Amendments Proposed to the PAEA Bylaws for Adoption in Quebec City

Addition of a Board Seat Is Among Changes

Walter Eisenhauer, MEd, MMSc, PA-C
Chair, PAEA Governance Committee

The move to a fully independent organization, the creation of a standing governance committee, and the existence of outdated language in the current organizational bylaws has prompted the Governance Committee and subsequently the board to recommend numerous changes to the bylaws. In an attempt to summarize these changes for the membership, the following outline of changes is provided. It is also suggested that each member read through the proposed changes.

Article 1: Name and Offices

The new name of the organization is inserted to reflect PAEA’s recent transition.

Article 2: Purposes

The mission statement is updated to reflect the changes approved by the membership in Puerto Rico last year.

Article 3: Membership

3.02 — Votes

The changes in this category establish the voting procedures necessary to support the increase the number of board seats recommended in article 4.03. The language contained in the voting section reflects a process for electing board members during those years when two director at large seats are open — the two seats would be filled by the two candidates who receive the highest number of votes. The procedure for the resolution of ties is also clarified.

3.03 — Non-Voting Member Categories

The changes in this category simplify non-voting PAEA member categories. New categories for non-voting members will be limited to two — Institutional and Individual Colleagues. These categories can be applied to all institutions or individuals, domestic or foreign, that have an interest in PA education and a desire to draw on the resources of and contribute to the Association.

3.05 — Termination

An addition to this article clarifies the reapplication process for a program whose membership has been terminated.

3.07 — Criteria

This change is to correct the name of the ARC-PA.

3.08 — Eligibility for Service

Changes in this article restrict committee chair, board, and external liaison positions to representatives of PAEA member programs. The language also reasserts the authority of each member program to name an unlimited number of program representatives.

Article 4: Board of Directors

4.01 — Board Authority

During the last revision of the bylaws, language was omitted that granted the board the authority to organize programs into regional consortia. This language has been reinserted.

Article 4.03 — Board Composition

This change would add a third director at large seat to the PAEA Board of Directors. Over the past two years the responsibilities and work delegated to each board member have increased markedly. In order to effectively manage the nonstaff workload of the organization, the board has recommended the creation of this third director at large position.

Article 4.04 — Election

Revisions in this article clarify the election of officers for the organization. It ensures that candidates are deemed eligible by the PAEA Nomination and Awards Committee and clarifies the process whereby members can be nominated from the floor in the case that no suitable candidates are identified.

Articles 4.06 — 4.011

Changes to these articles authorize the board to periodically reevaluate the duties of officers and publish them in the PAEA Policies and Procedures Manual. This manual, under development, will be available to all members on the PAEA Web site.

Article 5.02 — Notice of Meetings

This change is to remove the requirement that members not be notified more than 50 days in advance of a business meeting. The original language, likely intended to ensure that members would not be notified so far in advance of a meeting that they would forget by the time the date arrived, seems unnecessary in the age of Web sites and electronic communications.

Article 5.05 — Votes Outside of Annual Meeting

This change would grant the board the authority to conduct a special membership vote outside of the annual meeting, allowing the Association to respond quickly to issues requiring membership approval when the timing precludes waiting until the annual business meeting.

Article 6: Institutes, Councils, and Committees

Changes to this article update the Association’s standing committees and remove the specific charges from the bylaws. This allows them to be changed as needed without requiring a bylaws amendment. The charges will instead be published in the policies and procedures manual. The chair appointment process is reiterated and requirements established for members who leave their positions within member programs while serving as committee chairs. Standard three-year terms have been implemented for committee chairs; however, an exemption to this is recommended for the Nominations and Awards Committee. Traditionally this chair position has been held by the immediate past president (by definition a one-year term) and the revised language allows this custom to continue in the future.

Article 9: Amendments to the Bylaws

Changes in this article grant the Governance Committee the authority to oversee amendments to the bylaws, replacing the function of the old Bylaws Committee.