Bylaw amendments

[Guest Arthur541]

Our bylaws require 10 day notice before voting on a bylaw amendment.   Would an amendment usually be put on the agenda under New Business?   Or is it considered appropriate to bring it up as a recommendation from a committee report and voted on.  To me, it is more appropriate to put it under New Business.    To me, ten day notice is not normally given for a recommendation for action in a committee report.   Is it appropriate to do it under a committee report if the bylaws allow an amendment by unanimous consent with no notice?    I would think even then, moving for a bylaw amendment during a committee report would not be appropriate.   

[Chris Harrison]

Is the proposed amendment(s) coming from a committee or is a single member making the proposal?

[Guest Arthur541]

The proposal is supposed to be coming from a committee.   

[Richard Brown]

RONR provides on page 596 that when notice of a proposed bylaw amendment has been given, the matter should be treated as a general order at the meeting at which it is taken up.  Therefore, if your organization follows the standard order of business, the bylaw amendments would be taken up after reports and special orders and prior to new business. 

From page 596:  "When notice has been given of a bylaw amendment, it becomes a general order for the meeting at which it is to be considered"

For the standard order of business, see page 26.

Edited to add:  If the proposal is coming from a committee, I think it could be taken up either under committee reports or "unfinished business and general orders".

Edited March 7, 2018 at 06:14 PM by Richard Brown
Added last paragraph

[Gary Novosielski]

1 hour ago, Guest Arthur541 said:

Our bylaws require 10 day notice before voting on a bylaw amendment.   ... Is it appropriate to do it under a committee report if the bylaws allow an amendment by unanimous consent with no notice?    

There seems to be a contradiction here.  What do your bylaws actually say?

[Guest Arthur541]

Fascinating!  Thank you very much for replying, by the way!  Great reference for this.   I am reading 596 now.   I see that the committee can give prior notice during their report, too.   I didn't know that.  Does the committee's notice consist of telling the assembly they are going to propose an amendment?  Sounds like it.  If the committee proposes the amendment to the assembly, after giving notice, does the committee then conclude its report and discuss the amendment with the assembly?   What I read in RONR doesn't seem to say,  or am I missing something?   

 

[jstackpo]

2 hours ago, Guest Arthur541 said:

  Does the committee's notice consist of telling the assembly they are going to propose an amendment?  Sounds like it.  If the committee proposes the amendment to the assembly, after giving notice, does the committee then conclude its report and discuss the amendment with the assembly?  

 

Probably not.  Giving notice just says the business is going to come up next meeting so it would be improper to discuss it at the current meeting.  The absentees, who the notice is for, would miss out on the discussion, and besides, the committee isn't making the motion to amend the bylaws, only giving notice that they will,  so there is no motion on the floor to discuss.

[Hieu H. Huynh]

Also see "Previous Notice of Motions" in RONR 11th ed., p. 121.

[Guest Arthur541]

I am reading the ref p 121.  Very good.   Thank you so much for your reply Gary and Hieu and others.  .  I think I have enough to go on here.   And for the notice, as I read it the committee can give the notice during its report.  Thank you.   If there is another question about it, I will post it here.  Arthur

[Richard Brown]

8 minutes ago, Guest Arthur541 said:

I am reading the ref p 121.  Very good.   Thank you so much for your reply Gary and Hieu and others.  .  I think I have enough to go on here.   And for the notice, as I read it the committee can give the notice during its report.  Thank you.   If there is another question about it, I will post it here.  Arthur

Guest Arthur, I'm not so sure you have that exactly right yet.  Unless your bylaws say the bylaws can be amended without previous notice, the previous notice referred to in RONR must be given either at the previous meeting or in the call of the current meeting.  Having the bylaws committee chairman "give notice" in his report at a meeting that the committee is proposing a bylaw amendment to be voted on at that same meeting is not proper.

You never did answer Gary Novosielski's request for you to clarify this statement of yours:

Quote

Our bylaws require 10 day notice before voting on a bylaw amendment.   ... Is it appropriate to do it under a committee report if the bylaws allow an amendment by unanimous consent with no notice?    

and Mr. Novosielski's unanswered question:

On 3/7/2018 at 12:56 PM, Gary Novosielski said:

There seems to be a contradiction here.  What do your bylaws actually say?

I think we  need an answer to that question.

[Guest Zev]

I get the impression that the OP did not understand what the true nature of a previous notice is.