Agenda Items

[Guest whitesands]

Our club has an annual membership meeting that only occurs once a year. The board is wanting agenda items submitted ahead of time. In the past they have refused to let the membership bring up items at the meeting unless they are on the agenda.  Can't anything be brought up under new business even if it isn't on the agenda?  What does Roberts Rules say about this?

Thanks

[Hieu H. Huynh]

See FAQ #14.

[Gary Novosielski]

On 5/2/2016 at 6:38 PM, Guest whitesands said:

Our club has an annual membership meeting that only occurs once a year.

That's true of most annual meetings.  

 

On 5/2/2016 at 6:38 PM, Guest whitesands said:

The board is wanting agenda items submitted ahead of time. In the past they have refused to let the membership bring up items at the meeting unless they are on the agenda.  Can't anything be brought up under new business even if it isn't on the agenda?  What does Roberts Rules say about this?

RONR says that the board has no authority over what takes place at the annual membership meeting, since it is not a board meeting.  They can't require prior approval, can't set the agenda, can't "refuse to let" members bring up items.  The board will not even be in session during the meeting so they can't so much as decide to order pizza.

The membership meeting is typically presided over by the president, but it is controlled by the membership.  The presiding officer must accept any motions that are in order, and his decisions are subject to Appeal....to the membership, not to the board.

If board elections also take place at the annual meeting, members will have the opportunity to see that board members who attempt to interfere with the rights of the membership will no longer be board members.

[Richard Brown]

On 5/2/2016 at 5:38 PM, Guest whitesands said:

Our club has an annual membership meeting that only occurs once a year. The board is wanting agenda items submitted ahead of time. In the past they have refused to let the membership bring up items at the meeting unless they are on the agenda.  Can't anything be brought up under new business even if it isn't on the agenda?  What does Roberts Rules say about this?

The purpose of "New Business" is to bring up business (i.e. make motions) that don't fall into one of the other categories.  Unless you have a specialized rule to the contrary, it is not necessary that particular items of new business be listed individually on the agenda.  The purpose of the agenda is primarily to keep the presiding officer and the members on track and to insure that nothing is overlooked.  It is not intended as a tool for preventing members from proposing motions from the floor. 

If your organization does not want to allow motions to be introduced from the floor unless listed on the agenda it would have to adopt a special rule of order to that effect.  I urge you to be very cautious about adopting such a rule, as it often has unintended consequences, such as preventing the assembly from taking up an important and time critical issue that was not known at the time the advance agenda was prepared. It prevents your assembly from having the flexibility to deal with changing circumstances.

Edited to add:  This is what RONR says about "New Business" on page 360:

"New Business. After unfinished business and general orders have been disposed of, the chair asks, "Is there any new business?" Members can then introduce new items of business, or can move to take from the table any matter that is on the table (17, 34), in the order in which they are able to obtain the floor when no question is pending, as explained in 3 and 4. So long as members are reasonably prompt in claiming the floor, the chair cannot prevent the making of legitimate motions or deprive members of the right to introduce legitimate business, by hurrying through the proceedings."

[Sean Hunt]

An agenda that explicitly excludes a provision to adjourn after the remaining items in it are completed may make it difficult to reach New Business, however.