Motions

[Guest Ross Jones]

Once a motion has been made and an amendment made, can a person make an amendment to the amendment?

[Joshua Katz]

Yes, secondary (but no further) amendments are permitted. To be a valid secondary amendment, however, it needs to only amend the amendment, not unimpacted parts of the text. For instance:

Motion: To paint the clubhouse red.

Amendment: To strike out "red" and insert "blue."

Secondary amendment: To amend the amendment by striking out blue and inserting purple.

Not a valid secondary amendment: To strike out "paint" and insert "stain."

If you want to do something that doesn't impact the pending amendment, you'll need to wait until the amendment has been resolved, although you can say in debate on the amendment what you plan to move if it will impact how people vote on the amendment.

In the example given, the assembly will first decide on the secondary amendment, by voting on whether to strike out blue and insert purple. If a majority approves the amendment, the pending amendment will now be: to strike out "red" and insert "purple." If not, the pending amendment will be to strike out "red" and insert "blue." The next step is to deal with the amendment, as amended or not. As noted above, it is not in order to go to level 3.