Transcript Robert’s Rules of Order

Parliamentary Procedure &
Robert’s Rules of Order
Tenth District Workshop
District Counselor:
Bro. Steven Watkins
Facilitators:
Bro. John Ball
Bro. Kendall Franklin
Today’s Topics
Section 1 – Introduction & Basic Principles
Section 2 – Overview of Motions
Section 3 – Details of Submitting Motions
INTRODUCTION & BASIC PRINCIPLES
BRO. STEVEN G. WATKINS, ESQ
TENTH DISTRICT COUNSELOR
Introduction
• What are parliamentary procedures?
– The rules that help us maintain order and
ensure fairness in all decision-making
processes.
• What are Robert’s Rules of Order?
– Codification of general present-day
parliamentary procedures.
Basic Principles
• Someone must facilitate meetings and
maintain order (the presiding officer)
• All members have a right to bring up ideas
• Members should come to an agreement
about what course of action to take
• The majority rules, but the basic rights of
the minority are always protected by
assuring them the right to speak and to
vote.
Basic Principles
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Parliamentary procedure enables
members to take care of business in an
efficient manner while maintaining order.
It ensures everyone gets the right to
speak and to vote.
Takes up business one item at a time
and promotes courtesy, justice, and
impartiality.
The Presiding Officer
• The presiding officer (often referred to as
“the chair”) is the person who conducts the
meeting.
• The presiding officer is a role – not a
position. This means that the presiding
officer is the person who occupies the
chair at a given instant of time.
The Presiding Officer
• The general duties of the presiding officer
are:
– To call the meeting to order at the scheduled
time
– To announce the business that is to come
before the body
– To recognize members who wish to speak
– To state and put to vote all questions that
come before the body
The Presiding Officer
• General Duties (con’t)
– To protect the assembly from obviously
frivolous and dilatory motions by refusing to
recognize them
– To enforce the rules relating to debate
– To expedite business in an orderly manner
– To decide all questions of order
– To declare the meeting adjourned
Promoting Courtesy
• Members should rise to be recognized by the
presiding officer.
• Members should ALWAYS refer to other
members and officers in the third person.
Officers are referred to by title. For example:
– Mr. President or Madam President; or Mr. Chairman
or Madam Chairman
• Members should refer to each other in a cordial
and courteous manner, for example:
– “the previous speaker”
– “Brother Smith”
Promoting Courtesy
• All remarks are made through and to the
chair!
• When correcting a member, the presiding
officer does not use the member’s name,
but instead should state something to the
effect: “will the speaker keep his/her
remarks to the issue at hand?”
Promoting Courtesy
• If a motion is out of order the chair states:
“The motion is out of order”, not “The
member is out of order” or “brother you are
out of order.”
• Only major infractions of rules are
corrected.
• If a member’s rights are not being taken
away and the infraction is minor, then it
isn’t necessary to raise a point of order.
Order of Business
• Commonly referred to as an agenda, the
order of business is the sequence of
general business items that will be
addressed in the meeting.
• The order of business must be adopted by
the body prior to addressing business.
Order of Business
• The standard order of business includes:
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Call to Order
Roll Call
Approval of Agenda
Reading and Approval of Minutes
Officer Reports
Committee Reports
Special Orders
Unfinished Business
New Business
Adjournment
• Different organizations/societies may establish their own
standard order of business pursuant to their by-laws.
Officers Reports
• In deliberative assemblies, officer reports
are generally customary – not required –
at each meeting.
• The only officers who are required to issue
reports at each meeting are the secretary
and treasurer.
• If officer reports are made, then they are
issued immediately after the reading and
approval of the minutes.
Officer Reports
The President’s and Vice-President’s Reports
• The reports of the President and Vice-President
are usually for information purposes only, but
may contain recommendations for action.
• If the report contains recommendations, then
any motions to adopt the recommendations
should be made from the floor by a member
other than the officer issuing the report.
Officer Reports
The Treasurer’s Report
• The required components of the treasurer’s
report are:
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Beginning Cash Balance
Total Disbursements
Total Receipts
Ending Cash Balance
• The treasurer’s report is always filed with the
secretary. It is never approved or adopted by
the assembly.
