Making a Motion to Post-Pone an Agenda Item

[Guest Guest BHP]

I want to make a motion to post-pone an agenda item for no more than 90 days. I want to have discussion. I also want to recommend if we post-pone it that we develop a task force to look into the topic more during this time and report back to us in a work-session. How do I do this and make sure everyone knows I don't want to post-pone indefinitely like the wording says? Also I want to do it to where I need the least amount of people to agree to post-pone. We have 5 members.

[Gary Novosielski]

I want to make a motion to post-pone an agenda item for no more than 90 days. I want to have discussion. I also want to recommend if we post-pone it that we develop a task force to look into the topic more during this time and report back to us in a work-session. How do I do this and make sure everyone knows I don't want to post-pone indefinitely like the wording says? Also I want to do it to where I need the least amount of people to agree to post-pone. We have 5 members.

You definitely (no pun intended) do NOT want to use the motion to Postpone Indefinitely, which means you want to kill the motion.

But the normal motion to Postpone Definitely cannot be used to postpone a motion beyond the next regular meeting. If that would be less than ninety days, then you can't use Postpone for that.

What you should do is Refer the motion to a committee (call it a task force if you must, but it's really a committee) to study it and report back. In the motion to Refer, you can instruct the committee that it is to report back within 90 days.

Only a majority vote is required to Refer or Commit.

[Guest Guest BHP]

You definitely (no pun intended) do NOT want to use the motion to Postpone Indefinitely, which means you want to kill the motion.

But the normal motion to Postpone Definitely cannot be used to postpone a motion beyond the next regular meeting. If that would be less than ninety days, then you can't use Postpone for that.

What you should do is Refer the motion to a committee (call it a task force if you must, but it's really a committee) to study it and report back. In the motion to Refer, you can instruct the committee that it is to report back within 90 days.

Only a majority vote is required to Refer or Commit.

What if we don't have a committee yet and will need to assign one? Can I still make this motion or how do I work in there that we need to form a committee?

[Gary Novosielski]

What if we don't have a committee yet and will need to assign one? Can I still make this motion or how do I work in there that we need to form a committee?

Yes, you can do that all in one motion. If the committee doesn't exist, this creates a Special or Select committee, sometimes called an ad-hoc committee.

Something like this would do:

"I move that the question be referred to a committee of five people--Alice (as chair), Bob, Carol, Dave, and Ellen--and that the committee be instructed to report back within 90 days."

Instead of naming the people, you could say "to be elected by the membership" or "to be appointed by the chair". Or you could just say "a committee of five" and decide how to appoint the committee after you see if the motion passes.

Of course even if you name the people in the motion, that, and the number of people on the committee, and who would serve as chair, would all be subject to amendment.