Voting to end ongoing prior business

[Guest John smith]

2 years ago an organization took an anonymous vote to look into merging with another organization. Recently a motion was made and seconded to end this merger process. It was advised that per roberts rules chapter 11 this motion was invalid because 1 it had to be made by someone who voted affirmatively  for it originally and 2 it had to be done within  1 one day of that vote . So my question is 2 part 1 is this correct and 2 what can be done to make a valid motion to end this process and have it come to a vote of the members? 

[Atul Kapur]

It was advised incorrectly. The rules as you describe them are close to the rules that apply to the motion to Reconsider. There is no scenario that I can think of where they would apply to what you actually did.

You talk about "vote to look into merging" and then refer to "this merger process." It is unclear exactly how far you have gone down this process and what the organization has committed itself to doing. Can you provide the exact wording of the motion that was adopted two years ago (you can X out the names of the two organizations)?

[Gary Novosielski]

Well, Chapter XI deals with Quorum and related matters, and §11 deals with the motion to Postpone Indefinitely, so the citation of "chapter 11" is not correct for the current version (12th edition).

In any case, those requirements for someone from the prevailing side and so forth apply to the motion to Reconsider.  And that's certainly not the motion you're looking for to accomplish what you want.

What you need is the motion to Rescind (§35), which can be moved by anyone at any time before the motion has been fully carried out.  And since the merger has not yet taken place, it is in order to move to Rescind the original motion (to study a merger).  

It's not clear exactly what "looking into" a merger means, so it might be more than simply studying the matter, but you'd need to look at the exact wording of the original motion to know.  In the typical case, a matter like this would be referred to a committee established for the purpose, with instructions to report back with a recommendation.  If that's the case here, and the matter is still in the hands of the committee, the motion to use is to Discharge a Committee (§36) which places the matter back into the hands of the assembly.

 

[Josh Martin]

On 10/19/2022 at 11:34 PM, Guest John smith said:

It was advised that per roberts rules chapter 11 this motion was invalid because 1 it had to be made by someone who voted affirmatively  for it originally and 2 it had to be done within  1 one day of that vote .

This advice is not correct. While this is a reasonable (although not entirely correct) summary of the rules regarding the motion to Reconsider, that's not the only tool available.

A motion to Rescind or Amend Something Previously Adopted may be made by any member. It requires for its adoption a 2/3 vote, a vote of a majority of the entire membership, or a majority vote with previous notice.

I assume that the organization did not get very far in this process of looking into a merger and that, as of this time, no formal actions have been taken to implement a merger. If this assumption is not correct, the situation may be much more complicated.

I would also note that whoever advised you needs to get a copy of The Right Book. I'm not certain what book he's looking at, but it's not Robert's Rules of Order Newly Revised, 12th edition, since the "Chapter 11" citation he has provided makes no sense. (I've checked a few of the more common older editions and third-party guides and knockoffs, and I didn't have any luck there either.)

Edited October 20, 2022 at 11:58 AM by Josh Martin