• When the treasurer’s books are audited, the
assembly adopts the auditor’s report.
Committee Reports
• All committee reports shall be submitted in writing.
• A committee report should be submitted orally only
if it is brief enough for the secretary to record its
complete substance.
• If a committee report contains recommendations,
then acceptance of the report is NOT tantamount to
adoption of the recommendations in the report.
Each recommendation must be considered as a
separate motion.
• A motion made by a committee of more than one
member does not require a second.
OVERVIEW OF MOTIONS
BRO. KENDALL D. FRANKLIN
Motions
• A motion is a formal proposal that recommends
a course of action that the body should take.
• A motion must be placed to the body prior to its
merits being discussed.
• A motion contains three basic pieces of
information:
– Who: References the maker of the motion
– What: References the action to be taken
– When: References the timeframe in which the action
is to be taken.
Classes Of Motions
There are five (5) classes of motions:
1. Main Motion
2. Subsidiary Motion
3. Privileged Motion
Secondary Motions
4. Incidental Motion
5. Motions That Bring A Question Back
Before The Assembly
Main Motions
• A main motion brings a specific recommendation
for action before the body.
• Only one main motion can be considered at a
time.
• Once a main motion has been made and
seconded, it must be acted upon before another
main motion is considered.
• In terms of order of precedence of consideration,
a main motion is the lowest ranking of all
motions.
Secondary Motions
• A secondary motion:
– Is related to and takes precedence over a
main motion;
– Can be considered while the main motion is
pending;
– Must be acted upon and disposed of prior to
addressing the main motion.
• There are three types of secondary motions:
– Subsidiary Motion
– Incidental Motion
– Privileged Motion
Subsidiary Motions
• Subsidiary motions assist the body in treating or
disposing of main motions or other motions.
• Examples of subsidiary motions are:
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Amend
Postpone Definitely
Postpone Indefinitely
Lay on the Table
Limit or Extend Debate
Refer to Committee
Incidental Motions
• Incidental motions raise questions about
either the pending business or how to
address the pending business.
• Examples of incidental motions are:
– Point of Order
– Point of Information
– Appeal (of the Ruling of the Chair)
– Suspend the Rules
– Consideration by Paragraph
Privileged Motions
• Privileged motions are motions that are related
to matters of immediate and overarching
importance which, without debate, should be
allowed to interrupt the consideration of anything
else.
• Examples of privileged motions are:
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Orders of the Day
Raise a Question of Privilege
Recess
Adjourn
Motions That Bring A Question
Back Before The Assembly
• Motions that bring a question back before
the assembly do just what the name
implies – bring a matter of business back
before the body for consideration.
• Examples are:
– Take From The Table
– Reconsider
– Rescind
– Discharge a Committee
Motions That Require a Majority
Vote
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Main Motion
Adjournment
Recess
Lay on the Table
Take From The
Table
• Refer to Committee
• Amend
• Reconsider
• Rescind (with
previous notice)
• Postpone
Indefinitely
• Postpone Definitely
Motions That Require 2/3 Vote
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Previous Question
Limit Or Extend Debate
Close Nominations
Object To Consideration of a Question
Suspend The Rules
Rescind (without prior notice)
Discharge Committee (without prior notice)
THE DETAILS OF SUBMITTING MOTIONS
BRO. JOHN BALL
Making A Motion
• To make a motion, the maker should say:
– “I move that …” or
– “I move to …”
• Never say “I make a motion to …”
• A motion must be seconded by another member.
A second merely implies that the seconder
agrees the motion should be considered /
discussed by the body – not necessarily that he
supports the motion itself.
Making A Motion
• Once a motion is made and properly
seconded, the chair restates the motion
and places it before the body for
consideration. The chair says:
– “It is moved and seconded that …. Are there
any questions?”
• Once a motion is restated by the chair, the
motion belongs to the assembly – the
motion no longer belongs to the maker of
the motion.
