Approving business outside of a regular meeting time

[SGA Abington]

Hello,

Our bylaws prohibit us from holding special meetings except in certain circumstances. We expect to have business come up in an off-week which we'd like to dispose of before our regular meetings. How do we allow ourselves to meet during the off-week in order to approve the important business?

Our bylaws regarding meetings are below.

ARTICLE V.

            Meetings

            Section 1. Regular Meetings.

The regular meetings of this body are held every second Friday during the Fall and Spring semesters, unless ordered otherwise by a vote at a previous meeting. The first meeting of each school year shall be held no later than the third Friday of the Fall semester. The first meeting of each calendar year shall be held no later than the second Friday of the Spring semester. Meetings shall occur no less than once every three academic weeks. The secretary shall email a call to the meeting three days prior to the meeting.

Section 2. Quorum.

Six members of this body constitute a quorum. To establish a quorum, the secretary shall call the roll immediately after the presiding officer calls the meeting to order, at the conclusion of a recess, after this body votes to adjourn but before adjournment, and when any member suggests the absence of a quorum. To be effective, business conducted without a quorum must be approved at the next meeting with a quorum by a two-thirds majority vote.

Section 3. Special Meetings.

This body may not hold special meetings, except if a special meeting is ordered as part of a formal disciplinary procedure for the purpose of conducting a hearing and deciding punishment.

Section 4. Cancellation of a Regularly Scheduled Meeting.

The speaker may not cancel meetings except in case of extreme weather, emergencies, public transportation strike, university declared snow days, or an Act of God. The speaker may cancel a meeting for those reasons unilaterally. The president of the Penn State Abington Student Government Association may cancel a meeting in consultation with the Speaker.

[Weldon Merritt]

23 minutes ago, SGA Abington said:

How do we allow ourselves to meet during the off-week in order to approve the important business?

Amend your bylaws to allow it.

[SGA Abington]

7 minutes ago, Weldon Merritt said:

Amend your bylaws to allow it.

Is it not possible to continue a regular meeting for more than a week? The rules for amending bylaws are strict and they would not be able to get amended in time.

[Guest Puzzling]

If you're sure of the date that you would like to hold the meeting then at the end of the previous meeting you can adjourn to that date. Then it is not a special meeting but an adjourned one. (But it is a bit fiddling around) 

Better amend the bylaws.

By the way your quorum beating solution:

"To be effective, business conducted without a quorum must be approved at the next meeting with a quorum by a two-thirds majority vote"

Under RONR a majority vote is enough for ratification (Except for motions that out of themselves need a 2/3 vote)

[Josh Martin]

46 minutes ago, SGA Abington said:

Our bylaws prohibit us from holding special meetings except in certain circumstances. We expect to have business come up in an off-week which we'd like to dispose of before our regular meetings. How do we allow ourselves to meet during the off-week in order to approve the important business?

At the regular meeting, the assembly could establish an adjourned meeting. Since it appears it is not known exactly when it will be necessary to meet during the following week, the motion could specify that the assembly is adjourned to meet at the call of the chair.

Rules regarding the motion to Fix the Time to Which to Adjourn are discussed in RONR (12th ed.) Section 22.

13 minutes ago, SGA Abington said:

Is it not possible to continue a regular meeting for more than a week?

There is no parliamentary reason why an assembly cannot continue a single meeting for over a week, but this is generally not possible due to practical considerations such as the need for members to sleep and attend to other matters in their lives.

It is very possible, however, to continue a session (which is a series of one or more connected meetings) for more than a week.

See RONR (12th ed.) Sections 8 and 9 for more information regarding the distinction between a meeting and a session and the types of meetings (in particular, the information regarding adjourned meetings will be relevant).

Edited January 22, 2021 at 04:19 PM by Josh Martin

[Richard Brown]

On 1/22/2021 at 9:32 AM, SGA Abington said:

To be effective, business conducted without a quorum must be approved at the next meeting with a quorum by a two-thirds majority vote.

 

On 1/22/2021 at 10:16 AM, Guest Puzzling said:

Under RONR a majority vote is enough for ratification (Except for motions that out of themselves need a 2/3 vote)

While it is true that RONR permits a majority vote to ratify action taken without a quorum, the bylaws of this organization, which are controlling, clearly require "a two-thirds majority vote".

[Shmuel Gerber]

On 1/22/2021 at 11:05 AM, SGA Abington said:

Is it not possible to continue a regular meeting for more than a week? The rules for amending bylaws are strict and they would not be able to get amended in time.

 

On 1/22/2021 at 11:18 AM, Josh Martin said:

There is no parliamentary reason why an assembly cannot continue a single meeting for over a week, but this is generally not possible due to practical considerations such as the need for members to sleep and attend to other matters in their lives.

It is very possible, however, to continue a session (which is a series of one or more connected meetings) for more than a week.

But the term "regular meeting" generally refers to the entire session.