Convention credentials committee

[D_K]

The bylaws of an organization read as follows:

"The Credentials Committee shall convene prior to the state convention. They shall pass on all credentials of delegates and elected representatives to the state convention. At noon each full day of the convention, a bulletin, including the name and official capacity of each approved delegate, shall be posted in a conspicuous place in the convention hall."

The bylaws also provide that RONR govern the organization. So would the convention still approve the credentials report per RONR pg 615-616, or do the bylaws place all credential questions exclusively in the hands of the committee?

[Hieu H. Huynh]

Ultimately, it is up to your organization to interpret your bylaws. Do the bylaws say that all credential questions are exclusively in the hands of the committee? If there is any ambiguity, the bylaws should be amended to remove the ambiguity.

[Kim Goldsworthy]

The bylaws of an organization read as follows:

S1. The Credentials Committee shall convene prior to the state convention.

S2. They shall pass on all credentials of delegates and elected representatives to the state convention.

S3. At noon each full day of the convention, a bulletin, including the name and official capacity of each approved delegate, shall be posted in a conspicuous place in the convention hall.

The bylaws also provide that RONR govern the organization.

Q1. So would the convention still approve the credentials report per RONR pg 615-616,

Q2. Or do the bylaws place all credential questions exclusively in the hands of the committee?

A1.) Yes, the convention approves (or amends) the credentials committee report.

 

A2.) Nothing in your cited rule implies "exclusivity".

Statements S1, S2, S3, all describe plain-vanilla credential committee pre-convention work.

All I see is "committee work" by a committee.

 

All the parliamentary rules of Robert's Rules still applies:

• A committee reports to its superior body.

• The superior body approves (or amends) the report to be adopted.

 

(If otherwise were the case, then error correction would be impossible. And we know that credentials committee reports are often contested, due to missed deadlines, or incomplete paperwork.)

 

There is no conflict between

(a.) your rule (per your citation); and

(b.) Robert's Rules of Order's description of how a credentials committee report is to be handled.

 

Obey all rules. -- Until they conflict.