Extreme carelessness or recklessness.
c. Intentional misstatement or misrepresentation.
d. Convicted of civil or criminal fraud.
e. Making false statements to the Ethics committee during the investigation of an ethics complaint or during testimony to the committee, with knowledge that the statements were false.
f. Filing an ethics complaint that is determined by the Ethics committee to be groundless, frivolous, or materially and recklessly false in substantiating all allegations, or to be disruptive of an already pending ethics proceeding or of other business of TDA.
g. Unethical or wrongful taking of a whitetail or mule deer as defined by the State of Texas statute or regulation. 2. Any member or entity of Texas Deer Association in good standing may file a complaint with the Executive Director, the Executive Committee, or an Ethics Committee member against any individual, organization, business, or other legal entity that is also a member of TDA, and in the event of a written withdrawal of a complaint by the complainant, the committee may, at its discretion, retain jurisdiction in the case. The complaint must be in writing, signed and sworn to before a notary public or other person authorized to administer oaths. The complaint shall distinctly describe any act that the complainant contends is contrary to or in violation of TDA by-laws and or the Code of Ethics and Conduct. 3. No member of TDA suspended or expelled will be entitled to any refund or reimbursement of dues or contributions already paid. 4. If a party or member of Texas Deer Association is requested in writing to respond in writing to the Ethics committee and within thirty (30) days of receipt of notice fails or refuses to do so, the Ethics committee may draw an adverse inference from such failure or refusal. If a party or member is requested to answer questions during a hearing and refuses to do so on the grounds that the testimony may be self-incriminating, the Ethics committee may draw an adverse inference from such refusal to answer questions. 5. No member on behalf of Texas Deer Association may directly or indirectly introduce, propose or submit any legislation, rules, regulations, actions, or testify on behalf or legislation in direct conflict or not approved in principle by the State Board of Texas Deer Association to any governing person, agency or body having jurisdiction or authority over the whitetail deer, mule deer, whitetail deer breeders, mule deer breeders, and white-tailed or mule deer hunting in the State of Texas. Any of the above action(s) taken by a member may be deemed as a violation of the TDA Code of Ethics and Conduct. 6. During the consideration of the member in question, the board will be in executive session. At this time, the member may not be present during the discussion or during the vote of the Board of Directors. 7. The code of Ethics and Conduct may be amended by a majority vote of the Board of Directors.
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