Greetings Katina, Within the last few hours, I have been contacted by Maureen Hilyard, Chair of the At Large Advisory Committee, that ICANN org has reached out to her regarding the ALAC’s final position regarding the Board’s action with respect to the change to Bylaw 18.7(b). She, acting as Chair of ALAC, on 20 September 2019 transmitted correspondence to both the Empowered Community Administration and the ICANN Corporate Secretary regarding the At Large Advisory Committee’s approval of the Board’s action with regard to the modification of Bylaw 18.7(b) that was requested by the ccNSO. The outstanding question is whether this submission of the ALAC’s position was “too soon”, and in contradiction to the language in Annex D, Section 1.4(a). It appears that it might be, and thus, at the end of the day, the ALAC may be considered by the ICANN Corporate Secretary to “have abstained” from a decision on this Bylaw change. If the ICANN Corporate Secretary determines this to be the case, it calls into question the validity of the correspondence that I sent on behalf of the Empowered Community Administration regarding the certification of the opinions of the Decisional Participants regarding the Board’s action regarding Bylaw 18.7(b). Technically, the Board’s action with regards to 18.7(b) should stand, as even with the loss of the ALAC’s support, there are still four Decisional Participants standing in support of the Board’s action with regard to 18.7(b), and none opposed.. However, there is no precedent for “corrective” correspondence from the Empowered Community Administration to the ICANN Corporate Secretary with respect to this matter. I have corresponded with the relevant ICANN org personnel that are engaged in this matter, and have (a) stated the obvious intent of ALAC to support this change to 18.7(b), and (b) urged them to seek a ruling from ICANN legal with regards to the timing of ALAC’s announcement of support for the Board’s action. I will keep you posted on developments as they occur. Best Regards, /Stephen