AUGUST 2004

2004-05 Business of the House

Valary Schulz, Chair

Are we close to recovery after April’s convention and annual meeting; caught up on all of the deferred obligations and devising ways to implement all those stimulating ideas which we recognized in meetings and presentations? Particularly as host society, the Annual meeting is a flurry of preparation, preparation, and preparation, with relief at the closing. We had an excellent attendance at the House meeting seating 187 members, and resolved our business in short order. I’m consistently in awe at the wisdom of free elections and votes. Thank you for your presence, and for your direction.

Between now as I write this, and next month as you read this, I will have flanged up the roster committee members to do the work of the house over the next year. I have made a concerted effort to provide for broad geographic representation within these committee appointments, as far as I am allowed. Thanks for volunteering, and for agreeing to serve.

Remembering that our organization is and should be dynamic, and that the House as its legislative arm is both responsive to membership and progressive, previews of the issues we will be considering are cited.

The Constitution and Bylaws Committee will be asked to consider the following items:

• Filling vacancies: though this is a very unlikely event, prior preparation provides for a smoother transition. Currently, a Presidential vacancy is filled by the Vice-President as per By Laws Article II, Section 3. In Section 11, Vacancies, if the office of President-Elect becomes vacant, it is filled by a special election called by the EC -- with no specifications or guidance on how to name candidates. All other officer vacancies filled by appointment of the EC. The C&BL committee will prepare a model for equitable and transparent succession. Thanks are due to Tom Ewing for his founding analysis of this issue which will be evaluated in committee.
• Student sponsors: as it currently stands, student and associate members are not required to provide a sponsor with their application for membership, although successful students advance to associate membership until they have completed the requisite experience for active membership. The committee will be studying the desirability of requiring a faculty member or AAPG member is good standing sponsor these applicants.
• Instant Run-off Voting: our C&BL provide for election by a plurality of votes (Article II, Section 10) which is obscure since a plurality is not the same as a majority, which is the most likely intent (as pointed out to me by Don Lewis). Also, in cases of more than 2 candidates several methods exist which provide for an equitable election, such as Instant Run-off Voting which has been introduced in the AC for selection of Honors & Awards recipients. In researching this subject, I learned that many countries where there are more than two political parties use this system, including Australia where it was introduced in 1920. We should also be sensitive to Condorcet’s Paradox which points out that it is possible that a majority prefers option A over option B, a majority prefers option B over option C, and yet a majority prefers option C over option A. (Thus, majority prefers is not transitive.) The C&BL will be asked to research and develop a methodology for voting in multi-candidate elections.
• Unfinished business: The house referred back to the C&BL, the rewording of the C&BL, to provide for reinstatement to membership of a prior member who was expelled for ethical reasons, by unanimous vote of the Executive Committee, thus providing consistency between Article I, Section 12, and Article XI, Sections 7 and 8.

The Resolutions Committee will be asked to seek out and invite affiliation and association with qualifying societies which are not currently affiliated with the AAPG in an aggressively proactive manner, in keeping with our strategic plan to become the premier Association of choice for the petroleum geologists.

The Ad Hoc Committee on Advisory Council Representation presented their interim report at the meeting of the House in Dallas, and their final report herein. This committee is a hold-over from last year, and will be finishing up and making recommendations for implementation.

I have asked John Hogg to chair the newly commissioned Ad Hoc Committee on Executive Session. Although the C&BL committee reviewed this issue in committee during 2002-2003 and declined to propose any change prohibiting any AAPG body from invoking executive session during the consideration of Nominations and/or Honors and Awards, a fresh look and new perspective is reasonable.

What’s left? Why don’t you tell me? I sincerely solicit your opinions on all of the above issues, and any others which strike you. My preference is for you to email me your comments at . See you at the HoD Breakfast during your local Section convention.

Saludos