Not unexpectedly, it is frequently difficult to find an Action Still in Effect (ASIE) relevant to a discussion related to action taken by the AMC. It's just such an unwieldy document, and despite the various "chapters," things aren't always where you might expect them to be. And if you aren't looking in the right spot, a keyword search might not prove fruitful if you don't hit on an appropriate term quickly enough.
The task is all the more complicated by two things:
1) The full ASIEs not being updated relatively quickly after each meeting of the AMC;
2) Incomplete/ineffective updating of the ASIEs in previous years
As of tonight, the ASIEs were last updated dated Dec. 1, 2009, although there have been 2 in-person meetings and one by teleconference this year.
I was just looking for an ASIE last night that was passed in 2007, though I didn't know that, specifically, at first. My keywords didn't locate the ASIE in a simple automated search, so I decided to do the old hunt-and-peck method by searching through each of the minutes of in-person meetings from the last few years until I found it. Turns out it was passed in a Consensus Agenda motion in December 2007 but the relevant ASIE number is nowhere to be found in the compilation document of our ASIEs. And as it has to do with the procedures of running a Hearing Committee, it is not in the chapter related to Hearings, rather the appendix dealing with the Policies and Rules Governing the Conduct of National Hearings. Further complicating things, that appendix lists the most recent amendment as having been passed (and, hence, included within the appendix) in March 2005, even though the text of the motion that was passed is actually included within the listing of rules in that appendix.
As Secretary, I will make sure, in short order following an AMC meeting or teleconference, that the ASIE listing is updated with each meeting's passed ASIEs. I will also endeavor to bring up to current the ASIE listing based on previous meetings. I will also attempt to make meaningful cross-references in AMC documentation where possible so that when ASIEs are added, amended, or deleted which affect other ASIEs, those changes will be more readily apparent.
I am 98% sure that what you are promising to do as Secretary is not currently done by the Secretary.
ReplyDeletePart of the reason why I mention it, so that people can factor that in to their vote in the spring.
ReplyDeleteFull disclosure: I just read the Secretary's report for the upcoming AMC meeting, which implied that the ASIEs were in the process of being updated. Such has finally been done; sometime between the date of my original post in this thread and this weekend, the document containing ASIEs now has a revision date of July 1, 2010, the date of the preceding AMC meeting and, presumably, contains the relevant ASIEs (or revisions) as passed during the 2010 AMC meetings so far.