Our Spring General Membership Meeting will take place on Tuesday, April 29 at 6:00pm in the Danto Auditorium (CVC). General membership meetings are vital to any union's function and allow members to discuss issues and make important decisions.

This spring we will be voting on proposed amendments to the HOA constitution and discussing a proposal regarding House Officer and APP work coverage. We'll also have free pizza for those of you that attend.

Registration is not required but is greatly appreciated, as it will help us determine how much pizza to order.

RSVP for the Spring General Membership Meeting

Proposed Amendments to the Constitution

Please read the existing HOA Constitution, and then review the proposed amendments ahead of the the April membership meeting.

#2025.1 - Grammar Updates

Updates improve grammar and readability of the constitution, they do not change the meaning of any provision.

• Use the word “Objectives” Instead of “Objects” in Article 2.
• Update the document to use the “Oxford Comma.”
• When “work hours” was added to Article 2 Section 3 in a previous amendment, it was just tacked on; this inserts it into the list.

#2025.2 - Minimum Number of General Membership Meetings

Affiliation with AFT and our new practices around member engagement increase our annual membership meetings to two. Notice of meetings is required 30 days prior to align with House Officer schedule availability.

#2025.3 - Ability to Establish an Action Committee

We are looking to codify a group of HOA members who will assist in building public pressure and engagement during bargaining campaigns. This will increase member involvement and alleviate some of the stress on the bargaining team.

#2025.4 - Enhanced Democratization of Ratification of Collective Bargaining Agreements

The current language of the constitution requires the Executive Board to approve an agreement before the members get to vote on it. This technically allows for three Executive Board members to override the negotiating committee on whether or not to send an agreement to the membership for a ratification vote. While in practice this would be an extreme circumstance, and has not caused problems, it does open up a potential issue with democratic governance of the union where three members of the Executive Board could veto the wishes of the membership as a whole, we are closing that loophole.

2025.5 - Clarify Process for Member Complaints Regarding Grievance and Arbitration

In order to meet our Duty of Fair Representation, the HOA should have a process for members who want to appeal a HOA leadership or staff decision whether or not to arbitrate a grievance. In such a case the union would follow the process listed in Article 13, the amendment codified that interpretation.

2025.6 - Update Title of Affiliation Article and Move a Related Clause

A title change for the Affiliation related article that clarifies what the article deals with. In addition we are moving a clause related to staying compliant with our affiliate from the “dues” section to the “affiliation” section.

2025.7 - Clarification of Executive Board, Board, and Personnel

Passage of this amendment will bring our constitution inline with current practice and clarify the roles of the Executive Board, Board, and Personnel.

• Clarification that the Officers make up the Executive Board.
• Moving President-Elect to its own section instead of being grouped under President.
• Clarity that in cases where the President and President-Elect are the same person (elected president 2 consecutive years or more), and they are unable to fulfill their duties, the Vice-President will fill in.
• Simpler language around HOA personnel assisting the Executive board.
• Moving the job descriptions of the representatives-at-large to the “Board” article because they are not members of the Executive Board.
• Grammatical fixes in Article 8.

2025.8 - Modern Finances

This amendment brings our constitution in-line with modern practices around our finances.

• Define our Fiscal Year
• Define our Budget year and require the creation and approval of an annual budget.
• Remove the requirement for checks with two signatures. You cannot obtain these from most check vendors anymore.
• In section 3 all Officers are Board members so that word is redundant, also affirm that personnel are reimbursed for approved expenses.
• Remove the requirement of minimal risk to first $500,000; place the Executive Board’s responsibility for financial security at the forefront of the section. Specific (non-relative) numbers placed into the constitution are too restrictive, requiring changes to the constitution periodically. Instead, the risk allocation will be reviewed annually and will be part of the required Investment Policy approved by the Executive Board.

2025.9 - Election Reform

This amendment introduces rank choice voting which should give us a board that most resembles our membership. In addition it allows candidates to run for an officer and representative position at the same time which will encourage more open officer elections.

Proposed Memorandum of Understanding on House Officer and APP Work Coverage

We've been working on obtaining "extra pay for extra work" for our members for the last five years. Our attempts to develop something workable during the 2020 and 2023 collective bargaining cycles were unsuccessful. Over the past two years, the HOA Board has been hard at work on the portion of this issue related to covering for APPs. We started from the ground up and have prepared language to officially present the Administration this May.

The intent of the language is to provide some compensation for House Officers who take on extra work when a PA or NP calls out for a shift on a service that shares duties between House Officers and APPs.

Read the Full Text

We will ask for your feedback during the Membership Meeting this April so we can fine-tune the language. We will also request feedback via email that same week for those who cannot attend the General Membership Meeting.