Brad Johnson

Thank you so much. A lot of this was just me being confused that the word "assembly" can refer to the board (RONR (12th ed) 1:22), not just, by my misinterpretation, the local assembly of an organized society (RONR (12th ed.) 1:13).

(Edited to remove parts of question based on my failure to understand that "assembly" can refer to the Board of an organization.) I'm trying to understand ratification: Board president takes an action that was not authorized by the board. Policies adopted by the Board (but not bylaws) require authorization. The president acted after getting email consent from majority of board members. Board would like to retroactively authorize that action. If the board wants, can it vote to authorize the president's action? But since it only went against policies and not the bylaws, would that be an empty motion?

Fraid so. We're only clinging to the barest of RONR and deliberative assembly. I'm perhaps quixotically trying to restore it.

Thank you very much. Just for sake of reference, is there a RONR 12th e citation I can use? Looks like 3:21 "A motion may itself bring its subject to the assembly’s attention, or the motion may follow upon the presentation of a report or other communication."

If an annual meeting has the following agenda adopted by the assembly: - Confirmation of quorum - Adoption of minutes - Board report - Executive team report - Bylaws Revision - Budget adoption - Elections - Adjournment And the reports from the Board and ET do not have explicit recommendations but simply announcements of their planned course of action, is there any time in this agenda when a member can properly seek the floor to offer a resolution? Or are those plans properly interpreted as recommendations? To be honest, we have an organization that although it is formally obliged by the bylaws to follow RONR, in recent times the meetings have minimally adhered. 3:25 "After the presentation of the report of an officer, a board, or a committee, one or more motions to carry out recommendations contained in the report may be introduced." seems to restrict motions to those based explicitly on recommendations. Would the assembly need to ensure the agenda has New Business?