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American Speech-Language-Hearing Association
Washington, DC
May 31-June 1-2, 2002
Copies of committee reports submitted, as well as the Legislative Council workbook containing background information related to issues on the agenda, are on file in the National Office. Formal actions seconded and passed by the Legislative Council begin with the word RESOLVED and are numbered in boldface type.
The meeting of the Legislative Council of the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association was held in the Grand Ballroom of the J. W. Marriott Hotel, Washington, DC with President Nancy A. Creaghead opening the meeting. The first session of the May/June 2002 meeting of the Legislative Council was called to order at 8:40 am on May 31. The Chair of the Committee on Credentials reported the names of five permanent replacements seated on the Council since January 1, 2002, and the names of four temporary replacements for the May/June meeting. The report of the Committee was accepted. The President introduced the members of the 2002 Executive Board and members of the National Office staff available to assist with the meeting.
A roll call was taken. One hundred forty-nine Councilors were present. The President declared a quorum present. New Councilors introduced themselves.
The President’ s Address
President Creaghead presented a report to the Legislative Council. Topics covered in the report included the composition of the Association membership, focused initiatives, public relations, the Association budget, telepractices, governmental relations activities, the audiology platform, doctoral shortages, America’s hearing healthcare team initiative, and healthcare.
The Membership Forum was held. Two members of the Association spoke to the Legislative Council about issues of concern. Prior to the Council meeting, 22 members expressed concerns to the Council via electronic means.
The Business/Floor Procedures contained in the workbook were approved. The agenda for the meeting of the Legislative Council was approved.
The Chair of the Legislative Council Coordinating Committee presented a brief report on the activities of the committee.
The Chair of the Committee on Special Rules presented a report. The chair indicated that the following motion had been submitted to the Legislative Council in April for electronic vote:
M1-2002. MOVED, That the Legislative Council Special Rules Appendix A, Section F, be modified to read as follows (additions are underlined; deletions are in brackets):
F. Nomination and Election Procedure for Speaker of the Council
The nomination and election process for this position will be completed during the Spring [convention] meeting of the Legislative Council. The election will be conducted through the self-nomination process and will be held at the time specified by the agenda setting committee of the Legislative Council. [Note: Due consideration should be given to holding this election very early in the convention meeting of the Legislative Council.] [DEFEATED]
Dr. Madeline Smith, staff member of the U. S. House of Representatives Ways and Means Committee Subcommittee on Health, presented information on the Medicare Reform initiative. Issues covered included a proposed comprehensive drug bill, regulatory reform of Medicare provisions, provider payment issues, therapy caps, and a patient bill of rights. Following the presentation, questions were entertained from the Council.
Governmental and Regulatory Policy staff from the National Office presented a brief review about making hill visits.
The Legislative Council recessed for lunch at 11:45 am. During the lunch period, the following caucus meetings were held: (a) Health Care Reimbursement and (b) Impact of Hosting the ASHA Convention on States.
Advocacy
At 3:45 pm on May 31st, the Legislative Council reconvened to participate in an educational session on Advocacy. The presenter was Christopher Kush, President of Soapbox Consulting. Mr. Kush presented points for making effective advocacy contacts with legislators.
The meeting adjourned at 5:20 pm.
The June 1, 2002 session of the Legislative Council was called to order at 8:35 am.
The Legislative Council Forum was held. Fifteen Councilors addressed the Council about a wide variety of issues.
The following motion was presented.
M2-2002. MOVED, to suspend Section 5b of the May 2002 Business/Floor Procedures of the Legislative Council to allow the submission of resolutions for consideration during the Sunday morning session of the Council. [APPROVED]
LC 1-2002. RESOLVED, That the New Initiatives Fund be continued at a funding level of $500,000 under the direction of the executive director to provide resources for market research, product development, and/or promotion of new sources of non-dues income; and further
RESOLVED, That the New Initiatives Fund be subject to the conditions and criteria established in LC 28-97; and further
RESOLVED, That this fund be discontinued in 5 years (December 2007). [APPROVED] (VOTE: 144 yes, 2 no, 3 did not record vote)
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LC 2-2002 was withdrawn from the agenda.
LC 3-2002 was introduced. A motion to refer the decision of the issue (of including the highest earned academic degree achieved by all authors of articles in all of ASHA’s publications) to the Publications Board was approved. A motion then was approved to reconsider the motion just passed.
Following discussion, the following motion was presented.
MOVED, That resolution LC 3-2002 be referred to the Publications Board for the purpose of the decision. An amendment to the motion was proposed to delete the words "the decision" and add "a recommendation to be returned to the Legislative Council at the next meeting." The amendment was approved. The following amended motion was presented for vote.
M3-2002. MOVED, That resolution LC 3-2002 (below) be referred to the Publications Board for the purpose of a recommendation to be returned to the Legislative Council at the next meeting. [APPROVED AS AMENDED] (VOTE: 122 yes, 2 no, 25 did not record vote)
LC 3-2002. RESOLVED, That the ASHA Publications Board identify the highest earned academic degree achieved by all authors of articles in all of ASHA’s publications, including the American Journal of Audiology, the American Journal of Speech-Language Pathology, the Journal of Speech, Language and Hearing Research, Speech and Hearing Services in Schools, and The ASHA Leader.
