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Relinquishing the chair


Tomm

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If the chair is responding to a Request for Information or a Parliamentary Inquiry he would not be putting anything to a vote.

If a point of order is made, the chair, if in doubt, may refer the point of order to the assembly for their decision on the matter.  But it is the chair who decides if he wishes to refer it to the assembly instead of issuing a ruling.

He need not leave the chair in any of these scenarios, including an Appeal if he wishes to make a ruling.

 

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On 11/2/2022 at 11:39 AM, Tomm said:

If a member questions the chair about an ambiguous bylaw, and it is determined that it can only be defined/interpreted by a majority vote of the members, (56:68) can the chair make the motion to open the interpretation up to a debate and vote without having to relinquish the chair? (43:29)

That's not how that works. There is no "motion to open the interpretation up to a debate and vote."

Rather, a member may raise a Point of Order regarding the issue. The chair could submit the question directly to the assembly. Alternately, the chair could make a ruling, followed by an Appeal.

"When the chair is in doubt as to how to rule on an important point, he can submit it to the assembly for decision in some such manner as:

CHAIR: Mr. Downey raises a point of order that the amendment is not germane to the resolution. The chair is in doubt and submits the question to the assembly. The resolution is [reading it]. The proposed amendment is [reading it]. The question is, “Is the amendment germane to the resolution?”" RONR (12th ed.) 23:18

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On 11/2/2022 at 6:49 PM, Tomm said:

By a debate among the membership and the determination of the meaning of that bylaw by a majority vote per 58:68? 

Well, that might be partially right but it’s not totally correct. What happens is, when the point of order is raised that something is or is not permitted by the bylaws and there is an appeal from the ruling of the chair, the “interpretation“ of the bylaw provision is limited to whether the bylaws  permit or prohibit the action that is the subject of the point of order.

I suggest you reread Mr. Martin‘s post above.

Edited by Richard Brown
Added last paragraph
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On 11/2/2022 at 7:49 PM, Tomm said:

By a debate among the membership and the determination of the meaning of that bylaw by a majority vote per 58:68? 

I'm not familiar with 58:68.

In any case, debate on what a bylaw means doesn't simply occur.  It happens during an Appeal, when a ruling by the chair strikes some of the members as inconsistent with their understanding of the meaning of the bylaws.

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