dennipi Posted March 1, 2013 at 05:42 PM Report Share Posted March 1, 2013 at 05:42 PM In the near future a campus assembly will be voting on a new governance structure. Members have been informed that no amendments will be allowed. How is this possible?Any advice will be greatfully appreciated. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David A Foulkes Posted March 1, 2013 at 05:43 PM Report Share Posted March 1, 2013 at 05:43 PM Members have been informed that no amendments will be allowed. How is this possible?Informed by whom, and under what authority is this statement made? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dennipi Posted March 1, 2013 at 05:49 PM Author Report Share Posted March 1, 2013 at 05:49 PM Unfortunately I don't have much information. I do know that our campus parliarmentarian has stated that since absentee ballots are being allowed no amendments can be made. I am trying to make sense of this. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gary Novosielski Posted March 1, 2013 at 06:10 PM Report Share Posted March 1, 2013 at 06:10 PM I do know that our campus parliarmentarian has stated that since absentee ballots are being allowed no amendments can be made. I am trying to make sense of this.That may take a while, as it doesn't make any sense.Members have the right to make motions, and one valid motion is the motion to amend. Ask the parliamentarian to show you (or cite) the written rule that would prevent you from moving to amend, and try to ascertain if (presuming it actually exists) it was properly adopted by the assembly.If he can't, then go ahead and move to amend, and raise a point of order if you are impeded from doing so. Be prepared to Appeal (see §24.) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dennipi Posted March 1, 2013 at 06:24 PM Author Report Share Posted March 1, 2013 at 06:24 PM Thank you for your comments. Of course after some more investigation, and a just recent chat with our Parliamentarian, he has cited for me the following article in our constitution-ARTICLE X. ADOPTION AND AMENDMENT OF BYLAWS 1. Bylaws under this constitution may be enacted, amended, or repealed by a two-thirds majority vote in a regularly scheduled meeting of the assembly, a quorum being present. Any such proposed action shall be endorsed by a least five members of the assembly and listed as an official agenda item for a regularly scheduled meeting of the assembly. The full text of the proposed action, together with a rationale for it, shall be presented in writing in the call for the meeting at which it is to be considered for passage and shall be e-mailed to those assembly members having e-mail availability no less that six calendar days prior to the meeting. Such a proposed action may not be amended on the floor of the meeting; it may be referred to the Executive Committee for further consideration. After reading this several times, I am still stuck on the first sentence, the subsequent information seems quite a contradiction. Opinion???? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David A Foulkes Posted March 1, 2013 at 07:17 PM Report Share Posted March 1, 2013 at 07:17 PM Unfortunately I don't have much information. I do know that our campus parliarmentarian has stated that since absentee ballots are being allowed no amendments can be made. I am trying to make sense of this.Do your bylaws or constitution authorize absentee voting? Not that that would have any bearing on the amendment question, but RONR does not, so your rules need to authorize it. (RONR 11th Ed., pp. 423-424)After reading this several times, I am still stuck on the first sentence, the subsequent information seems quite a contradiction. Opinion????Well, there does seem to be a contradiction. But your constitution and bylaws can only be interpreted in their entirety, and not by anyone on this forum. See pp. 588-591 (RONR 11th Ed.) for some insights. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Josh Martin Posted March 2, 2013 at 04:43 AM Report Share Posted March 2, 2013 at 04:43 AM Members have been informed that no amendments will be allowed. How is this possible?It's not, unless your rules so provide.Unfortunately I don't have much information. I do know that our campus parliarmentarian has stated that since absentee ballots are being allowed no amendments can be made.Absentee ballots are not permitted unless your Bylaws authorize them. RONR also strongly recommends to never mix absentee ballots and votes at a meeting. All members should vote in the same manner on a particular motion. If you start mixing and matching, you get problems like this.In any event, amendments are permitted unless your Bylaws provide otherwise. The amendments must be within the "scope of notice," but RONR doesn't prohibit amendments altogether.ARTICLE X. ADOPTION AND AMENDMENT OF BYLAWS1. Bylaws under this constitution may be enacted, amended, or repealed by a two-thirds majority vote in a regularly scheduled meeting of the assembly, a quorum being present. Any such proposed action shall be endorsed by a least five members of the assembly and listed as an official agenda item for a regularly scheduled meeting of the assembly. The full text of the proposed action, together with a rationale for it, shall be presented in writing in the call for the meeting at which it is to be considered for passage and shall be e-mailed to those assembly members having e-mail availability no less that six calendar days prior to the meeting. Such a proposed action may not be amended on the floor of the meeting; it may be referred to the Executive Committee for further consideration.After reading this several times, I am still stuck on the first sentence, the subsequent information seems quite a contradiction. Opinion????See the pages Mr. Foulkes cited. It's ultimately up to the assembly itself to interpret its own rules - the parliamentarian is just an adviser. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shmuel Gerber Posted March 3, 2013 at 02:45 AM Report Share Posted March 3, 2013 at 02:45 AM ARTICLE X. ADOPTION AND AMENDMENT OF BYLAWS1. Bylaws under this constitution may be enacted, amended, or repealed by a two-thirds majority vote in a regularly scheduled meeting of the assembly, a quorum being present. Any such proposed action shall be endorsed by a least five members of the assembly and listed as an official agenda item for a regularly scheduled meeting of the assembly. The full text of the proposed action, together with a rationale for it, shall be presented in writing in the call for the meeting at which it is to be considered for passage and shall be e-mailed to those assembly members having e-mail availability no less that six calendar days prior to the meeting. Such a proposed action may not be amended on the floor of the meeting; it may be referred to the Executive Committee for further consideration.After reading this several times, I am still stuck on the first sentence, the subsequent information seems quite a contradiction. Opinion????When the first sentence says that "bylaws ... may be ... amended" by a certain procedure, it means that an amendment to the existing bylaws may be adopted by that procedure. That has nothing to do with whether amendments to a proposed amendment may be made when that proposed amendment is pending during a meeting, which is what the final sentence is addressing.By the way, the provision you've quoted says nothing about absentee ballots, so they are not allowed unless there is some other provision that allows them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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