Bylaws revision

[Guest terri]

We are a small non-profit private club.  Our bylaw are very vague and we have established a committee to review and make suggestions for updates and clarification.  My question is:  some of our folks say that any changes have to be brought to vote for 3 consective meeting.  Our bylaws do not state any guidelines for revisions....can we inform the membership that there will be a proposal for bylaw revisions at the next meeting and call for a vote?   thank you

 

[Hieu H. Huynh]

3 hours ago, Guest terri said:

My question is:  some of our folks say that any changes have to be brought to vote for 3 consective meeting.

RONR does not require it.

[Hieu H. Huynh]

3 hours ago, Guest terri said:

Our bylaws do not state any guidelines for revisions....can we inform the membership that there will be a proposal for bylaw revisions at the next meeting and call for a vote?

It can be done if the bylaws do not have any requirements for amendment.

[Gary c Tesser]

If your bylaws contain any instructions for amending them, you must adhere to those instructions.  If your bylaws don't have any rules for amending themselves, but if they do prescribe that Robert's Rules is the parliamentary authority of your organizatino (that's Rumanian for "organization," I like throwing that in once in a while to save the trouble of wringing typos all the time), then your organization can amend your bylaws (please avoid the term "revisions," I'll tell you why later if you want) by what you'll read when you look at RONR, 11th Ed, Section 57 -- it's a few pages, you can knock it off in a few minutes and then be well-informed on a worthwhile aspect of being a member of any organization.  It says something like, if your bylaws don't include instructions for amending them, then you amend them by either giving previous notice to the membership, and then at a meeting, a 2/3 vote; or a vote of a majority of the entire membership (p. 581).

(Hieu, why did you leave it to me to clean up the details?  What are you doing up at six in the morning anyway, if you don't have fishing as an excuse?)

[Richard Brown]

Guest Terri, keep in mind that unless your bylaws provide otherwise, previous notice of proposed bylaw amendments must state what specific changes are being proposed.  It is not sufficient to give notice that says simply "At the next meeting amendments to the bylaws will be considered".  Here is a quote from page 121 of RONR regarding "previous notice":

"The term previous notice (or notice), as applied to necessary conditions for the adoption of certain motions, has a particular meaning in parliamentary law. A requirement of previous notice means that announcement that the motion will be introduced—indicating its exact content as described below—must be included in the call of the meeting (p. 4) at which the motion will be brought up, or, as a permissible alternative, if no more than a quarterly time interval (see pp. 89–90) will have elapsed since the preceding meeting, the announcement must be made at the preceding meeting."  (Emphasis added).