Reading items at meetings

[rbk]

Our bylaws say that proposed bylaw amendments "shall be read at the Regular Meeting, unless such reading is waived by majority voice vote." If a proposed amendment was emailed to all members in advance, may the chair announce that it was read and waive its reading without having a voice vote? My scenario seems similar to RONR (12th) 41:9 — you don't have to read minutes at a meeting if "copies of the minutes... are sent to all members in advance."

[Joshua Katz]

Really, this is a question of bylaw interpretation, and only your organization can do that. In my personal opinion, though, I don't think so. RONR tells us how to approve minutes, and contains a general rule and an exception on that topic. Here, your bylaws say how to deal with amendments, and do not contain an exception, so I don't think you can borrow one from RONR for a different situation. But, again, if your organization decides you can, well, who am I to object. (No one. I am not a member so I can't raise a point of order.) 

However, it seems to me that the requirement for a majority voice vote would be satisfied by unanimous consent, so the chair could say "if there is no objection, we will move to..." But the objection of a single member would require taking the vote.

Edited May 9, 2021 at 02:57 AM by Joshua Katz

[Richard Brown]

Agreeing with Mr. Katz, I will add that RONR provides that even if the minutes were distributed i advance of the meeting, they still MUST be read if even one member requests that they be read.  RONR (12th ed.) §41:9.