Making A Motion
• The chair places the motion to the body for
discussion and debate. Members must be
recognized by the chair before they can
speak and present their arguments
for/against the motion.
• The person who makes the motion has the
first right to speak to the motion.
Making A Motion
• After debate is complete, the chair puts
the motion to a vote by saying: “All those
in favor say Aye. … All opposed say Nay”.
• After the vote is tallied, the chair rules on
which side won the vote. The chair
announces which side won the vote and
announces who will carry out the action if
the motion passes.
Amending A Motion
• Amending a motion means modifying a
pending motion in some manner prior to
voting on the pending motion.
• An amendment must be germane to the
pending motion. In other words, it must be
related to the pending motion and have a
relevant bearing on the meaning of the
pending motion.
Amending A Motion
• The basic descriptive characteristics of an
amendment are:
– Requires a second
– Can be applied to any main motion
– Is debatable
– Requires a majority vote to adopt
– Can be reconsidered
Amending A Motion
• There are three basic processes for
amending a motion:
– To insert or to add words
– To strikeout words
– To strikeout and insert words
Amending A Motion
• The Myth of The “Friendly Amendment”
– There is no such thing as a “friendly amendment.”
– What is typically referred to as a “friendly
amendment” is really an attempt by someone
sympathetic to the original main motion to make the
motion more palatable to the rest of the body.
– Many people believe that the maker of the original
motion has the option to accept or reject the “friendly
amendment.” This is NOT true! All amendments
(including so-called friendly amendments) must be
seconded and must be voted upon by the entire
assembly.
Details On Specific Types Of
Motions
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Nominations
Teller’s Report
Appeal The Decision of the Chair
Treasurer’s Report
Postpone Indefinitely
Postpone Definitely
Lay On The Table
Nominations
• The chair calls for nominations from the floor.
• When it appears that no one else wants to make
further nominations, the chair declares
nominations closed without waiting for a motion
to close nominations.
• After nominations have been closed, a majority
vote is required to re-open nominations.
• Seconds are not required for nominations. Once
a member is nominated, it is NOT required to
obtain a second.
• Please note that the chair does not need to call
for more nominations three times before closing
nominations.
Teller’s Report
• The teller’s report is the official documentation of the
results of a vote or election.
• The teller’s report should consist of the following:
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Number of Votes Cast
Number of Votes Necessary for Election
List Each Candidate and the Number of Votes Received
Number of Ineligible and Rejected Votes
• The teller’s report should not include the # of members
eligible to vote.
• The reporting teller never declares the result of a ballot
vote. The result of the vote is announced by the chair
when he reads the teller’s report.
• The teller’s report is entered, in full, into the minutes, and
thereby becoming part of the official records of the
organization.
Appeal Decision of the Chair
• The purpose is to disagree with the chair’s ruling and to
let the members decide the disagreement by a vote.
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Requires a second
Must be made at the time the ruling was rendered.
Is debatable
Is NOT amendable
Can be reconsidered.
• The chair gets the first opportunity to speak in the debate
so that he may explain the reason behind his ruling.
• The question before the body is “shall the decision of the
chair be sustained. All in favor say Yea, all opposed
Nay.”
• Majority or tie vote sustains the decision of the chair.
Postpone Indefinitely
• A motion that the assembly decline to take a
position on a main motion.
• Used in situations where an embarrassing main
motion was presented before the assembly.
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Must be seconded
Is debatable
Is NOT amendable
Requires a majority vote to pass
• If adopted, the motion to postpone indefinitely
effectively kills the motion.
Postpone Definitely
• A motion to postpone definitely defers a
vote on the main motion until a specified
future time.
– Must be seconded
– Is debatable
– Is amendable
– Requires a majority vote to pass
Lay On The Table
• Used to temporarily defer consideration of a
pending main motion in favor of a more pressing
matter of business.
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Must be seconded
Is NOT debatable
Is NOT amendable
Requires a majority vote to pass
• When a motion is laid on the table, the motion is
reconsidered during the same meeting.
Unanimous Consent
General Observations
Questions?