Action Items

[Guest Josh P]

Can a new "action item" be placed on a current agenda during the current meeting. (Also, does it need to appear as a discussion item first?)

For example, if there were a list of "slogans" that were to be voted on in the current meeting, and those slogans were placed on the agenda in advance of the meeting, can new slogans be added to the "actionable items" listed for the current  agenda during the course of that current meeting. 

[Joshua Katz]

The agenda only becomes the agenda when adopted at the meeting. So, before it is adopted, when it is pending for adoption, it can be amended by a majority vote. 

Once it is adopted, it can be amended by a 2/3 vote or an affirmative vote of the majority of the entire membership, either of which will suffice. 

As to whether it needs to be a discussion item first, it sounds like you are referring to something in your own rules, so you will need to consult those rules for the answer. 

[Gary Novosielski]

On 10/15/2021 at 7:28 PM, Guest Josh P said:

Can a new "action item" be placed on a current agenda during the current meeting. (Also, does it need to appear as a discussion item first?)

For example, if there were a list of "slogans" that were to be voted on in the current meeting, and those slogans were placed on the agenda in advance of the meeting, can new slogans be added to the "actionable items" listed for the current  agenda during the course of that current meeting. 

The term action item does not appear anywhere in RONR. Neither does the term discussion item.  

The term action appears 310 times, and what's clear is that actions are the result of motions.  Making a decision is an action.  Decisions are made by adopting (or rejecting) motions.  And all those are recorded in the minutes.  If the rules in RONR apply, any decision is the result of a motion. There are shortcuts such as Unanimous Consent, but if a decision was reached, it was done by some variant of a motion, and belongs in the minutes.  

But in your example, if a motion is made to adopt a slogan, once the question is pending, the normal rules for Amendment of a motion apply, which would allow you to consider other choices than the ones anticipated in the agenda, unless you have some special rules restricting the scope of agenda items in ways not anticipated by RONR.