Each year, SOT Council undertakes a complete review of the Constitution and By-Laws of the Society of Toxicology and determines if By-Laws changes are needed to reflect organizational changes and to facilitate SOT reaching its strategic objectives. The proposed By-Laws changes provided below, which have been approved by SOT Council, are all related to Article Fourth of the By-Laws: Standing Committees. SOT voting members who have comments should send them to SOT Headquarters by January 16, 2009. After consideration of the comments by SOT Council, the proposed By-Laws changes will be disseminated to the voting members. A two-thirds vote of the ballots cast shall be required for adoption.
Article Fourth. Standing Committees. Section 2. Nominating Committee.
(This change allows for the addition of Special Interest Group representation on the Nominating Committee.)
Notwithstanding the foregoing provisions of this Section and notwithstanding anything else in these By-Laws, the slate of nominees for elected office and elected standing committees to be submitted by the Nominating Committee shall not include the name of any person elected a member of the Nominating Committee for a term of office which has not yet elapsed, irrespective of whether he or she has continued to serve in that capacity.
There shall be a Nominating Committee, consisting of sevennine voting members of the Society who hold no other elective office. All members, including the Chair, shall have a single vote. The Chair shall be the Past-President of the Society who has most recently completed the term as Immediate Past President. The remaining sixeight members, who shall be elected by the voting members of the Society, shall consist of an at-large member, a member from the Society’s Past Presidents, twothree members from the Society’s Specialty Sections, and two members from the Society’s Regional Chapters and one member from the Society’s Special Interest Groups, all of whom shall serve for two year terms and be eligible for re-election only after a lapse of one year. ThreeFour members of the committee shall be elected each year as follows: the at-large member, onetwo of the twothree Specialty Section and one of the two Regional Chapter representatives shall be elected in even years, and the representative from the Past Presidents, the other Specialty Section representative, the other Regional Chapter representative, and the one Special Interest Group representative shall be elected in odd years. Candidates for election to the Nominating Committee shall be submitted to the Secretary prior to November 1. They shall be determined in the following manner: (1) A portion of the Regional Chapters will nominate one candidate; from this group, one member shall be elected by a plurality vote. Council shall determine and may revise from time to time, a rotation plan for selecting the foura portion of the chapters that is based on having chapters of similar size nominate individuals in any given year. (2) A portion of the Specialty Sections will nominate one candidate; from this group, one member shall be elected by a plurality vote. Council shall determine and may revise from time to time, a rotation plan for selecting the threea portion of the sections that is based on having sections of similar size nominate individuals in any given year. (3) A portion of the Special Interest Groups will nominate one candidate; from this group, one member shall be elected by a plurality vote. Council shall determine and may revise from time to time, a rotation plan for selecting a portion of the Special Interest Groups that is based on having Special Interest Groups of similar size nominate individuals in any give year. (4) The Past Presidents of the Society shall nominate three candidates from their group; one shall be elected by a plurality vote. (4)(5) Three candidates shall be nominated from the membership at large by the President; from this group, one shall be elected by a plurality vote. A member’s name shall only appear once on the ballot. The entire ballot shall be submitted to the voting membership for election according to the procedure given in Section 13.
The Chair of the elected Nominating Committee shall advise Council of the names of all nominees for elected office and elected Standing Committee (except the Nominating Committee) prior to October 15 and before finalizing the nominations. The Nominating Committee shall submit in writing to the Secretary by October 15 of each year at least two nominations for each elective office and committee to be filled.
Article Fourth. Standing Committees. Section 4: Audit Committee.
(The addition of an Audit Committee is in response to Sarbanes-Oxley regulations. The Audit Committee will act in an oversight capacity, making recommendations from time to time as to the SOT financial processes, procedures, and controls.)
There shall be an Audit Committee consisting of three members who hold no elective office. One member shall be appointed annually for a three-year term by the President. The President shall designate the chair. The Audit Committee shall be responsible for examining the processes, procedures, and controls in place for the daily financial operations of the Society. The Audit Committee also shall engage independent auditors and otherwise oversee the annual independent financial audit of the Society.
Article Fourth. Standing Committees. Section 7: Regulatory Affairs and Legislative Assistance Committee. Section 8: Animals in Research Committee.
(Several of the key components of the 2008-2011 SOT Strategic Plan call for increased activity and capability in communicating about the value of toxicology to external audiences. During the strategic process, it became clear to Council that there was a need to provide integrated and targeted messages and therefore a Communications Committee was constituted in March 2008. The responsibilities of the Regulatory Affairs and Legislative Assistance Committee and the Animals in Research Committee have been consolidated into the new Communications Committee.)
Section 7. Regulatory Affairs and Legislative Assistance Committee.
There shall be a Regulatory Affairs and Legislative Assistance Committee consisting
of six members who hold no elective office. Two members shall be appointed annually
for a three-year term by the President. The President shall designate the Chair. This
Committee shall be the Society’s focus for activities which aid and support the scientific
activities of regulatory agencies and legislative bodies. The Committee shall
keep Council abreast of new developments which concern the funding of research in
toxicology and related sciences, the regulation of chemicals, drugs, biologics and
devices, or legislation pertaining thereto. The Committee shall report its findings
and recommendations to Council.
Section 8. Animals in Research Committee. There shall be an Animals
in Research Committee consisting of six members who hold no elective office. Two
members shall be appointed annually for a three-year term by the President.
The President shall designate the Chair. This Committee shall be the Society’s
focus of activities relating to the effective and humane use of laboratory animals
in research. The Committee shall also be concerned with the development of
valid alternatives to animal testing. The Committee shall report its findings and
recommendations to Council.
