(As Approved – October 2018 Board of Governors)
The following items have been developed by the Ways & Means Committee as segments of the Policy Manual, designed to accompany the Bylaws and Legal Opinions File, to provide CVMA with a complete reference for policy on specific subjects. There is a complete reference manual of all Board policy actions. This is taken to all Board meetings for referral purposes.
The items below result from suggestions from the Board for areas where the W&M Committee was asked to develop policy, as well as from items extracted from the Bylaws and put into the Policy Manual instead. All future Policy Manual items will be subject to Board approval, and require Board approval for change. All items in the Bylaws require membership review and comment to effect change.
The Ways & Means/President’s Council Committee may nominate award winners in each category to forward to the Board of Governors for approval without going through the formal nomination process.
On the matter of ballot initiatives, the members of the CVMA Board of Governors and the chair of the House of Delegates shall not take a public position on any initiative.
CVMA shall pay transportation expenses for Board members to attend Board meetings, plus two nights’ room and tax. Board members shall be required to submit expense vouchers within sixty (60) days following the meeting. Expense vouchers submitted after this time shall require Board approval before payment can be made.
A Board member’s hotel room reservation will be cancelled if they do not respond to the meeting notice 24 hours prior to the meeting. If the Board member states they will attend but do not, they may be responsible for room charges.
Board members (and invitees) are responsible for reimbursing the association for non-covered expenses incurred during board activities (social events/ meals). The Board member can reimburse the association by having a credit card number on file or having the non-covered expenses deducted from the Board member’s reimbursement voucher before payment. Notification of credit card charges or deductions will be sent to individual board members.
Governors are encouraged to disseminate and gather information pertinent to the profession. This can be accomplished through attending constituent association meetings and/or through electronic means.
1. Most Urgent: The Executive Committee will be contacted for an immediate vote.
2. Immediate E-mail Vote:
3. Conference Call Vote:
4. Board Meeting Vote: The vote will be taken at a face-to-face Board of Governors meeting.
Note: All e-mail votes will be sent out through the Board of Governors listserve at cvma-bog@cvma.net.
In keeping with the ruling of the National Association of Parliamentarians, all committee chair shall be referred to in the Bylaws and elsewhere as “Chair”, with no distinction as to gender.
Appointments will be made by the President each year.
CVMA may reimburse $200.00 per round trip airfare for CVMA members to attend committee and task force meetings, except for the Allied Industry Committee.
It has been established that nonmember veterinarians can serve on committees.
The content of continuing education courses sponsored by CVMA shall reflect the needs of the veterinarian, build upon the standards for practice and courses as found in the curricula accredited schools of veterinary medicine and contain information that is relevant to the practice of veterinary medicine. Courses shall be related to the scientific knowledge and/or technical skills required for the practice of veterinary medicine or be related to direct and/or indirect patient/client care. Courses that are primarily intended to promote the use of a commercial product or service shall not be deemed relevant to veterinary medicine.
Financial statements, which include year-to-date and monthly comparisons, shall be mailed monthly to all Board members, the CVMA Treasurer and House of Delegates Chair. A variance report, with an explanation of all line items over 20% of the budgeted amount, shall be included in each Board agenda.
No recordings, photographs, videos, CDs, multimedia or images of any kind are allowed to be taken during any official business meeting of the CVMA, or to be printed, published or posted in any publication, public forum or on the Internet at any official meeting of the CVMA without advance written permission of the Executive Director of the CVMA.
The AVMA Leadership Conference shall be attended by CVMA’s House Chairman-Elect, President-Elect, and Executive Director. AVMA’s Annual Convention shall be attended by CVMA’s President and Executive Director. Attendance at AAHA, AABP, AAEP and other specialty group meetings shall be as appropriate to meet CVMA’s needs and shall be determined by the agenda of topics to be covered.
CVMA officers participating in dinner meetings to discuss CVMA business may have their expenses billed to their respective CVMA accounts, e.g., President, President-Elect, At-large member, Treasurer, House Chairman, and Executive Director. These expense accounts shall be used for CVMA-related functions.
Distinguished Life Members shall be exempt from the payment of registration fees for the CVMA Annual Meeting.
