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Region 3 Bylaws
Drafted October 25, 2003
- Name
- Membership
- Officers
- Elections for Chair and Vice Chair
- Elections for Delegate/Alternate Delegate
- Meetings
- Quorum
- Voting
- Committees
- Amendments
1.1 The full name of this organization shall be Region III of the American Medical Association-Medical Student Section (AMA-MSS). It shall be referred to as Region III thereafter.
2.1 The purpose of the Medical Student Section shall to be 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: Arkansas, Kansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Oklahoma, and Texas.
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 III 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 or her duties
- Keeping Minutes of the Meetings as needed
- 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 or her duties
4.4 The term of Office shall be 1 year, commencing at the close of each Annual Meeting of the AMA-MSS.
4.5 The Chair shall direct the programs and activities of the Region III. During the interval between meetings of the AMA House of Delegates and the Region, the Chair shall act on behalf of the Region III in formulating decisions related to the development, administration, and implementation of student activities, programs, goals, and objectives. Region III shall be notified at least quarterly of actions taken by the Officers on its behalf.
4.6 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.
4.7 In no event shall the Chair and Vice Chair be from the same state.
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 III shall elect a replacement at the next Meeting. In case of vacancies in both Offices, the Region III shall elect both Officers at the next Meeting.
4.9 Rules 4.6 and 4.7 may be waived, if the enforcement of the said rules would render all declared candidates ineligible to serve.
5.1 Region III 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 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, the linked alternate delegate as outlined in section 7.6 shall fill that vacancy,. If the linked alternate delegate is unable to fill the position, one of the remaining Region III alternate delegates shall be eligible to fill a regional delegate vacancy unless none of the regional alternate delegates are available.
5.7 In the event of any remaining vacancies 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 any remaining vacancies 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 III that is empowered to appoint a substitute delegate or alternate delegate, for that meeting only, as necessary:
- first, the Region III Chair;
- second, if the Region III Chair is unavailable, the Region III Vice Chair; and
- next, if the Region III 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 III would not be able to elect Delegates or Alternates to which it would otherwise be entitled.
VI. Elections for Chair and 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 III listserv.
6.3 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 or her to undertake such travel.
6.4 Candidates shall be given 2 minutes to speak and 2 minutes to answer questions to the membership of the Region III prior to the balloting.
6.5 Candidates may run for either office. Unsuccessful candidates for Chair may run in the election for Vice Chair as long as it is in adherence with Rules 4.7 to 4.9.
VII. Elections 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, 6.3, and 6.4 shall apply to the elections of Delegates/Alternates.
7.3 Candidates may run for either office. Unsuccessful candidates for Delegate may run in the election for subsequent elections as long as it is in adherence with Rule 5.4.
7.4 Candidates shall be elected by a simple majority. If no candidate garners adequate votes to claim a simple majority, a run-off shall be held.
7.5 The ballots shall be cast in the following manner: each Delegate and Alternate Delegate position will be individually elected. All Delegate positions will be filled before election of Alternate Delegates.
7.6 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 one Alternate Delegate are elected from one state, the two positions shall automatically be linked.
8.1 Region III 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 90 day notice of the Regional Meeting that occurs at 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-third of all chapters within Region III shall constitute a quorum provided that at least 3 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 III 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 Each Medical School (together with its satellite campuses) represented at the Region III meeting shall get one vote. This shall hold for elections of Chair, Vice Chair, Delegate and Alternate Delegate, any resolutions introduced for Regional support, amendments to these bylaws, and any other business regarding the region.
11.2 Each school is free to decide in what manner its votes will be cast.
12.1 The Chair shall from time to time jointly appoint such committees as they deem appropriate and necessary for the proper functioning of Region III.
12.2 The committees shall serve in an advisory capacity to the Chair of Region III and shall produce such reports as are requested of them by the 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 III 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 III 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.
Content provided by: Medical Student Section