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2004 House of Delegates and reference committee hearings
will be held at the Las Vegas Hilton Hotel, Las Vegas,
Nevada, on Sunday and Wednesday, October 24 and 27,
2004. Times and locations of these meetings will be
listed on the hotel bulletin board. All ASA members
are invited to attend and participate in the reference
committee hearings during which items before the House
of Delegates will be presented. All Delegates and
Alternate Delegates are urged to attend both sessions
of the House as well as their assigned or chosen reference
committees.
Special Schedule!
The ASA President has appointed a special fifth reference
committee this year to hear testimony on the reports
of the Task Force on Payment Methodology. These reports
will appear in the handbook as 625-1, 625-2 and 625-3.
It is anticipated that these reports will be of considerable
interest and importance to ASA members. Therefore
our Sunday schedule will be altered to provide ample
opportunity to conduct the business before the House
and reference committees in an efficient and orderly
manner. Please note:
the first session of the 2004 House of Delegates will
begin on Sunday, October 24, 2004, promptly at 8 a.m.
The special Reference Committee 5 hearing will begin
at 12:30 p.m. There will be a brief five-minute recess
at 1:50 p.m. of Reference Committee 5 to allow those
members who wish to attend the hearings of the other
four committees to exit. Other reference committee
hearings will be held concurrently and begin at 2
p.m. in their designated locations.
Open hearings will continue this year until 4 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. on Monday morning only
if necessary.
Our ASA Legislative Process
The voting members of the ASA House of Delegates are
elected to represent the various constituencies of
the entire ASA membership, including state component
societies, resident and fellow components, the military
and academic components and specialty societies. There
is one voting member for every 100 ASA members in
a state component society. In addition to electing
these representatives, each component elects a Director
who serves on the Board of Directors and a voting
member of the House of Delegates. 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 deliberative democratic assembly.
A Handbook for Delegates containing meeting materials
is mailed to Delegates and Alternate 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,
component directors, committee chairs, task force
chairs and resolutions from individual delegates.
Each item is referred to a reference committee by
the Speaker of the House. Lack of familiarity with
the Handbook for Delegates is likely the biggest obstacle
to participation in these deliberations. ASA officers,
particularly the Speaker and Vice-Speaker, and ASA
staff are eager to provide needed assistance to any
member regarding how to use the handbook to find issues
of interest. The House of Delegates Office will be
located at the Las Vegas Hilton Hotel during the 2004
Annual Meeting and is the best place to obtain such
assistance.
The first session of the House of Delegates will convene
on Sunday at 8 a.m. (in previous years, the House
had convened at 9 a.m. on Sunday). ASA President Roger
W. Litwiller, M.D., and President-Elect Eugene P.
Sinclair, M.D., will present their remarks at this
session, followed by the nomination of officers and
candidate speeches to the House. The House is recessed
following conclusion of the Sunday morning agenda.
Sunday afternoon at the reference committee hearings
provides the best opportunity for individual members
to comment on any issue coming before the House. The
reference committees are composed of seven members
and are appointed by the President with consideration
to geographical distribution and experience regarding
the issues and processes of the House. Although discussion
is rarely curtailed at reference committee hearings,
members are encouraged to present their remarks succinctly
and respectfully. All remarks are directed to the
Chair; debate between reference committee attendees
is not permitted. The reference committees then go
into closed (executive) session to decide their recommended
action on each item of business assigned to them.
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 27. Election
of officers is typically the first agenda item; the
House then proceeds to other business. The time of
adjournment cannot, of course, be anticipated. Usually
the reference committees provide ample opportunity
for discussion and will have responded with appropriate
and broadly acceptable recommendations for action.
Formal parliamentary procedure is used to dispose
of the recommendations and any motions, amendments,
referrals or other such action the House may desire
to take under the direction of the Speaker and Vice-Speaker.
Members are strongly urged to consider the volume,
nature and potential amount of debate that may occur
on Wednesday when making their departure reservations,
particularly this year.
New Delegates, Alternate Delegates or any member with
questions regarding procedure might wish to avail
themselves of several specific sessions. A new delegates’
briefing will be conducted by the Speaker and Vice-Speaker
from 9 a.m. to 10 a.m. on Saturday and is open to
any interested member. The hour consists of an introduction
to the Handbook for Delegates, ASA Annual Meeting
processes and a brief overview of parliamentary procedure.
The Speaker and Vice-Speaker also will be available
during the Speakers’ office hour on Tuesday
evening to discuss any procedural issues or questions
with regard to reference committee reports to be presented
at the Wednesday session of the House. Any member
planning to introduce substantial or potentially controversial
amendments are encouraged to discuss these with the
Speaker and/or Vice-Speaker in advance so that all
business may be conducted in an efficient, fair and
impartial manner.
Finally it is highly recommended that all members
attend the meetings of their respective geographical
caucuses. There are a number of unofficial but well-organized
caucuses that typically meet on Saturday and/or 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).
The meeting locations and times will appear in the
House of Delegates Handbook and also will be posted
in the House of Delegates Office.
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Candace E. Keller, M.D., is an anesthesiologist
in Santa Fe, New Mexico. |
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