Revisions vs. amendments, must revisions follow the rules of amendments for adoption?

[Guest James Mohan]

A By Laws Committee presented a Revised set of By Laws to the Body. An objection was presented that this was out of order because the By Law for amendments was not followed. The Chair stated that revisions were different from Amendments and needn't follow those rules. Who is correct?

[jstackpo]

The chair is wrong. A revision is nothing more than an extensive set of amendments. Ask the chair to show you backing for his ruling - he won't find any such in RONR.

[J. J.]

A By Laws Committee presented a Revised set of By Laws to the Body. An objection was presented that this was out of order because the By Law for amendments was not followed. The Chair stated that revisions were different from Amendments and needn't follow those rules. Who is correct?

The person who raised the objection (Point of Order). A revision is basically an amendment of the entire document (p. 593, ll. 16-31).

[Gary Novosielski]

A By Laws Committee presented a Revised set of By Laws to the Body. An objection was presented that this was out of order because the By Law for amendments was not followed. The Chair stated that revisions were different from Amendments and needn't follow those rules. Who is correct?

A revision must follow the same rules as any other type of amendment.

However, while not impossible, it's somewhat unlikely that those rules would actually prevent a committee from presenting a report of recommended revisions to the members. After all, the committee's recommendation has no force, it is merely a recommendation which the body is free to embrace, amend, or ignore completely, following the rules for amending the bylaws, of course.