The Rules and Procedures of the Ethics Committee have been amended to increase the efficiency of the adjudication process for ethics matters by simplifying several procedural requirements. At its December meeting, APA's Board of Directors voted to approve minor changes recommended by the Ethics Committee.
The changes provide that the Ethics Committee will:
- Rely on a member's address in the membership records when providing notice to a member of ethics matters without publishing a notice in a newspaper requesting the member contact the Ethics Office or searching for new addresses for the member if no response is received to the initial letter from the Ethics Office.
- Consider an "Alford" and "nolo contendere" plea as equivalent to a felony conviction for the rules related to APA bringing a show cause case against a member.
- Accept an affidavit of resignation from a member involved in an ethics matter without requiring that the member use a notary public to notarize the affidavit, which can be logistically difficult and costly.
These amendments become effective on March 1, but will not be applied to members currently under ethics investigation if applying them would adversely affect the member's rights during the ethics process. In those instances, the Rules and Procedures in effect at the time the member came under the scrutiny of the Ethics Committee will be applied. Members are reminded to keep their address current with APA's Membership Office.