rescindment Rescindment motion question

[Guest Austin R]

Question.

Can a previously passed motion which had a expiration date be  rescinded after that time period had past? 

This relates to the context of a student referendum issue. The council is trying to say they no longer hold a position/opinion on a issue but had already voted in favour prior to the closing date of that referendum. So now have flipped flopped but the referendum has closed. Is this a valid motion?

[Hieu H. Huynh]

9 minutes ago, Guest Austin R said:

Can a previously passed motion which had a expiration date be  rescinded after that time period had past? 

No. If it had expired, there would be nothing to rescind.

[Josh Martin]

33 minutes ago, Guest Austin R said:

Question.

Can a previously passed motion which had a expiration date be  rescinded after that time period had past? 

This relates to the context of a student referendum issue. The council is trying to say they no longer hold a position/opinion on a issue but had already voted in favour prior to the closing date of that referendum. So now have flipped flopped but the referendum has closed. Is this a valid motion?

I concur with Mr. Huynh that, if the motion has truly expired, it may not be rescinded.

Based on the facts presented, however, it is not entirely clear to me that the motion has expired. I think we would need to know more about the wording of the motion and how this referendum process works to determine whether the fact that the referendum has closed means that the original motion is expired.

[Guest Austin R]

in 2015 the 3 student unions at university held a referendum to levy a auxiliary fee to help pay for a new athletic facility. 2 out of 3 unions passed (our university requires 3 separate referendums because of 3 unions). There was no wording in the by laws to say there was an expiration date on those Yes votes. So we asked them to vote in their councils if they would stand by last years votes. They did so and we were able to just re-run the referendum for the union that didn't pass this year. That referendum closed on a Thursday at 4pm. And at 5:30pm one of the unions  rescinded their pervious position to no longer be a Yes but No. (their council meeting date and the presentation of the motion in their agenda was correctly done) 

 

but how can they take something back after the fact?

 

[Richard Brown]

This is perhaps more of a legal issue than it is a parliamentary one, but it seems to me that once the third Union ratified the referendum it became a done deal and that one Union cannot arbitrarily undo the deal by rescinding its previous approval. It seems to me like it is in the nature of a contract that has been accepted. It's sort of like someone wanting to change his vote after an election is over.

[Guest Austin R]

we also believe it is more of legal issue but we want to handle this in a boardroom rather than a courtroom. 

Where would I be able to find this information in a more complete version that is more in depth compared to the small handbook? 

[Richard Brown]

What "small handbook" are you referring to? The 716 page "Robert's Rules of Order Newly Revised 11th Edition" is the most in depth book you will find. It is the current official edition of Robert's Rules of Order and is what we in this forum base our answers on.  http://robertsrules.com/book.html

 

[Bruce Lages]

2 hours ago, Guest Austin R said:

in 2015 the 3 student unions at university held a referendum to levy a auxiliary fee to help pay for a new athletic facility. 2 out of 3 unions passed (our university requires 3 separate referendums because of 3 unions). There was no wording in the by laws to say there was an expiration date on those Yes votes. So we asked them to vote in their councils if they would stand by last years votes. They did so and we were able to just re-run the referendum for the union that didn't pass this year. That referendum closed on a Thursday at 4pm. And at 5:30pm one of the unions  rescinded their pervious position to no longer be a Yes but No. (their council meeting date and the presentation of the motion in their agenda was correctly done) 

 

but how can they take something back after the fact?

 

You say that you were able to re-run the referendum for the union that 'didn't pass this year'. Does that mean the union didn't hold their referendum at all, or that they held it and the proposal was defeated?

I'm also a little confused because you are referring to student unions and to councils. It appears that it is the councils that agreed that they would stand by the union voting result on the referendum. But where you say that one of the unions rescinded their previous position, are you talking about a vote to rescind by the union, or by the council? If these are separate entities (which it sounds like they are), then I'm not certain that a council, if it was the entity that voted to rescind, would have the authority to rescind a decision made by the union.

[Josh Martin]

2 hours ago, Guest Austin R said:

in 2015 the 3 student unions at university held a referendum to levy a auxiliary fee to help pay for a new athletic facility. 2 out of 3 unions passed (our university requires 3 separate referendums because of 3 unions). There was no wording in the by laws to say there was an expiration date on those Yes votes. So we asked them to vote in their councils if they would stand by last years votes. They did so and we were able to just re-run the referendum for the union that didn't pass this year. That referendum closed on a Thursday at 4pm. And at 5:30pm one of the unions  rescinded their pervious position to no longer be a Yes but No. (their council meeting date and the presentation of the motion in their agenda was correctly done) 

but how can they take something back after the fact?

I'm afraid your question is well beyond the scope of RONR and this forum. It seems that resolving this matter will involve interpreting the customized rules of four different organizations (the three student unions and the university). I advise consulting a professional parliamentarian in your area. The National Association of Parliamentarians and the American Institute of Parliamentarians provide referrals.