CHARTER OF THE ASIAN PACIFIC AMERICAN OFFICERS COMMITTEE
Office Of The Surgeon General
United States Public Health Service
Department Of Health And Human Services
Approved: VADM Richard Carmona
Surgeon General
Date: November 5, 2003

1. MISSION
   
   The Asian Pacific American Officers Committee (APAOC) provides advice and consultation to the Office Surgeon General (OSG) and the Minority Officers Liaison Council (MOLC) on issues relating to the professional practice and the personnel activities, civil service and commissioned corps. APAOC provides similar advisory assistance, upon request, to Agency and/or Program Heads of the Public Health Service (PHS) and to non- PHS programs that routinely use PHS personnel.




2. RELATIONSHIP OF THE APAOC TO THE UNITED STATES PUBLIC HEALTH SERVICE (USPHS)
   
   In carrying out its’ responsibilities, the APAOC operates in a staff capacity. It does not substitute for line management, or in any way transgress the prerogatives of the operating programs. While APAOC members are chosen from the respective PHS agencies and organizations, they neither represent agency management nor speak for the agency. They are knowledgeable professionals from agencies, concerns, and responsibilities particularly of Asian Pacific American (APA) Officers.




3. OBJECTIVES
   
   The APAOC functions in a resource and advisory capacity to assist in the development, coordination, and evaluation of activities related to APA in the PHS with the specific objectives of:
   
   
   1. Identifying and facilitating resolution of issues of concern as they relate to the professional development of APA in the PHS.
   
   
   
   2. Assessing PHS personnel needs and assisting in meeting these needs through activities in recruitment, training, utilization, and recognition of APA.
   
   
   
   3. Developing position papers, statistical reports, and/or guidelines where appropriate, to advise and comment on personnel issues and professional practices related to APA.
   
   
   
   4. Promoting the utilization and advancement of APA in the PHS and other governmental agencies.
   
   
   
   5. Promoting cooperation and communication between APA and other minorities in the PHS and other health professionals.
   
   
   
   6. Promoting all aspects of the professional and personal development of APA throughout the agencies and programs of the PHS.
   
   
   
   7. Providing liaison among APA within and among PHS components, and advice and consultation to the Agency Heads and operating programs upon request.
   
   
   


4. FUNCTIONS
   
   In carrying out its broad mission and objectives, the functions of the APAOC shall include, but are not limited to, the following:
   
   
   1. Provide general professional advice and recommendations:
      
      
      1. Review and comment on issues referred to the APAOC by the Surgeon General, Minority Officers Liaison Council, Chief Professional Officers, Professional Advisory Committees, Agency Heads, and/or Program Heads.
      
      
      
      2. Deliberate issues, develop findings, and present recommendations to the MOLC and/or the Surgeon General.
      
      
      
   2. Act as primary resource for career development:
      
      
      1. Advise on Commissioned corps (CC) and Civil Service (CS) practices related to career development.
      
      
      
      2. Advise on operating practices affecting the appropriate/optimum use of personnel to best meet PHS needs and the needs of the individual.
      
      
      
      3. Identify both continuing and long-term intramural/extramural education needs of APA, and identify and recommend training and/or experience opportunities designed to meet these needs.
      
      
      
      4. Advise on issues related to PHS promotion practices and for commissioned officers, assimilation into Regular Corps for APA officers.
      
      
      
   3. Provide advice and assistance on staffing issues:
      
      
      1. Assess and project the need for APA staffing levels, both CC and CS, throughout the PHS.
      
      
      
      2. Provide advice on goals, objectives, and procedures designed to meet PHS staffing needs.
      
      
      
      3. Provide guidance for recruitment in short-term student affiliation programs (COSTEP, summer students, etc.).
      
      
      
      4. Develop, and/or review and critique, specific PHS recruitment materials, procedures and programs.
      
      
      
      5. Establish networks of current, as well as former, PHS professionals, who can assist ad, facilitate recruitment activities.
      
      
      
      6. Provide guidance to formally identified PHS recruiters concerning the recruitment of qualified APA candidates to the PHS.
      
      
      
      7. Assist in the development of orientation materials for newly-hired professionals and provide advice/recommendations concerning orientation programs.
      
      
      
      8. Communicate and encourage appropriate use of awards/recognition systems:
         
         
         1. Identify, establish, and help administer awards to APA. The awards will be either: Honor Awards to commissioned Officers, merit Awards to Civil Servants, or Special Awards to non-PHS individuals.
         
         
         
         2. Maintain cognizance of existing CC and CS award programs and opportunities.
         
         
         
   4. Serve as a communication link and information resource for APA:
      
      
      1. Communicate to the CC and CS APA important information concerning professional and technical issues.
      
      
      
      2. Encourage individual membership in, and involvement with, respective professional organizations and societies to promote open communication with non-Federal colleagues.
      
