August 1999
Volume 63 |
Number 8
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| House of Delegates
to Convene October 10: You
Are Invited! |
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 Adam's Mark Hotel, Dallas, Texas, from Sunday
through Wednesday, October 10-13, 1999. 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 acquainted
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 Adam's
Mark Hotel during the 1999
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 10. ASA President John B. Neeld,
Jr., M.D., will present his remarks at this first session, and
President-Elect Ronald A. MacKenzie, D.O., 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. Tuesday in the House of Delegates
Office.
The second session of the House of Delegates will convene
at 8 a.m. on Wednesday, October 13. 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 (more than 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. 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.
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