At the close of the California Medical Association (CMA) 2015 House of Delegates last month, new governance reforms took effect. One of the most significant changes to the bylaws allow for the submission of resolutions for debate and discussion throughout the year, rather than just once a year as was previously the case. This will allow CMA to be more nimble and effective in making decisions on critical issues that are important to physicians.

CMA members are wasting no time availing themselves of the new year-round resolutions process. CMA has posted four approved resolutions that have been submitted for consideration by the Board of Trustees.

Those resolutions are now online for the first round of public testimony, which will be open until December 14, 2015. After testimony closes, the resolutions and all the testimony will be forwarded to the appropriate CMA council for consideration. Member testimony and feedback will be considered by the councils as they make policy recommendations to the Board of Trustees.

Please click here to access the discussion portal for year-round resolutions. You will need to log-in with your CMA web account. If this is your first time accessing your web account, you will need to register here.

If you have a resolution you would like to submit for next quarter, please e-mail it to resolutions@cmadocs.org. Please read the guidelines for submission and formatting before submitting a resolution. Resolutions that do not follow the guidelines will be rejected.

The resolution submission deadline for the 2nd quarter is January 21, 2016, but we encourage you to submit well in advance of the deadline to ensure that your policy idea is considered promptly.

Contact: CMA member service center, (800) 786-4262 or memberservice@cmadocs.org.