By LOWELL K. LISCHER
Chairman, House of Delegates

House to Consider Wide Range of Issues

Delegates Will Face Busy Agenda

Reference the Delegate's Voice
House of Delegates Newsletter

In recent years, the House of Delegates has had very busy meetings. This year's meeting in Denver on June 3 will be no exception.

This is what is already planned for the meeting.

• There are seven standing committees and three ad hoc committees who will be reporting to the delegates.
• The Constitution & Bylaws Committee will be presenting one constitutional amendment, eight bylaws amendments and one resolution for consideration by the delegates. These cover a wide range of issues, including:
  • Matters concerning the cooperative effort of the Executive Committee, Advisory Council and House of Delegates.
  • Limitations for holding multiple key elected offices in AAPG.
  • Modification of the method of submitting amendments for consideration.
  • Simple matters of cleaning up language within the Bylaws.

    (The specifics of all of these issues were addressed in the insert in the April issue of the EXPLORER.)

• The Rules and Procedures Committee also will present a report addressing 10 recommendations for change or modification of the House Rules and Procedures, including a method of disaffiliation of affiliated societies which, for whatever reason, may cease to exist or disband -- and the issue of committee member retention.
• The Resolutions Committee will present a report to consider both the India Association of Petroleum Geologists and Japanese Association of Petroleum Technology as affiliated societies of the AAPG.
• The Future of Earth Scientists Committee will present a report pertaining to the future of the committee in an effort to dovetail its own efforts with those of other AAPG standing committees.
• The Nominations and Elections Committee has come up with an excellent slate of candidates for consideration for chairman-elect and secretary/editor for the House in 2001-2002. The Newsletter Committee will report not only on this year's issues of The Delegates' Voice, but the establishment of the HOD Forum on the AAPG Web site (www.aapg.org/ho
  use_of_delegates/hodforum/) and the important communications roles each of these serves for the House.
• While the Honors and Awards Committee continues to deliberate at this time, it is anticipated they will have recommended one or more outstanding delegates for recognition either at the AAPG awards ceremony or during the House meeting. It is anticipated that the Credentials Committee also will provide the Delegates with information relative to how well we are doing at getting and maintaining delegate representation from the U.S. Sections as well as the newly formed International Regions.
• The Ad Hoc House Operating Efficiency Committee has come up with a litany of procedural changes last year to enhance the efficiency of the House of Delegates. Several of these past recommendations are being considered for minor modifications, and it is anticipated this year's committee members will have recommendations of their own.
• At last year's meeting in New Orleans, a resolution from the floor established an ad hoc committee to consider regular audits of AAPG finances, as well as staff review. The Ad Hoc Independent Audit Committee will be making its report.

As chairman of this year's House of Delegates, I would be remiss if I did not mention the tremendous amount of cooperation there has been among the Executive Committee, the Advisory Council and House of Delegates leadership. While the deliberations of the House will be thorough and lengthy, the assistance of the Executive Committee and Advisory Council has gone a long way to making the House's meeting easier and keeping it on task.

I want to encourage all members to read the insert in the last month's EXPLORER. Let your delegates know how you feel about these issues, or seek their clarification on them. If you don't know who your delegates are, check in the front of the AAPG BULLETIN or check it out under the House of Delegates area of the AAPG Web site. And while you are on the Web site, visit the HOD Forum. By early May, all of the reports by all of the committees will be available for your viewing on the Forum.

Why is the function of the House of Delegates important to you, the members? Because it is YOUR Association!

The function of the House is to deal with the legislative function of the Association. Each year your delegates give of their own time at the annual meeting to represent your interests. Many of them serve on various House committees involving even more time and effort.

It is imperative that you, the members, make yourselves an active part of the AAPG legislative process. And along the way, if you get a chance, thank your delegates. They do a great job to strive to make sure our Association is truly representative of all our interests.