All graduate and/or new licensees shall be exempt from the payment of all dues for the remainder of the year in which they graduate or pass the State Board examinations in California. In the case of graduates, they shall be assessed according to the following schedule: One-fourth of full dues beginning in July of the year following graduation; one-half of full dues in the next full dues year; three-fourths of full dues in the next full dues year; and full dues in the next full year every year thereafter.
All members of the Executive Committee, the Executive Director and the Treasurer shall have some form of electronic communication to facilitate timely communication of documents.
CVMA may reimburse approved expenses for the AVMA District 10 representative to attend two regular CVMA board meetings. Vision Planning is not included.
CVMA may reimburse approved expenses for the AVMA Delegate to attend four regular CVMA board meetings. Vision Planning is not included.
CVMA may reimburse approved expenses for representatives at organizational meeting(s) and event(s) that they are asked by CVMA’s Board of Governors to attend. A report of the meeting(s)/event(s) shall be provided semi-annually to the Board of Governors.
CVMA shall cause a financial audit to be conducted annually to be completed within two months of the end of the fiscal year.
An Executive Committee of the House of Delegates consisting of the House Chair, the House Chair-Elect, and three members-at-large elected by the House, shall be empowered to act in the name of the house on routine matters which require action before the next House meeting. Actions of the House Executive Committee must be ratified by the House at their next regular meeting.
Specialty groups may request representation to the House of Delegates as has been done by RVTs and lab animal practitioners. Such requests will require approval of the Board and House of Delegates.
Non-geographic constituent associations will be limited to those groups with a veterinary professional activity.
It is recommended the immediate Past President may serve as the Chairman of the Ways & Means Committee/Presidents Council.
The Investment Committee includes the CVMA President, President-Elect and Past-President as voting members, and the Executive Director and Treasurer as non-voting members.
All matters pertaining to legislation shall be reviewed by the Legislative Committee for their recommendations before being sent to the Board, unless considered time sensitive and the full committee cannot meet to consider the issue, in which case the Executive Committee shall consider the issue to determine what action will be taken. Executive Committee actions shall be referred to the Legislative Committee and Board at the next scheduled meeting for review of the recommended bill position.
It is the intent of the Bylaws to limit non-geographic constituent associations to those groups with a veterinary professional activity.
The expense accounts of the President, President-Elect, and At-Large Member shall be used for attending committee meetings, other VMA meetings, educational seminars, etc. Attendance at Board meetings shall be charged against Board meeting accounts as with other Board members.
Post meeting social events or dinners are encouraged to promote discussion and interactions among meeting participants. However, the cost of these events shall be the responsibility of each individual. CVMA may coordinate these events and divide the cost equally among the participants.
The reserves policy of the CVMA shall be that a minimum of 25%, and a goal of 50%, of the CVMA’s liquid assets be maintained in reserves. The reserves allocation will be based on the CVMA’s current operating budget.
The RVT representative is listed as an invitee to the Board of Governors meetings. The RVT representative’s expenses to four Board of Governors meetings are reimbursed.
RVT CVMA members are encouraged to hold an annual business meeting during CVMA’s Annual Meeting for the purpose of electing representatives to the House of Delegates.
RVT CVMA members shall be eligible for appointment to all standing and special committees and such appointment shall be at the discretion of the President. There shall no requirements for minimum or maximum numbers of RVT representatives (or other representatives) on any committee.
Student representatives to the Board of Governors will have an expense reimbursement plan. This would be a specific amount allotted annually to the student representative determined annually by the Finance Committee.
Student House of Delegates members will have an expense reimbursement plan. This would be a specific amount allotted annually to the student delegates determined annually by the Finance Committee with the amount being shared by the student delegates.
In order to promote full discussion of all issues which require Board action, use of mail ballots for Board decisions shall be prohibited.
Because non-verbal forms of communication can play a major roll in information exchange, use of telephone conference calls and email shall be
used only when the decision cannot wait until the next scheduled Board meeting.
It is recommended the Ways and Means/Presidents Council Committee include the last ten (10) presidents, with the Immediate Past President serving as the chairman, and the last five (5) House Chairs. This committee serves as an advisory committee to the Board of Governors as well as a business management committee to CVMA.