At the 2017 Society for Education in Anesthesia (SEA) Spring Business Meeting, Dr. Stephen Kimatian, SEA Immediate Past-President and Chairperson of the Bylaws Committee had a call for volunteers to serve on the Bylaws Committee to review the SEA Bylaws and make recommendations for any amendments. A summary of the proposed amendments was presented at the 2017 Fall Meeting on October 20, 2017 and are now being circulated for your review.
Please click the link below to download a draft of the proposed Bylaws amendments.
Download Proposed Bylaws Amendments
New added verbiage denoted by red print/ Stricken out language denote with strikeout.
In addition, below is a summary of the proposed amendments and justification by the Bylaws Committee.
General Amendments
- SEA is identified as “Society" vs. “Organization” throughout the Bylaws.
- Updated Chairman to be Chairperson throughout the Bylaws.
- Updated Vice President to Vice President/President-Elect throughout the Bylaws.
Justification: Amendments are for consistency throughout the Bylaws.
Article II – Purpose
- Updated purpose 2.
Justification: SEA members teach a lot of people in perioperative medicine. This removes specific reference to residents and medical students and broaden scope to teaching about anesthesia rather than specifically residents and medical students.
Article III – Membership
- Clarification of “active membership” qualifications.
- Creation of “associate membership” for non-physicians.
- Creation of “honorary membership” category.
- Clarified requirements for quorum.
Justification: These amendments provide clarification on membership categories and quorum and allow for a broader range members to join the Society in a non-voting capacity without executive leadership roles (such as anesthesiology assistants and program administrators).
Article IV – Officers
- References Article VI for Election Process.
- Allow additional roles and duties for Officers to be created in the Society’s policies and procedures manual.
- Clarify duties of the Executive Director/Association Manager.
Justification: These amendments eliminated redundancies for items referenced elsewhere in the Bylaws. It also provides clarification on the Officer’s duties and allows the Executive Director/Association Manager to better assist SEA Officers in managing the Society.
Article V – Committees
- Rename the “general members” on the Board of Directors as “Directors”.
- References Article VI for Election Process.
- Define Standing Committees and allow others to be created and identified in the Society’s policies and procedures manual.
Justification: These amendments provide clarification and eliminated redundancies. The proposed Bylaw amendments will only define Standing Committees that are referenced elsewhere in the Bylaws and relate to governance of the Society. Additional Standing Committees may be created by the Board of Directors and outlined in the Society’s policies and procedures manual.
Article VI – Meetings and Elections
- Reformatting.
Justification: This used to be one long article. It was divided into sections for clarification.
Article VII – Funds and Expenditures
- Added a line that the Society will not accept any funds or make any expenditures that will jeopardize the organization’s 501 (c)(3) tax exempt status.
Justification: It is becoming more difficult to obtain 501 (c)(3) tax status and it provides the Board of Directors direction on how to handle joint ventures that might be proposed.
Article X – Amendments
- Added the ability for Society members to vote on proposed Bylaws amendments electronically and following a similar procedure as Board elections – requiring 30% of the membership to participate. 2/3 of the membership voting is required to approve the amendments.
Justification: The Society already allows electronic voting for elections and this process allows all members to participate – not just those members attending the Spring or Fall Meetings.
Voting Procedure
Voting for acceptance of these amendments will occur at the Spring Business Meeting to be held on Friday, April 20, 2018 at the Hyatt Regency in Louisville, Kentucky.
Please direct any questions on these proposed amendments to Dr. Stephen Kimatian, SEA Immediate Past-President and Chairperson of the Bylaws Committee at [email protected] or Andrew Bronson, CAE, SEA Executive Director at [email protected].
