president make a motion

[Guest Loreen]

Our state laws recent changed the format and wording of the conflict of interest policy for our type of organization. Can the president (chair) move that we accept the new policy or must that motion come from another board member.

[Hieu H. Huynh]

See FAQ #1.

[Kim Goldsworthy]

2 hours ago, Guest Loreen said:

Our state laws recent changed the format and wording of the conflict of interest policy for our type of organization. Can the president (chair) move that we accept the new policy or must that motion come from another board member.

Q. Who drafted the new language?

Whoever drafted the proposed amendment to your policy (to conform with your new state law) should be the party to champion the cause, i.e., to present it and debate in favor of it.

If the president drafted that amendment, then the president should make the motion so. -- And relinquish the chair temporarily (to the vice president), while the president exercises his right as a member to make motions and debate and vote.

***

If you don't yet have the exact language of the amendment written down (i.e., what words in the old policy are to be struck out? what words in the old policy shall remain as is?), then you don't yet have an entertainable motion.

The president will say that there is a conflict, and something must be done. But no one will know what that "something to be done" is.

Q. What motion do you anticipate making?

[Richard Brown]

I can't tell from the original post weather a bylaw amendment to conform to the new statute has actually been proposed or not. As a general rule, I think that the president should not be the one to make such a motion. I think it is better that someone else actually propose the amendment and make the motion. However, there is nothing wrong with the president privately requesting another member to do so. I believe it would also be permissible for the president to help draft the bylaw Amendment, but others may disagree.

Edited to add: if the president feels strongly about the issue and wants to be the one to propose the bylaw Amendment, he may do so, but as Kim goldsworthy suggested, he should turn the meeting over to the vice president to preside while the motion is being debated

[Dan Honemann]

11 minutes ago, Richard Brown said:

I can't tell from the original post weather a bylaw amendment to conform to the new statute has actually been proposed or not. As a general rule, I think that the president should not be the one to make such a motion. I think it is better that someone else actually propose the amendment and make the motion. However, there is nothing wrong with the president privately requesting another member to do so. I believe it would also be permissible for the president to help draft the bylaw Amendment, but others may disagree.

I can't imagine why anyone would think that there is something wrong with the president of an organization helping to draft a proposed amendment to its bylaws.