Committee of the Whole

[JustinPappano]

Can an Assembly have a meeting of the Committee of the Whole outside of a meeting of the Assembly?

[Josh Martin]

27 minutes ago, JustinPappano said:

Can an Assembly have a meeting of the Committee of the Whole outside of a meeting of the Assembly?

Can you clarify what exactly it is you mean by this?

[JustinPappano]

Just now, Josh Martin said:

Can you clarify what exactly it is you mean by this?

Of course. Could a Committee of the Whole meet outside of a meeting of the Assembly? As in, an assembly would rather convey a Committee of the Whole to make a recommendation at the next meeting rather than doing it during a meeting. Is this allowed? 

[Josh Martin]

21 minutes ago, JustinPappano said:

Of course. Could a Committee of the Whole meet outside of a meeting of the Assembly? As in, an assembly would rather convey a Committee of the Whole to make a recommendation at the next meeting rather than doing it during a meeting. Is this allowed? 

I think the answer is technically "no," but the assembly could accomplish a similar objective. The assembly could adopt a motion providing that:

• An adjourned meeting is established.
• The assembly shall enter Committee of the Whole immediately after calling the adjourned meeting to order.
• After the Committee of the Whole adopts a motion to rise or rise and report, the adjourned meeting shall immediately adjourn.

The Committee of the Whole will still technically be meeting during a meeting of the assembly, but the meeting in question will be entirely devoted to the meeting of the Committee of the Whole.

In the alternative, if the assembly truly wishes to ensure that the committee meeting is wholly outside of a meeting of the assembly, the assembly could instead appoint a special committee which happens to consist of all members of the assembly.

I am not entirely certain, however, why an assembly would do all this, which makes me wonder if the assembly is doing this because of other customized rules in play that I don't know about.

Edited March 8, 2021 at 04:50 PM by Josh Martin

[Richard Brown]

44 minutes ago, Josh Martin said:

I am not entirely certain, however, why an assembly would do all this, which makes me wonder if the assembly is doing this because of other customized rules in play that I don't know about.

I, too, am wondering why the assembly wants to do this.

[JustinPappano]

1 hour ago, Josh Martin said:

I am not entirely certain, however, why an assembly would do all this, which makes me wonder if the assembly is doing this because of other customized rules in play that I don't know about.

25 minutes ago, Richard Brown said:

I, too, am wondering why the assembly wants to do this.

There is a specific reason for this procedure which creates this dilemma, although I will not bore the members of the forum with the 'why'. 

[Guest Puzzling]

1 hour ago, Josh Martin said:

I think the answer is technically "no," but the assembly could accomplish a similar objective. The assembly could adopt a motion providing that:

• An adjourned meeting is established.
• The assembly shall enter Committee of the Whole immediately after calling the adjourned meeting to order.
• After the Committee of the Whole adopts a motion to rise or rise and report, the adjourned meeting shall immediately adjourn.

The Committee of the Whole will still technically be meeting during a meeting of the assembly, but the meeting in question will be entirely devoted to the meeting of the Committee of the Whole.

In the alternative, if the assembly truly wishes to ensure that the committee meeting is wholly outside of a meeting of the assembly, the assembly could instead appoint a special committee which happens to consist of all members of the assembly.

I am not entirely certain, however, why an assembly would do all this, which makes me wonder if the assembly is doing this because of other customized rules in play that I don't know about.

I would prefer the alternative (make a special committee of all members)

I think you should set a  low quorum for this committee  because probably not half of all  members will  turn op, because they do not find the subject important and/or because the committee can only report to the assembly. (And not make a decision for the Assembly). 

[Richard Brown]

20 minutes ago, Guest Puzzling said:

I think you should set a  low quorum for this committee  because probably not half of all  members will  turn op, because they do not find the subject important and/or because the committee can only report to the assembly. (And not make a decision for the Assembly)

Are you saying that the assembly can establish a different quorum requirement for a committee by means of inserting such a provision in a motion adopted by majority vote creating the committee and referring the matter to it?   Apparently, per 40:5 that is possible.

Edited March 8, 2021 at 06:53 PM by Richard Brown
Edited last sentence

[Josh Martin]

6 minutes ago, Richard Brown said:

Are you saying that the assembly can establish a different quorum requirement for a committee by means of inserting such a provision in a motion adopted by majority vote creating the committee and referring the matter to it?   Apparently, per 40:5 that is possible.

I see no reason why this could not be done for a special committee.

"In all other committees and in boards, the quorum is a majority of the members of the board or committee unless a different quorum is provided for: (a) by the bylaws, in the case of a board or standing committee that the bylaws specifically establish; or (b) by a rule of the parent body or organization or by the motion establishing the particular committee, in the case of a committee that is not expressly established by the bylaws." RONR (12th ed.) 40:5

Edited March 8, 2021 at 06:58 PM by Josh Martin

[Guest Puzzling]

I even think if the organization sets up a special committee of the whole membership (As I suggested) and it does not set a quorum, the quorum is a majority of the entire membership not the (often much lower) quorum for a normal membership meeting 

[Josh Martin]

3 hours ago, Guest Puzzling said:

I even think if the organization sets up a special committee of the whole membership (As I suggested) and it does not set a quorum, the quorum is a majority of the entire membership not the (often much lower) quorum for a normal membership meeting 

Yes, it is correct that the default quorum for a special committee is a majority of the committee's members. The assembly may, however, establish a different quorum for the committee if it wishes.

A committee of the whole, however, has the same quorum as the parent assembly.