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Region 1 Bylaws
1.1 The full name of this organization shall be Region I of the American Medical Association-Medical Student Section (AMA-MSS). It shall be referred to as Region I thereafter.
2.1 The purpose of the Medical Student Section shall be to provide medical student participation in the activities of the American Medical Association through adherence to the following principles:
- to have meaningful input into the decision and policymaking process of the Association;
- to improve medical education and to further professional excellence;
- to involve medical students in addressing and solving the problems of health care and health care delivery and to provide a forum for the discussion and dissemination of information;
- to develop medical leadership;
- to initiate and effect necessary change;
- to promote high personal and professional ethics, and a humanistic approach to the delivery of quality patient care;
- to promote activity within organized medicine on the local, state, and national levels;
- to work cooperatively with other student groups to meet these objectives.
3.1 Membership shall be limited to those medical students who attend medical allopathic or osteopathic schools in the following states: Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Hawaii, Idaho, Montana, North Dakota, New Mexico, Nevada, Oregon, South Dakota, Utah, Washington, Wyoming.
3.2 The membership is further limited to those students mentioned in 3.1 who are members in good standing of the AMA.
3.3 Terms of and the eligibility for the membership in the AMA shall be governed by the bylaws of the AMA.
3.4 No dues in addition to those paid to the AMA shall be required to be a member.
4.1 Region I shall have the following Officers: Chair, and Vice-Chair.
4.2 Responsibilities of the Chair shall include:
- Presiding over the Meetings of the Region
- Interpreting these Bylaws
- Maintaining communication with the Governing Council (GC) of the AMA-MSS
- Maintaining communication with State leaders
- Representing the Region to other student groups both within and outside of the AMA
4.3 Responsibilities of the Vice-Chair shall include:
- Assisting the Chair in all his duties
- Keeping Minutes of the Meetings
- Serving as an Official Keeper of the Bylaws
- Assuming the Office of the Chair in case of the Chair’s inability to serve until such time as the Chair may resume his duties.
4.4 The term of each Office shall be 1 year, commencing at the close of each Annual Meeting of the AMA-MSS.
4.5 The Chair and Vice-Chair shall direct the programs and activities of the Region I. During the interval between meetings of the AMA House of Delegates and the Region, the Officers shall act on behalf of the Region I in formulating decisions related to the development, administration, and implementation of student activities, programs, goals, and objectives. Region I shall be notified at least quarterly of actions taken by the Officers on its behalf.
4.6 In no event shall the Chair and Vice-Chair be from the same state.
4.7 The total length of service in these positions shall not exceed 2 years. A term of service of greater than 6 months shall count as a full year.
4.8 In case of vacancy in the Office of the Chair, the Vice-Chair shall succeed. In case of vacancy in the Office of Vice-Chair, Region I shall elect a replacement at the next Meeting. In case of vacancies in both Offices, the Region I shall elect both Officers at the next Meeting.
4.9 Rule 4.7 may be waived, if the enforcement of the said rule would render all declared candidates ineligible to serve.
5.1 Region I shall elect at each Interim Meeting of the AMA-MSS such number of Delegates and Alternate Delegates to the AMA House of Delegates as it qualifies for under the AMA Bylaws.
5.2 The term of Office shall begin at the opening of the AMA-HOD Annual Meeting at which time, the Delegates and Alternates shall take seats with their State delegations, and the said term shall last for 1 year.
5.3 No person may stand for election to either of these Offices, unless he presents a written endorsement of his State’s delegation to the AMA-HOD.
5.4 In no event more than one person from the same State shall assume the Office of Delegate, and in no event shall more than 2 people from the same State be elected to either Office.
5.5 No person may stand for election for the office of Delegate unless he has attended at least one AMA-MSS National Meeting prior to the Meeting at which the said election shall take place.
5.6 In the event of a vacancy in a medical student regional delegate position, one of the Region I alternate delegates shall fill that vacancy, and only Region I alternate delegates shall be eligible to fill a regional delegate vacancy unless none of the regional alternates are available.
5.7 In the event of a vacancy in a regional delegate or regional alternate delegate position at least 30 days before an Annual or Interim meeting, the Chair shall call a special election to fill that vacancy, for that meeting only, in accordance with these bylaws.
5.8 in the event of a vacancy in a regional delegate or regional alternate delegate position less than 30 days before an Annual or Interim meeting, the following shall be considered to be the ‘appropriate authority’ of Region I that is empowered to appoint a substitute delegate or alternate delegate, for that meeting only, as necessary:
- first, the region Chair;
- second, if the region Chair is unavailable, the region Vice-Chair; and
- next, if the region Chair and Vice-Chair are unavailable, the regional delegate that is predetermined by the Chair; and
- finally, the Delegate of the Medical Student Section shall make the appointment to fulfill the vacancy.
5.9 The total length of service in these positions shall not exceed 2 years. A term of service of greater than 6 months shall count as a full year.
