Report of the Council of Representatives Meeting

Council was called to order by President Suinn and Past-president Marty Seligman was honored for his many accomplishments as president of the Association. As this was the first meeting of the expanded Council, each new member of the Council was given a brief opportunity to speak. After President Suinn presented his presidential initiatives, Dr. Raymond D. Fowler, Executive Vice-President and CEO, presented a "State of the Association" address. APA is good fiscal shape and the real estate will soon be adding a two million dollars income stream which is equivalent to $20.00 per member as a hedge against dues increases. APA has about 154,000 members and foreign affiliates.

Dr. Carol Goodheart moved the waving of the rules to add the item on amechanism to continue APA's involvement in the study of genetics and behavior and its importance in the practice of psychology. When the item came to the floor of Council, it was passed handily. Dr. Karen Zager asked that the rules be suspended to discuss the "Rescue Health Care Day." Later, the motion to become a supporter of "Rescue Health Care Day" sponsored by all of the Division 42 Council Representatives and by President Goodheart(representing New Jersey) was passed unanimously by Council. And Council, with only one vote opposing, supported a resolution on test case litigation as follows: "That the Council of Representatives commends CAPP and the Practice Directorate for the initiative in this area, and declares test case litigation to be a priority for the Association, and directs the Board of Directors to develop plans for consideration by Council at its August meeting for the provision of financial assistance to CAPP's approved test case litigation efforts should such assistance become necessary." The Council, almost unanimously, supported a declaration of APA's concern over the changing health care system; "That APA declares the changing healthcare system's impact on psychology and the public, with all its resulting challenges and opportunities, to be a matter of the highest priority and concern for the entirety of the Association." A resolution on the stigma and discrimination toward people with serious mental illness and severe emotional disturbance and a resolution on male violence against women were passed as well. The issue of provisional licensure for post-doctoral psychologists was referred to the Board of Directors for further study as this is a complex matter dealing with education and training, licensure and reimbursement of psychologists.

Council was presented an overview of the Task Force on Integrating Science and Practice. One proposal was to establish a science-practice office within APA. This proposal generated much discussion and would have cost $250 to 300,000. Dr. Fowler was instructed to develop a plan to augment the coordination of science and practice with existing resources of APA. Council approved a 1999 budget of $79,132,900. APA now has two buildings and is budgeted for almost 500 employees. A proposal to cap the APA budget and only expand programs and/or projects through attrition of existing programs and "prioritizing" was referred the Policy and Planning Board's Blue Ribbon Panel for further consideration. Division 42's Dr. Arthur Kovacs represented all of our views that such a proposal would interfere with new and emerging issues that need resources.

For many years, the APA Board of Directors and CAPP have been seeking ways to ensure that APA can meet the growing need for advocacy and other support to professional psychology. A Board of Directors subcommittee was formed to work with legal consultants to consider alternative structural models. APA is exempt from federal taxation as a charitable organization under section 501(c) 3 of the Internal Revenue Code.

Because of this, it is limited by law to expending no more than $1 million on legislative advocacy in any one year. As APA grows closer to that limitation, the Board of Directors is exploring the possibility of establishing a companion organization that would be exempt from tax under section 501 (c) 6 of the Internal Revenue Code. The companion organization while closely associated with APA and, with shared leadership, would have more freedom to meet the anticipated future needs of professional psychology.

Such an organization would be free of the restraint on legislative advocacy. APA is exploring this because it could provide the opportunity to pursue the growing number of important matters that are of significance to psychology today and in the future.

There is no plan to divide APA into constituencies or to separate the practice of psychology from other aspects of psychology. The intent is to permit all of APA to operate efficiently and effectively to accomplish these missions. Over the coming months, the Board of Directors will be seeking input from relevant governance bodies prior to a final determination by the Council of Representatives

Council authorized $10,000 to support interdivisional grants. Rather than setting a specific dollar amount to enhance efforts in obtaining Graduate Medical Education (GME) funds, the Council passed a substitute motion giving GME a high priority and for the CEO and central office staff to specify additional resources, if necessary, to augment activities in this area. Petition for candidacy status of Division of Clinical Child Psychology (Division 53) and the Division of the Society of Pediatric Psychology (Division 54) were approved. The Division of International Psychology was moved from candidate status to full division.

The Communications Program under the leadership of Rhea Farberman is moving the Monitor from the present tabloid format (11 x 17) to a magazine format (8 x 10). Surveys of students, members and advertisers were all very supportive. The changeover will occur in the January 2000 issue.

Dr. Russ Newman gave Council an overview of the public education campaign. The campaign continues to grow as psychologists, state associations and divisions begin to implement the campaign on a local, state and national levels. USA TODAY picked up the campaign's website as a "hot site" and, on that day, the website got four times the number of hits. The campaign staff, lead by Jan Peterson, Director of Public Education are working with MTV, the music television cable station, on the network program, "True Life," that will address issue of teen violence and their warning signs. The other directorates, also, made brief presentations; they were thanked by Council.

Respectfully submitted,

Robert J. Resnick, Ph.D.; FAClinP, ABPP
Council Representative

Division Activities, News & Notes

Council Minutes

By Robert J. Resnick, Ph.D., FAClinP, ABPP Council Representative