September 2001
Volume 65 |
Number 9
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| House of Delegates
to Convene October 14, 2001 |
Eugene P. Sinclair, 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 New Orleans Marriott Hotel, New Orleans, Louisiana,
from Sunday through Wednesday, October 14-17, 2001. Times and
locations of these meetings will be listed on the hotel bulletin
board.
How does the ASA legislative process work?
The voting members of the ASA House of Delegates represent constituencies
that include the entire ASA membership. Each of the 30 districts
elects a director, and the component and specialty societies elect
delegates. There is approximately one voting member for every
100 ASA members. 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. The
Speaker of the House of Delegates refers each item to a reference
committee.
When participating in these deliberations, lack of familiarity
with the Handbook for Delegates is probably the biggest obstacle
for members who are unfamiliar with the operations of the House.
ASA officers, particularly the Speaker and Vice-Speaker, and ASA
staff are eager to explain to any member how to use the handbook
to find issues in which the member is interested. The House of
Delegates Office, which will be located at the New Orleans Marriott
Hotel during the 2001 ASA Annual Meeting, is the best location
to obtain such assistance.
The first session of the House of Delegates will convene at 9
a.m., on Sunday, October 14. ASA President Neil Swissman, M.D.,
and President-Elect Barry M. Glazer, M.D., will present their
remarks and comments regarding the past and coming year at this
first session. Officers will be nominated at this meeting, and
candidates for office will address the entire House. Adjournment
usually occurs by 11 a.m.
Sunday afternoon will provide the best opportunity for individual
members to comment 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.
Five concurrent reference committee hearings will be held on
Sunday beginning at 1 p.m., with issues being divided among these
five 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 comment. All members
are welcome and are encouraged to attend and participate. Discussion
is rarely curtailed. The Chair will impose limits 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. and will reconvene at 8 a.m. the next morning,
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 17. Its adjournment time cannot,
of course, be anticipated. Elections will be conducted, 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 all available information.
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 (over 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 value in the new Delegates’ briefing
that will be held from 9 a.m. to 10 a.m., Saturday. The Speaker
and Vice-Speaker conduct this briefing for new members of the
House, and it is open to any other interested member. The hour
consists of an introduction to the Handbook for Delegates, ASA
Annual Meeting processes and a brief introduction to parliamentary
procedure 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 been merged into unofficial
but well-organized caucuses that usually meet on Saturday and
Tuesday afternoons at the Annual Meeting. At these caucuses, issues
and candidates are discussed in free and open discussions (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.
The meeting locations are included in the House of Delegates handbook
and will be posted in the House of Delegates Office at the New
Orleans Marriott.
Attendance at the caucuses, sessions of the reference committees
and the House of Delegates is open to all members of ASA. Opportunities
exist for all Society members to participate actively in the affairs
of ASA. It is not necessary be an elected official.
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Eugene
P. Sinclair, M.D., is Medical Director, Healthsouth Surgery
Center, Wauwatosa, Wisconsin. |
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