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Abstract: Amend the Bylaws of the American Speech-Language Hearing Association to include the Speaker of the Council in the Council composition and to clarify roles of the Speaker and the President
RESOLVED, That the Bylaws of the American Speech-Language Hearing Association be amended as follows:
Article IV.
4.2b Composition
The Legislative Council shall consist of…The Legislative Council shall include:
The Speaker of the Council who will be charged with presiding over the business portion of all meetings of the Legislative Council; and (2) Two subgroups: The Audiology/Hearing Science Assembly; and the Speech-Language Pathology/Speech or Language Science Assembly. Members of each Assembly shall be responsible for voting on resolutions and issues that relate only to their profession and area of the discipline. All Assembly members of the Legislative Council shall be responsible for voting on resolutions and issues that relate to the discipline of human communication sciences and disorders.
The Legislative Council shall also include…
4.2f. Vacancies
If a Councilor (1) changes residence to another Constituency or (2) for any reason no longer fulfills the requirement for election to his or her seat or (3) advises the President that he or she is no longer willing to serve, the member shall no longer serve as Councilor, and a committee so charged by the Legislative Council shall designate as a replacement for the unexpired term of that Councilor, the highest ranking alternate whose term begins in the year the Councilor resigns, and if there is no alternate, the committee shall designate a replacement and an alternate for the replacement from among the members of the Association within that Councilor’s Constituency
4.2g. Removal From Office
Any elected Councilor, except those elected pursuant to Section 9.2 may be removed from office by (1) a written petition for removal signed by 10 percent of the total number of members residing in the Councilor’s Constituency submitted to the President and (2) approval of the petition by 75 percent of the members of the Association residing in that Councilor’s Constituency who vote in response to the mail submission of the petition, or (3) if a Councilor is absent from the constituent area he/she represents for more than 16 consecutive weeks, he/she may be removed from office by the Committee on Credentials.
RATIONALE: The addition of this information to 4.2b is necessary to complete a description of the "composition" of Legislative Council. The present "4" in this section is removed because it does not apply to the preceding referent of "Constituencies." 4.2f regarding Vacancies and 4.2g concerning Removal from Office both state that notice will be given to the speaker of the council. Since the speaker only presides over the business meetings of the Legislative Council, it is more appropriate for the necessary documentation regarding vacancies and/or removal from office to be forwarded to the President of the Association who continually presides over all business of the Association during his or her term. Passing this resolution will reflect intended policy and practice. The entire proposed text of section 4.2b appears below for greater clarification.
Entire PROPOSED TEXT OF 4.2b:
4.2b. Composition
The Legislative Council shall consist of not more than 150 voting members of the Association representing the following 53 Constituencies:
members residing in each of the 50 states of the United States and the District of Columbia; members residing outside the United States; and other representatives as specified in section 9.2 The Legislative Council shall include:
The Speaker of the Council who will be charged with presiding over the business portion of all meetings of the Legislative Council; and Two subgroups: The Audiology/Hearing Science Assembly; and the Speech-Language Pathology/Speech or Language Science Assembly. Members of each Assembly shall be responsible for voting on resolutions and issues that relate only to their profession and area of the discipline. All Assembly members of the Legislative Council shall be responsible for voting on resolutions and issues that relate to the discipline of human communication sciences and disorders. The Legislative Council shall also include the members of the Executive Board who will serve ex officio and without vote. The Legislative Council shall from time to time establish a schedule denoting the number of representatives for each constituency.
OUTCOME(S): The composition of the Legislative Council as stated in the ASHA Bylaws will reflect the addition of the Speaker of the Council.
BUDGET IMPACT: None.
PROGRAMMATIC IMPACT: If this resolution is approved, the ASHA Bylaws will include the Speaker of the Council as part of the composition of the Legislative Council.
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