ad hoc committee

[Guest Tom Fleming]

I was informed in a meeting that the members of an ad hoc committee cannot vote. Does Robert's Rules speak on that issue?

[Chris Harrison]

As far as RONR is concerned members of the body which is meeting have a right to vote (RONR p. 3). Of course, your rules may have different classes of members which have differing rights in which case you will need to look to those rules for your answer.

[David A Foulkes]

I was informed in a meeting that the members of an ad hoc committee cannot vote.

When can they not vote - during meetings of the ad hoc committee? That would certainly be counter-productive. Ask the person who informed you to show you the documentary support (bylaws etc) for such an absurd claim.

[Guest Edgar]

I was informed in a meeting . . .

Ah, an informative meeting. How rare.

Of course it wasn't very good information, but still . . .

[Tim Wynn]

I was informed in a meeting that the members of an ad hoc committee cannot vote. Does Robert's Rules speak on that issue?

We'll need some more information on this one. Perhaps a motion was referred to the committee with instructions to report back its recommendations and someone stated that the committee would not vote on the motion. This is true, since the committee will only recommend an action to be taken on the motion. I know that some are under the impression that, when a motion is referred to a committee, the committee decides the question.

Perhaps, when the committee reported its recommendations, someone said the members of the committee are prohibited from voting on the motion (presumably due to some ill-conceived notion about a conflict of interest). This is NOT true if the members of the committee are also members of the assembly, since members of an assembly have a right to vote, which is not extinguished by serving on a committee.

[Gary Novosielski]

I was informed in a meeting that the members of an ad hoc committee cannot vote.

No, you were misinformed in a meeting.