ARTICLE VII

HOUSE OF DELEGATES

7.1 Composition and Authority. The House of Delegates consists of Delegates elected as provided in Article V, above, and has the following powers:

A. To function as the legislative body of the Association.

B. To bind members by adopting principles of medical ethics not inconsistent with or contrary to the Constitution and Bylaws of the American Medical Association or state and federal law.

C. To recommend to the Board of Trustees, upon a two-thirds vote of the eligible Delegates, dues, assessments and other charges payable by members.

D. To consider and approve the MMA annual budget that is proposed by the MMA Board of Trustees.

E. To receive and consider reports and resolutions.

1) Resolutions considered as regular business shall be submitted to the office of the Association at least 30 days prior to the commencement of the House of Delegates meeting at which they are to be considered. A late resolution may be received upon permission of the Speaker of the House or upon a two-thirds vote of the House of Delegates.

2) Resolutions may be submitted by members of the House of Delegates, members of the Board of Trustees, component medical societies, or committees or sections of the Association.

3) Reports will be received from the President, Chairperson of the Board of Trustees, Trustees, and Secretary-Treasurer of the Association and from all committees and sections of the Association. Additional reports will be received from individuals or organizations as may be invited to report by the Speaker of the House.

F. To adopt rules and procedures for the transaction of its business.

G. To judge the election and qualification of its members.

7.2 Delegate Credentialing. The word Delegate used in these Bylaws refers to the Delegate, the Alternate Delegate substituting for the Delegate or an Acting Delegate.

A. A Delegate shall deposit with the Credentials Committee the credentials signed by the Secretary of the Delegate’s component or specialty society or section.

B. A Delegate may be seated without credentials if approved by the Credentials Committee.

C. In the event no Delegate or Alternate Delegate is present from a given component medical society, specialty society or section, the House of Delegates may appoint an Acting Delegate from among the members present from that society, section or trustee district. The Acting Delegate serves only in the absence of the Delegate or Alternate Delegate.

7.3 Quorum. A quorum consists of 30 or more Delegates from 17 or more component or specialty societies or sections. If the quorum is no longer present after commencement of the proceedings, the proceedings shall be suspended until a quorum is again present.

7.4 Conduct of Meeting. All meetings of the House of Delegates, except executive sessions, shall be open to all members of the Association.

A. The Speaker or a majority of the Delegates present shall have authority to declare which sessions of the House of Delegates shall be executive sessions and to invite persons who are not Delegates to be present at executive sessions.

B. The privilege of the floor, except attendance at executive session, but no right to vote is granted to the MMA and AMA Presidents, Presidents-Elect, Trustees, Secretaries, Treasurers, Past-Presidents, the Speaker and Vice-Speaker of the AMA House of Delegates, the AMA Trustees, and MMA Delegates and Alternate Delegates to the American Medical Association unless those persons are also delegates to the House of Delegates.

7.5 Voting Privilege. Each qualified Delegate, Alternate Delegate or Acting Delegate is entitled to one vote. The Speaker and Vice-Speaker shall not vote except in the case of a tie, in which case the Speaker may cast one vote.

7.6 Committees of the House. The Speaker shall appoint the Nominating and Leadership Development Committee according to Section 7.6.A, and the Credentials, Rules and other Committees as may be appropriate. Members of all committees shall be Delegates or Alternate Delegates.

A. Nominating and Leadership Development Committee.

1) The Nominating and Leadership Development Committee is charged with the following responsibilities:

The Nominating and Leadership Development Committee shall report to the House of Delegates at each Annual Meeting a slate of candidates for the offices of Speaker, Vice-Speaker, President-Elect, Secretary-Treasurer, AMA Delegates and Alternates and At-Large Trustees;
The Nominating and Leadership Development Committee is only required to place into nomination At-Large Trustees if the Nominating and Leadership Development Committee determines that certain segments of the MMA membership are under-represented. The Nominating and Leadership Development Committee will take into consideration at least the following characteristics when coming to a recommendation to nominate an At-Large Trustee(s): (a) geography; (b) specialty (primary and non-primary); (c) age; (d) clinic size; (e) gender; (f) and ethnic origin/nationality of the current members of the Board of Trustees.
The Nominating and Leadership Development Committee shall develop, evaluate, and revise job descriptions for each office and trustee, subject to review and approval of the Board of Trustees;
The Nominating and Leadership Development Committee shall develop, implement, and evaluate leadership and succession planning programs subject to review and approval of the Board of Trustees;

The Nominating and Leadership Development Committee shall have oversight responsibilities of the MMA Standing Committee nomination process subject to review and approval of the Board of Trustees.

2) The Immediate Past-President of the Association shall serve as Chairperson of the Nominating and Leadership Development Committee. In the event the Immediate Past-President is unable to serve, the President shall appoint a Chairperson of the Nominating and Leadership Development Committee from among the members of the committee. The remaining members of the Nominating and Leadership Development Committee shall be the President-Elect, MMA Board Chairperson (or designee appointed by the MMA Board Chairperson), Chairperson of the AMA Delegation (or a designee appointed by the Chairperson of the AMA Delegation), and two past MMA Presidents invited to serve in reverse chronology of their terms of office. Each Trustee District that is not represented by one the slotted positions on the Nominating and Leadership Development Committee described above shall appoint one representative to the Nominating and Leadership Development Committee. This appointment shall be submitted to the Chairperson of the Nominating and Leadership Committee within sixty days after the MMA Annual Meeting.

3) No members of the Nominating and Leadership Development Committee can be nominated for the positions of Speaker, Vice-Speaker, President-Elect, Secretary-Treasurer or At-Large Trustee. A member of the Nominating and Leadership Development Committee may be nominated as an AMA Delegate or Alternate. If a member of the Nominating and Leadership Development Committee desires to be nominated or is nominated as an AMA Delegate or Alternate, that member must withdraw from that discussion when these nominations are discussed by the Nominating and Leadership Development Committee.

B. Credentials Committee.

1) The Credentials Committee shall consist of five members appointed by the Speaker and chosen from the Delegates.

2) The Credentials Committee shall report its recommendations regarding seating of Delegates and Alternate Delegates based upon the requirements of these Bylaws.

3) The Credentials Committee shall be responsible for the distribution, collection and counting of all ballots in the House of Delegates. The Chairperson of the Credentials Committee shall report all election results directly to the Speaker of the House.

C. Rules Committee.

The Rules Committee shall consist of three members appointed from the Delegates.
The Rules Committee shall recommend to the House of Delegates rules for the operation of the House.