August 1997
Volume 61 |
Number 8
|
| |
|
| House of Delegates
to Convene October 19 |
Barry M. Glazer, M.D.
Speaker of the House of Delegates
All ASA members are invited, in fact urged, to attend the reference
committee hearings and both sessions of the ASA House of Delegates.
All meetings of the House of Delegates and reference committees
will be held at the Hyatt Regency San Diego Hotel in San Diego,
California, from Sunday through Wednesday, October 19-22, 1997.
Times and locations of these meetings will be listed on the hotel
bulletin board.
How does the ASA legislative process work?
The ASA House of Delegates includes voting members with constituencies
who include the entire ASA membership; there is approximately
one voting member for every 100 ASA members. Almost all voting
members are elected by their state or district. The legislative
process permits these members of the House to hear the facts,
give proper consideration to every item before the House and debate
and vote on these items in an open and democratic deliberative
assembly.
Materials are sent to delegates and alternates in a Handbook
for Delegates in advance of the meeting. These materials constitute
the agenda for the House of Delegates. The sources of these business
items include reports from the officers, district directors and
committee chairs and resolutions from individual delegates. Each
item is referred to a reference committee by the Speaker of the
House of Delegates.
Lack of familiarity with the Handbook for Delegates is probably
the biggest obstacle to a member who is not familiar with the
operations of the House to participate in these deliberations.
ASA officers, particularly the Speaker and Vice-Speaker, as well
as ASA staff are eager to explain to any member how to use the
handbook to find the issues in which the member is interested.
The House of Delegates Office, which will be located at the Hyatt
Regency San Diego during the 1997 Annual Meeting, is the best
location to obtain such assistance.
The first session of the House of Delegates will be held at 9
a.m. on Sunday, October 19. ASA President Phillip O. Bridenbaugh,
M.D., will present his remarks at this first session and President-Elect
William D. Owens, M.D., will present his observations and comments
for the coming year. Officers will be nominated at this meeting
and candidates for office will address the entire House at this
time. Adjournment usually occurs by 11 a.m.
Sunday afternoon will provide the best opportunity for individual
members to provide input or comments on any issue coming before
the House. Again, officers and staff in the House of Delegates
Office will assist members who wish to find out where discussion
on the issues in which they are interested will take place.
Four concurrent reference committee hearings will be held on
Sunday beginning at 1 p.m., with issues being divided among these
four committees. Reference committees are composed of seven members,
who are appointed by the President with consideration to geographical
distribution as well as experience with the issues and processes
of the House.
At these open hearings, when an issue of interest is discussed,
any member may step to the microphone and provide his or her opinions.
All members are welcome and are encouraged to attend and participate.
Discussion is rarely curtailed, and limits will be imposed only
when discussion is repetitive or if the extent of the committee's
agenda demands it.
Open hearings will continue until 3 p.m. or until testimony has
concluded, whichever is later. Hearings must adjourn or recess
no later than 5 p.m., reconvening at 8 a.m. the next morning if
(and only if) necessary. Then the reference committees go into
closed (executive) session, at which time they will decide recommended
action on each item of business that was assigned to the committee.
The written reports of the reference committees' recommendations
are usually available by 5 p.m. on Tuesday in the House of Delegates
Office.
The second session of the House of Delegates will convene at
8 a.m. on Wednesday, October 22. Its adjournment time cannot,
of course, be anticipated. Elections will be conducted and then
the House will proceed to other business. Usually little debate
occurs at this time because the reference committees will have
provided ample opportunity for discussion and will have responded
with appropriate and broadly acceptable recommendations for action,
based on the testimony during the hearings.
Should members differ with the recommendations, however, debate
is heard, limited only by order of the House itself. Motions are
received and considered for amendment, referral to committees
or such other action as the House may desire to take. Because
of the size of the House of Delegates (nearly 300 voting members
this year), formal parliamentary procedure guides the actions
under the direction of the Speaker and Vice-Speaker, who chair
these sessions.
Those who have never participated in such an assembly and who
wish to do so might find of value the new Delegates' briefing,
which will be held from 9 a.m. to 10 a.m. on Saturday. Conducted
by the Speaker and Vice-Speaker and directed to new members of
the House who are not familiar with how the House of Delegates
and reference committee systems function, this briefing is open
to all interested members. The hour consists of a very rapid introduction
to ASA processes and a brief introduction to parliamentary procedure,
especially as used by the House of Delegates.
Just as in public legislative bodies, much of the work of the
House of Delegates is done outside of the formal process, but
these sessions are not secret. They consist of the meetings of
the caucuses. Five geographical areas have organized into unofficial
but well-organized caucuses, which usually meet on Saturday and
Tuesday afternoons at the Annual Meeting. At these caucuses, issues
and candidates are discussed in free and open discussion (sometimes
more open than in the House because of the smaller size and more
informal atmosphere). Your district director or delegates can
be of great assistance in helping you participate in caucuses,
but the House of Delegates Office can also provide some guidance
and location information.
The opportunities exist for any and all members to add their
input to Society business. Attendance at the sessions of the reference
committees and the House of Delegates is open to all members of
ASA. Again, it should be noted that one need not be an elected
official to participate actively in the affairs of ASA.
return to top
|