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LC 4-2002. RESOLVED, That a position statement prepared by the National Joint Committee for the Communication Needs of Persons with Severe Disabilities entitled "Position Statement on Access to Communication Services and Supports: Concerns Regarding the Application of Restrictive ‘Eligibility’ Policies," be approved as policy of ASHA; and further
RESOLVED, That the "Position Statement on Access to Communication Services and Supports: Concerns Regarding the application of Restrictive ‘Eligibility’ Policies" be published in the next annual supplement to The ASHA Leader, be posted on the ASHA professional web site, be made available upon request from the ASHA Action Center and Fax-on-Demand, be included in the next revision of the ASHA Desk Reference, and that the availability of the position statement be published in The ASHA Leader. [APPROVED] (VOTE: 146 yes, 3 did not record vote)
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LC 5-2002, to discontinue the Spring Legislative Council meeting, was introduced. A motion was approved to postpone action on LC 5-2002 until after the caucus, Brain-Storming Session on Eliminating the Spring LC Meeting
The Legislative Council recessed for lunch at 11:20. During the lunch period, the following caucus meetings were held: (a) Brain-Storming Session on Eliminating the Spring LC Meeting and (b) Value of the CCC-A When Collaborating with Other Entities.
The Legislative Council reconvened at 1:40 pm on June 1. A report was presented to the Council on the discussion by the caucus to eliminate the Spring LC meeting. At the conclusion of the report, the Legislative Council resumed consideration of LC 5-2002.
LC 5-2002, RESOLVED, That the Spring meeting of the Legislative Council be discontinued starting with the Spring meeting in 2003; and further
RESOLVED, That LC 42-97 indicating that there be a second meeting of the Legislative Council beginning in 1998 be rescinded. [DEFEATED] (VOTE: 13 yes, 132 no, 4 did not record vote)
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The Legislative Council participated in two educational sessions: (1) Writing Resolutions and (2) Web-Based Governance Forum Demonstration.
The meeting was adjourned at 4:15 pm.
The June 2, 2002 session of the Legislative Council was called to order at 10:20 am. The Council received reports from the Audiology/Hearing Science Assembly and the Speech-Language Pathology/Speech or Language Science Assembly.
The Chair of the Committee on Resolutions requested a show of hands by Councilors to determine preference for March 29-30 or June 27-28 as possible dates for the Spring 2003 Legislative Council meeting. Two additional resolutions were forwarded by the Resolutions Committee for the Council’s consideration.
LC 6-2002. RESOLVED, That the Legislative Council (LC) urge the Executive Board (EB) to develop an action plan to establish a state health care reimbursement advocacy group to be called SHARRC – State Healthcare Alliance for Reimbursement Reform Corp, that can specifically address all third party reimbursement issues; and further
RESOLVED, That the LC urge that the action plan include a mechanism for training state representatives as well as a mechanism for these representatives to network and meet at the annual convention. [APPROVED] (VOTE: 138 yes, 1 abstention, 10 did not record vote)
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LC 7-2002. RESOLVED, That the Legislative Council recommends that health care reimbursement issues become an ASHA Focused Initiative beginning January 1, 2003. [APPROVED] (VOTE: 111 yes, 24 no, 3 abstentions, 11 did not record vote)
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Caucus Report
At 11:20, the Council heard a report from Past President John Bernthal, moderator of the caucus on the Value of the CCC-A When Collaborating with Other Entities. There was discussion of the issues raised in the caucus as well as discussion of the Association’s certification and accreditation programs recognized by various agencies.
President Creaghead announced that the educational session on Literacy that had been scheduled would not be held due to time constraints. However, a hand-out that was prepared for the presentation was distributed to attendees. It was indicated that the power-point presentation prepared for the session also would be made available to Councilors.
Meeting Evaluation
The Speaker of the Council reminded Councilors of the need to complete the survey form included in the workbook and return them to the Survey Unit in the National Office no later than June 7, 2002.
The meeting adjourned at 12:03 pm.
Assembly Meetings
The Audiology/Hearing Science Assembly and the Speech-Language Pathology/Speech or Language Science Assembly held their first meetings on Friday, May 31 from 1:30-3:30 pm. The second meeting of each Assembly was held on Sunday, June 2nd from 8:00-10:00 am.
The following action was taken by the Audiology/Hearing Science Assembly.
LC A/HS 1-2002. RESOLVED, That the "Guidelines for Audiology Service Provision in and for Schools" be approved and adopted as ASHA policy to supercede the 1993 document "Guidelines for Audiology in Schools"; and further
RESOLVED, That the executive summary of the "Guidelines for Audiology Service Provision in and for Schools" be published in The ASHA Leader’s next annual supplement or other appropriate publication, and that the full document be posted on the Web site, be made available through Fax-on-Demand, and be included in the next revision of the ASHA Desk Reference. [APPROVED] (VOTE: 31 yes, 1 did not record vote)
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The following action was taken by the Speech-Language Pathology/Speech or Language Science Assembly.
LC SLP/SLS 1-2002. RESOLVED, That "Reading and Writing in Children and Adolescents: Knowledge and Skills Needed by Speech-Language Pathologists" be approved as policy by ASHA; and further
RESOLVED, That "Reading and Writing in Children and Adolescents: Knowledge and Skills Needed by Speech-Language Pathologists" be published in the next annual Supplement to The ASHA Leader, be posted on the Web site, and be made available upon request from the ASHA Action Center and Fax-on-Demand, and be included in the next revision of the ASHA Desk Reference. [APPROVED] (VOTE: 110 yes, 7 did not record vote)
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Kathleen Whitmire, Director of School Services in the National Office, presented information about the recent development of a position statement and guidelines on "A Workload Analysis Approach for Establishing Speech-Language Caseload Standards in the Schools." Drafts of the documents were available for Assembly members. An electronic vote requesting the Speech-Language Pathology/Speech or Language Science Assembly approval of the two documents will occur shortly.
Minutes of the May 31-June 1-2, 2002 Legislative Council Meeting Approved.
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Regina B. Grantham
Elizabeth Karlsen
Barbara Moore-Brown
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