Making Motions

[Guest Trisha]

I am the sergeant at arms of my HOA.  Am I able to make motions.  Our bylaws do not specify whether or not officers other than the chair and vice-chair are entitled to make motions.  Thank you!

[Edgar Guest]

All members (of the body that is meeting) have the right to attend, make motions, speak in debate, and vote.

[Richard Brown]

Trisha, it would be a most unusual situation indeed if only the chair and vice-chair can make motions.  It is a fundamental principle of parliamentary law that ALL members can make motions, speak in debate and vote.... unless there is a bylaw provision to the contrary or you have different classes of members, with some having voting rights and some not, for example.

 

To the contrary, except in small boards and committees of about a dozen members, the chair does NOT make motions or speak in debate in order to preserve the appearance of impartiality.  As a member, he technically has the right to make motions and speak in debate, but RONR provides that he should not do so while sitting as the presiding officer.

[Transpower]

The chair CAN assume a motion.  But the parliamentarian (whether a member or not) CANNOT make motions.

[Edgar Guest]

 . . . the parliamentarian (whether a member or not) CANNOT make motions.

 

There's a parliamentarian?

[Richard Brown]

The chair CAN assume a motion.  But the parliamentarian (whether a member or not) CANNOT make motions.

 

I don't think the "rule" (which some say is more of a suggestion) in RONR about the parliamentarian not making motions, speaking in debate or voting except when by ballot is quite so clear.  My interpretation of it, confirmed by reading older threads in this forum about a member parliamentarian, is that the member parliamentarian is not absolutely prohibited from making motions, etc, but rather that RONR is saying that in order to serve as a member parliamentarian, that member should be willing to give up those rights.  He is a member, and as a member, has a fundamental right to make motions and vote, among other things.

 

There has been much discussion about that in this forum over the years.

 

How did we get off on the role of a member parliamentarian in this thread, anyway??  I guess it was thrown in gratuitously. 

[Josh Martin]

I am the sergeant at arms of my HOA.  Am I able to make motions.  Our bylaws do not specify whether or not officers other than the chair and vice-chair are entitled to make motions.

 

If you are a member, you can make motions. All members of an assembly have the right to make motions, unless the bylaws provide otherwise. As for the chair and vice-chair, see FAQ #1.

 

But the parliamentarian (whether a member or not) CANNOT make motions.

 

A member-parliamentarian retains the right to make motions. If he insists on making a motion, he cannot be prevented from doing so, although the member can (and probably should) be removed from his position as parliamentarian.

 

I don't think the "rule" (which some say is more of a suggestion) in RONR about the parliamentarian not making motions, speaking in debate or voting except when by ballot is quite so clear.

 

It is most certainly a rule, not a suggestion, but this rule is not sufficient to actually deprive a member of his rights. That requires disciplinary procedures or a rule in the organization's bylaws.

 

How did we get off on the role of a member parliamentarian in this thread, anyway??  I guess it was thrown in gratuitously. 

 

Some societies, particularly those with member-parliamentarians, classify their Parliamentarian as an officer.

[Shmuel Gerber]

If the bylaws say anything about the chair and vice-chair making motions, I would expect that it's that those officers *cannot* do so.

[Gary Novosielski]

If the bylaws say anything about the chair and vice-chair making motions, I would expect that it's that those officers *cannot* do so.

 

Oh, I don't think I'd bet against any given set of bylaws saying the most outlandish things.  Or, even more likely, someone claiming that they do.