AVMA House Advisory Committee recommends approval of 3 resolutions

Schaumburg, Ill. — The American Veterinary Medical Association (AVMA) House Advisory Committee (HAC) considered 10 resolutions at its November meeting, recommending three to the House of Delegates for approval.

The three recommended resolutions would:

» Fill the position of chief veterinary health public officer within the U.S. Department of Agriculture's (USDA) Food Safety and Inspection Service

» Address veterinary student loan debt relief

» Change the term of the AVMA vice president from two one-year terms to a single two-year term.

The HAC recommended disapproval of three resolutions from the New Jersey Veterinary Medical Association dealing with bylaw changes. The resolutions would require any issue referred to a committee, council or task force be returned to the House of Delegates for consideration, instead of ending up with the Executive Board.

HAC member Dr. Mark Helfat of New Jersey was the sole member in favor of the recommendation. He anticipates the issue will get "some discussion" on the House floor in January.

Resolutions introduced to change the timing of AVMA elections, move the location of the winter meeting and change the date of the candidates' introductory breakfast all were disapproved, and will not be forwarded to the House for discussion in January.

HAC tabled any action on resolutions dealing with the length of terms for Executive Board members and council members after learning AVMA already has a task force working on the feasibility of the issue.

The body also took no action on a recommendation from the executive division on HAC manual changes, most of which were wording issues, according to Helfat.

"It's encouraging that we do have resolutions to discuss," Helfat says. "We were hoping to have more, but it's a good start."

The AVMA Executive Board met in mid-November to make its recommendations on resolutions, including the antimicrobial issue that was rejected for discussion during the annual AVMA meeting in July.

The Executive Board's recommendations were not available by press time