Lumpy52403 Posted December 7, 2015 at 02:32 PM Report Share Posted December 7, 2015 at 02:32 PM This question arose recently in a group of parliamentarian friends: (1) A main motion is made and seconded. (2) A motion to postpone indefinitely is then made and seconded. (3) A motion to amend the main motion is made, seconded, discussed, and adopted. (The chairman recognizes that amend outranks postpone indefinitely.) It looks as though the question is now on the motion to postpone indefinitely. However, the motion to postpone indefinitely was made on the main motion in its original form, which no longer exists. Some of us said that the motion to postpone indefinitely should fall to the ground for this reason, and others said it should be voted upon. We could not find a definitive answer to this in RONR, although we did find a similar scenario involving the motion to commit, rather than amend. What are your thoughts on this? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hieu H. Huynh Posted December 7, 2015 at 02:44 PM Report Share Posted December 7, 2015 at 02:44 PM The adoption of the motion to Commit indicates that the assembly is not in favor of postponing indefinitely. (RONR 11th ed., p. 128, ll. 13-15) I don't see anything that suggests the same case for the adoption of the motion to Amend. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
George Mervosh Posted December 7, 2015 at 02:45 PM Report Share Posted December 7, 2015 at 02:45 PM This question arose recently in a group of parliamentarian friends: (1) A main motion is made and seconded. (2) A motion to postpone indefinitely is then made and seconded. (3) A motion to amend the main motion is made, seconded, discussed, and adopted. (The chairman recognizes that amend outranks postpone indefinitely.) It looks as though the question is now on the motion to postpone indefinitely. However, the motion to postpone indefinitely was made on the main motion in its original form, which no longer exists. Some of us said that the motion to postpone indefinitely should fall to the ground for this reason, and others said it should be voted upon. We could not find a definitive answer to this in RONR, although we did find a similar scenario involving the motion to commit, rather than amend. What are your thoughts on this? The motion to postpone indefinitely becomes the immediately pending question after the motion to amend is disposed of, whether the amendment is adopted or not. Using RONR's example, some may feel it's in bad form to endorse anyone for any political office, whether the original motion itself was amended or not. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Transpower Posted December 11, 2015 at 01:50 PM Report Share Posted December 11, 2015 at 01:50 PM The sequence here is motion to amend, then motion to postpone indefinitely, then back to main motion (as amended, if amended, and if the motion to postpone indefinitely failed). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shmuel Gerber Posted December 13, 2015 at 03:09 AM Report Share Posted December 13, 2015 at 03:09 AM On 12/11/2015 at 8:50 AM, Transpower said: The sequence here is motion to amend, then motion to postpone indefinitely, then back to main motion (as amended, if amended, and if the motion to postpone indefinitely failed). You must be speaking about the sequence of voting on the motions that have been made already, not the sequence of the motions themselves. Anyway, the question wasn't about the sequence of voting; it was whether Postpone Indefinitely is voted on even after an amendment has been made and adopted while Postpone Indefinitely remained pending. I can understand why some people might reason that Postpone Indefinitely is no longer applicable after the main motion has been amended, but that reasoning happens to be wrong, as far as the rules in RONR are concerned. Of course, if the member who made the motion to Postpone Indefinitely is satisfied with the main motion as it stands after amendment, he or she can make a request to withdraw the motion to Postpone Indefinitely. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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