OMOV May 2009One member, One vote

Rik Smithies

Past Chair HL7 UK

NProgram Ltd.

OMOVOne member, One vote

OMOV committee at HL7.org (international)• Exists to address imbalance in voting rights

– Between US and non-US (aka “international”...)

• “international” members vote through “affiliates”– Like this one, HL7 UK– Not as individuals, or even as companies– This is complicated by fact that you can join .Org

directly, and vote that way

OMOV – what are we voting for

• 2 things – standards– governance – the organisation itself, essentially the

Board, which then provides the governance.

– For standards, in most cases, any single negative vote has to be resolved. Hence more positive votes doesn’t count for much

• Increasing votes looks good but doesn’t help practically

– For governance, votes do count, elections• Anything that limits international votes prevents HL7 being

international

OMOV

• Number of votes that whole UK has is 10% of membership number, but capped at max of 8– We have around 200 members– We pay 20% (from this year) of all our income

to .Org, previously 10%

OMOV

• Worldwide membership 7200– 2000 .Org. US, almost exclusively– 5200 rest of world, over twice the size

• 10% = 520, half the size• And it is capped, so less than 10% in many

cases

– A key difference is that all .Org dues go to .Org

• Only 10, 15, 20% of dues of affiliates go to .Org

OMOV

• US/.Org members pay for votes– Based on company size, or can be a

benefactor– $1000 = 1 vote– $22000, benefactor = 12 votes

• Expensive, but then the company has more sway than a whole country

• Entire UK has 8 votes• Doesn’t look right that a company outweighs a

country.

OMOV

• Ideally One Member One Vote– Level playing field worldwide– Why have one rule in US and one elsewhere?– Even if percentages were fair, not a good way to be

international– One person OV? One company OV?

• Why is this controversial?– Partly because membership fees are different hence

some people get cheaper votes.– An affiliate could have very cheap membership and

then dominate in numbers.

OMOV

• May 2009– OMOV proposed to remove “the cap”– More influence for affiliates, UK 8 votes -> 20

votes– But this isn’t OMOV– Also plan to establish a global membership

directory, which is necessary for true OMOV (eventually)

– But...what do these votes apply to?

OMOV

• When finally approved, this may mean the UK gets more votes

• No other changes right now, no more voting convenience for instance.

• Next question, not specifically related to OMOV– How do we use our votes responsibly?