      
      
      3. Ensure the distribution of minutes and/or other APAOC developed materials to all PAC Chairpersons, all CPOs, MOLC, the Surgeon General, and, to the extent possible and appropriate, to Asian pacific American CC and CS professional staff.
      
      
      


5. MEMBERSHIP
   
   
   1. Basic Eligibility Requirement: Full-time CC and CS PHS personnel, at the time they are nominated and appointed to the APAOC, must meet the eligibility requirements for initial appointment to their respective professional category and personnel systems.
   
   
   
   2. Size of the APAOC: The APAOC shall have no fewer than seven and no more than twenty voting members.
   
   
   
   3. Organizational Representation: In order to provide the range of experiences and perspectives necessary for addressing issues before the APAOC, every effort must be made to have the broadest representation possible among all agencies that are routinely staffed by Commissioned Corps Officers.
   
   
   
   4. Geographic considerations: The APAOC will have, as voting members, at least two individuals whose regular duty station is geographically removed by a distance of 75 or more miles from the Washington Metropolitan Area.
   
   
   
   5. Gender and Minority Representation: Every effort will be made to assure that the APAOC does not consist entirely of men or women, or a single minority group.
   
   
   
   6. Personnel System: Every effort will be made to assure that the APAOC will not consist entirely of CC or entirely of CS personnel.
   
   
   
   7. Professional Seniority: Every effort will be made to assure that the APAOC will have a voting member a minimum of one individual who, at the time of appointment to the APAOC, has less than five (5) years of professional experience.
   
   
   
   8. Ex-Officio members (non-voting): Representatives of other minority officers committees in the MOLC are ex-officio members of the APAOC (See Section IX). The former chair of the APAOC may serve one year as an ex-officio member of the APAOC (See Section VIII (4)). The APAOC may identify other individuals and request that they serve as ex-officio members.
   
   
   
   9. General Members (non-voting): The APAOC may identify individuals to serve in a liaison capacity to provide information or assist with activities. Individuals who are self-nominated or are nominated by their agency, but are not selected for voting committee membership, will be invited to serve as General Members. They may serve on subcommittees and receive minutes of Committee meetings.
   
   
   


6. NOMINATION PROCESS
   
   
   1. Annually, the APAOC will solicit, through newsletters and other appropriate means, nominations for vacancies on the APAOC. Self-nominations will be solicited. ALL names will be transmitted by the APAOC to the nominee’s respective Agency Administrator who may endorse the nominee(s) or provide additional nominations meeting the general representation requirements demonstrated by the original nominees. The Agency Administrator’s response will be reviewed by the APAOC who will identify, by name, those highly qualified to fill anticipated vacancies. A final list of nominees will be sent by the APAOC to the Surgeon General for selection.
   
   
   
   2. This nomination process shall be conducted so that the final nomination package is available for the Surgeon General’s consideration no less than 60 calendar days prior to the expiration of the regular term of the voting members.
   
   
   
   3. Should the need arise to fill an unexpired term, the same process is used for regular term appointments will be followed, except that the nomination package will be conveyed to the Surgeon General as soon as possible for action.
   
   
   


7. TERM OF APPOINTMENT
   
   
   1. The term of the appointment for a voting member will be three years. Appointments will be such that they will be staggered over the three-year term so that approximately one-third of the members’ terms will expire annually.
   
   
   
   2. A member completing his/her term on the APAOC is eligible for reappointment for one additional three-year term. The two terms of office may be served consecutively at the discretion of the Surgeon General.
   
   
   
   3. Alternates: Cognizant of the demands of the member’s primary work responsibilities and APAOC’s need to conduct business, the APAOC has the option of establishing procedures to allow each voting member to appoint and inform the APAOC of a specific individual who can serve as his/her alternate. Such alternates shall have voting privileges when serving in the place of a primary member. It is the responsibility of the primary APAOC member to keep the alternate fully informed and knowledgeable of the APAOC’s activities. Any Agency clearance or approval requirement for travel/per diem will have to be handled within the Agency by the primary APAOC member.
   
   
   
   4. Attendance: Any member of the APAOC who frequently misses meetings without just cause can, at the discretion of the APAOC, be asked to voluntarily resign from the APAOC, or can initiate a request to the Surgeon General to terminate said membership and so inform the Agency Head.
   
   
   


8. APAOC OFFICERS AND DUTIES
   
   
   1. The APAOC shall have the following elected officers: Chairperson, Vice-Chairperson, Executive Secretary, and Correspondence Secretary.
   
   
   
   2. Elections: The officers will be elected from among the voting members of the APAOC, by a majority of those voting each September.
   
   
   
   3. Term: The officers will serve a one-year term correlating with a fiscal year, and may serve no more than two consecutive terms in that capacity. The term of the office must coincide with his/her term of appointment.
   
