Guest

[Guest D.C.Williams]

Can the Bylaws Committee of an organization withdraw proposed bylaw amendments  submitted to it by members  which are inconsistent with the organization's Constitution prior to the meeting or must it present the proposed amendment to the membership and just advise that the committee does not recommend adoption and explain why?  The organization's bylaws do not have a provision for withdrawal of proposed amendments. The duties of the committee are to solicit  and evaluate amendments to be voted upon at the organization's annual meeting and disseminate to the members prior to the meeting. This has been done by the committee however, it  did not realize one of them was inconsistent with  the Constitution. 

[SaintCad]

The way I have seen this dealt with is in the prior notice the proposed amendment is given, declared out of order as it conflicts with the Constitution, and then "officially" declared out of order at the meeting and not brought up for a vote.

[Richard Brown]

Question for guest D.C. Williams: Does your organization have both a Constitution and bylaws? 

Based on the information you provided, I do not think the bylaws committee has the authority to arbitrarily withhold or kill a proposed bylaws amendment. Its job is to make a recommendation.

If you have a separate Constitution and bylaws, the chair, IN A MEETING, may make a ruling that the proposed amendment is out of order because it Violates the constitution. That ruling may be appealed to the assembly, which has the final word.

The ruling of the chair that the amendment violates the bylaws must be made in a meeting.