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Motion to Reconsider


Guest tcrx0720@hotmail.com

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Guest tcrx0720@hotmail.com

In a motion to reconsider a previous action of the board, we had a board member make the motion and a board member second the motion.  Do we have to vote to have discussion on the motion to reconsider.  We had new information for the board and we were defeated when someone said that Roberts's rules of order required a vote to open the motion to reconsider? 

 

Thank you

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I'm not sure I completely understand your question, so I will answer it this way:

 

The motion to reconsider is debatable if the motion that is to be reconsidered is debatable.  RONR puts it this way on page 320:  The motion to reconsider "Is debatable in all cases in which the motion proposed to be reconsidered is debatable, and when debatable, opens to debate the merits of the question whose reconsideration is proposed."

 

If the motion which someone is seeking to have reconsidered is one that is debatable, then the motion to reconsider is itself automatically debatable.  There is no need for a separate motion to discuss or debate it.  It is automatically open to debate.  During that debate, as the quote says, the debate can go into the merits of the motion which is sought to be reconsidered.

 

If the motion to reconsider is adopted, THEN the assembly takes up the original motion again as if it had never been adopted.  It can then be re-adopted, amended, or defeated.  Thus, reconsidering is a two step  process:  First the assembly must adopt the motion to reconsider.  Then, it actually reconsiders the original motion as if it had never been adopted.

 

However, I'm not sure you are using the motion to reconsider properly.  In a session of only one day or less, like most ordinary meetings, the motion to reconsider can be made only on the same day that the original motion was adopted.  It would be in order at the next meeting only in a session lasting  longer than one day, in which case it can be made on the next day, but not later.

 

If your meetings are typically one day meetings, then a motion to reconsider is no longer in order after that meeting ends.  The proper motion to use to "re-hash" the original motion would be a motion to "rescind or amend something previously adopted".   The motions to rescind or amend something previously adopted are debatable and can go into the merits of the original motion.

 

The motion to reconsider is subject to many restrictions and is often misused.  RONR devotes 22 pages to the motion to reconsider, starting on page 315.  The motions to rescind or amend something previously adopted are much simpler and are discussed on pages 305 to 310.

 

Edited to add:  The motions to rescind or amend something previously adopted have certain voting requirements.  If previous notice is given, the original motion can be rescinded or amended with an ordinary majority vote.  However, if previous notice is not given, the vote required is a two thirds vote or the vote of a majority of the entire membership.  If this was a board action, and it is the board that is "reconsidering" it (by whatever method), then the membership is the board membership, not the general membership.  If there are ten members on your board, six votes would  constitute a majority of the entire membership (of the board).

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If your meetings are typically one day meetings, then a motion to reconsider is no longer in order after that meeting ends.  The proper motion to use to "re-hash" the original motion would be a motion to "rescind or amend something previously adopted".   The motions to rescind or amend something previously adopted are debatable and can go into the merits of the original motion.

 

I'm not sure the vote to be reconsidered was actually from an adopted motion, Richard.  Post #1 uses the word defeated but I can't tell what was defeated.

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I'm not sure the vote to be reconsidered was actually from an adopted motion, Richard.  Post #1 uses the word defeated but I can't tell what was defeated.

I agree.  I'm assuming that it is the motion to reconsider or the actual reconsideration that was defeated, but it is not at all clear.

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