   
   
   4. The Chairperson shall preside over all meetings, manage the work of the other officers and subcommittees, represent the APAOC at various meetings and business related gatherings, and appoint subcommittee membership and special work groups. If the term of the Chairperson coincides with the expiration of that individual’s membership on the APAOC, the former Chair may serve one additional year as an ex-officio member of the APAOC, provided the Agency Head is informed and concurs with the extension, unless reappointed as a voting member per the provisions of the Section VII (2).
   
   
   
   5. The Vice-Chairperson shall serve in the absence of the Chairperson, performing the duties outlined above. S/he will be accorded the same authority and privileges as that of the Chairperson, and administer to the operation and procedures of the APAOC.
   
   
   
   6. The Executive Secretary shall record the minutes of meetings, prepare the agenda, and maintain a file all committee records. S/he will handle and file all correspondence, business reports, and committee documents.
   
   
   
   7. The Correspondence Secretary shall notify members of all regular and special meetings, disseminate agenda, minutes, correspondence, and other important information or reports to the voting and general members, and to all other groups, and serve as recorder in the absence of the Executive Secretary.
   
   
   


9. MINORITY OFFICERS LIAISON COUNCIL (MOLC)
   
   
   1. MOLC representatives: Two voting members of the APAOC will be elected to serve on the MOLC in accordance with Section VIII (2) and (3). Any representative unable to attend a MOLC meeting should designate an alternate.
   
   
   
   2. Ex-Officio Membership on APAOC: Black, Hispanic and American Indians/Alaskan Native members of the MOLC shall be non-voting ex-officio members of the APAOC.
   
   
   
   3. Relationship with APAOC: Output of the APAOC, be it correspondence, reports, minutes of its proceedings, or other, may be transmitted through the MOLC who, as may be deemed appropriate, may provide concurring or non-concurring comments but may not stop or unduly delay such transmittals.
   
   
   


10. OPERATIONS AND PROCEDURES
    
    The APAOC shall develop its own internal operations and procedures, but these shall include, at a minimum, the following:
    
    
    1. Operational Year: The operational year of the APAOC for term of appointment, elected office and MOLC representation is the calendar year, beginning January 1 and ending December 31 of a calendar year.
    
    
    
    2. Frequency of Meeting: Meeting will be held once per quarter at a minimum.
    
    
    
    3. Agenda: A meeting agenda and appropriate background material is to be made available to the members prior to the meeting.
    
    
    
    4. Records and Reporting:
       
       
       1. Minutes of each APAOC meetings will be developed and approved by the voting members.
       
       
       
       2. Minutes and reports of the APAOC will be distributed in accord with Section IV(5).
       
       
       
       3. The APAOC must establish a system to maintain a permanent file of the official minutes and reports of the APAOC.
       
       
       
       4. Quorum: A quorum consists of 50 percent of the APAOC voting membership. An alternate attending in lieu of the member shall be counted in determining the quorum requirement.
       
       
       
       5. Voting: Where voting is required or appropriate, i.e., election of the Chair, action will be determined by the simple majority of those voting members present.
       
       
       
       6. Subcommittees: The APAOC may elect to establish standing or ad hoc subcommittees. Subcommittee membership may include non-voting members provided that the Chair and co-Chair of the subcommittee are voting members of the APAOC.
          
          
          1. Charter Subcommittee: The Charter Subcommittee will review and revise the charter. Upon approval by the voting members of the APAOC, the revised charter will be forwarded to the Surgeon General for review and approval.
          
          
          
          2. Nominations Subcommittee: The Nomination Subcommittee will coordinate all activities related to the nomination of members to the APAOC in accordance with Section VI.
          
          
          
          3. Membership Subcommittee: The Membership Subcommittee will recruit potential members and solicit support and interest from the general members.
          
          
          
          4. Career Development/Advancement: The Career Development/Advancement will be responsible for enhancing career development and advancement concerns and issues.
          
          
          
          5. Communication and Public Relations Subcommittee: The Communication and Public Relations Subcommittee will enhance the visibility of the APAOC and communicate with other agencies and the media. The subcommittee will be responsible for the maintenance of the APAOC website and other modes of communication.
          
          
          
          6. Awards/Recognition Subcommittee: The Awards/Recognition Subcommittee will be responsible for administering/monitoring the Admiral Samuel Lin Award and developing other recognition activities.
          
          
          


11. CHARTER UPDATE AND APPROVAL
    
    
    1. The APAOC is required to develop a formal written charter that is consistent with the Model Charter of the PACs.
    
    
    
    2. The APAOC’s Charter must be reviewed and approved by the Surgeon General.
    
    
    
    3. If the APAOC subsequently modifies its Charter, such modifications require the review and approval of the Surgeon General.
    
    
    
    4. The APAOC is required to review and, if required, update its Charter at least every three year.