5.10 Rules 5.4 and 5.9 may be waived if through the enforcement of the said rules Region I would not be able to seat Delegates or Alternates to which it would otherwise be entitled.
VI. Elections for Chair/Vice Chair
6.1 Each election shall be decided by the simple majority vote in accordance with the voting procedures set forth in these bylaws. In the event of more than two people contesting an office, with no candidate getting the requisite number of votes, a run-off vote shall be held between the two candidates with the most votes.
6.2 Each candidate may declare up to the point of election; however, only those candidates that declare by the date specified by the current Chair shall be able to post their CV and Personal Statement on the Region I listserv.
6.3 Candidates may run for either office. Unsuccessful candidates for Chair may run in the election for Vice Chair, which shall be held immediately following the election for Chair.
6.4 All candidates shall be restricted to distribution of their CV and personal statement. No other insignia or campaign materials shall be allowed. Travel to other State Meetings is expressly forbidden, unless a candidate also serves in such capacity that requires him to undertake such travel.
6.5 Candidates shall be given 2 minutes to speak and 2 minutes to answer questions to the membership of the Region I prior to the balloting.
VII. Election for Delegate/Alternate Delegate
7.1 Delegates shall be elected in accordance with the voting procedures outlined in these bylaws.
7.2 Rules 6.2, 6.4, and 6.5 shall apply to the elections of Delegates/Alternates.
7.3 If two candidates from the same State receive enough votes to be elected Delegates, pursuant to Rule 5.4, the person with more votes shall become Delegate and the person with fewer votes shall become Alternate Delegate.
7.4 The ballots shall be cast in the following manner. Each ballot shall be marked with the number of candidates equal to the actual number of Delegates and Alternate Delegates allotted to the Region I. A vote for Delegate will receive 2 points and a vote for Alternate Delegate will receive 1 point. All the votes shall then be counted and the people with most votes shall be elected subject to all other rules.
7.5 The Delegate and Alternate Delegate shall be linked by random selection such that the Delegate and Alternate Delegate function as a working pair. In the case that one Delegate and Alternate Delegate are elected from one state, the two positions shall be automatically linked.
8.1 Region I shall meet at the Interim and Annual Meetings of the AMA-MSS and at one additional time during the year at such time as designated by the Chair.
8.2 Members shall be given 30 days notice of the Regional Meeting that occurs at a time other than the Annual or Interim Meeting of the AMA-MSS.
8.3 Nothing in this Section shall be construed as prohibiting meetings on a more frequent basis.
9.1 One-fourth of all chapters within Region I shall constitute a quorum provided that at least 4 states are represented.
9.2 The Chair shall have the power to declare those chapters that have missed 5 consecutive Meetings to be inactive for the purposes of quorum only. Inactive chapters shall not count towards the total number of chapters when determining quorum. A chapter shall become active automatically upon sending a delegate to any of the Region I meetings.
10.1 All decisions regarding Region business, its endorsements of candidates or resolutions or any other matters shall be decided by a simple majority vote, unless otherwise specified in these bylaws.
11.1 There shall be a proportional allocation of votes to the states based on their representation at each Regional Meeting. This shall hold for elections of Chair, Vice-Chair, Regional Delegates and Alternate Delegates, any Resolutions introduced for Regional support, endorsements of candidates, Regional business and amendments to these bylaws.
11.2 For those instances specified in Rule 11.1, voting is conducted by each state, determined by each state's own criterion. Each state in which a medical school is located is allotted one vote. One additional vote for each state will be allotted per 3 additional main campus medical schools or AMA recognized satellite campuses that have a representative present at the meeting in which the vote is occurring. Each recognized state chairman, or state representative, will present the vote at the Region I Meeting.
11.3 Each State is free to decide in what manner its votes will be cast or allocated.
12.1 The Chair and Vice-Chair shall from time to time jointly appoint such committees as they deem appropriate and necessary for the proper functioning of Region I.
12.2 The committees shall serve in an advisory capacity to the Officers of Region I and shall produce such reports as are requested of them by the Chair and Vice-Chair.
12.3 All committees shall be deemed dissolved at the close of each Annual Meeting of the AMA-MSS.
13.1 Davis Rules of Order shall be the governing parliamentary authority for all Regional meeting.
14.1 These bylaws may be amended by the vote of 2/3 of the Region I meeting pursuant to Rule 11.2
14.2 All amendments shall be submitted at least 30 days prior to the meeting and shall be posted on the Region I listserv.
14.3 All amendments needed to bring these bylaws in compliance with those of the AMA and/or the AMA-MSS shall be automatic, and require neither vote nor discussion. The membership must be made aware of such changes pursuant to Rule 4.5
XV. Supremacy and Severability
15.1 These bylaws are superseded by the bylaws of the AMA-MSS and the AMA wherever conflict arises.
15.2 If any portion of these bylaws is found to be incompatible with the bylaws of the AMA and/or the AMA-MSS, such finding shall not affect any other portion of these bylaws.
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