Knowing the existence of committees

[Tomm]

There can be regular committees, ad hoc committees, and standing committees.

Some standing committees are required to be authorized only by a bylaw or special rule of order if they meet any one the 3 conditions listed in 50:8 and some are not.

My question is, where should the various committees that are not documented in the bylaws or special rule of order be recorded and made available to be known? 

Seems to be that if an organization accepted a new member, the only documented committees are those he/she would read about in the bylaws, so where would they learn about the others?

I believe the only way a new member would learn of all the committees within his/her organization would be by word of mouth or if they were to go back to read all the Minutes of the previous meetings to learn when those other committees were created? 

What am I missing?

[Josh Martin]

On 10/25/2023 at 11:33 AM, Tomm said:

There can be regular committees, ad hoc committees, and standing committees.

In RONR, there are standing committees and special (or ad hoc) committees. There is nothing in RONR called a "regular committee," and I don't believe I have ever heard this term before. I do not know what you are talking about. Please explain what you mean by "regular committee."

On 10/25/2023 at 11:33 AM, Tomm said:

My question is, where should the various committees that are not documented in the bylaws or special rule of order be recorded and made available to be known? 

Standing committees created outside of the bylaws or special rules of order should be documented in standing rules.

Special committees are created simply by a main motion. There is no particular requirement to document them somewhere, other than the minutes. But certainly an organization can document such committees elsewhere if this is helpful for the assembly.

I am also inclined to think that the Secretary should maintain a list of committees. While there is nothing in 47:32-36 explicitly stating that the Secretary must maintain such a list, there are a number of duties tangentially related to this, such that it would be highly beneficial for the Secretary to maintain such a list. [EDIT: Correction noted in later post.]

Edited October 25, 2023 at 05:07 PM by Josh Martin

[Rob Elsman]

The are three general classifications of committees in RONR (12th ed.):

• Committee of the Whole, sometimes used to take advantage of an alternate set of procedures for debate and amendment of a main motion; and,
• Standing committees, which have continuing existence to handle referrals or functions pertaining to a range of subjects or activities; and,
• Special committees (sometimes called "ad hoc committees"; less often called "select committees" in ordinary societies), which handle referrals or functions pertaining to one subject or activity, after the completion of which they cease to exist.

Members of assemblies can always learn about committees not specifically mentioned in the bylaws or special rules of the society by inspecting the minutes of the creating assembly.  Members of committees can learn about subcommittees from the notes kept of committee meetings or, perhaps, from the reports of subcommittees to their parent committee.

[Josh Martin]

On 10/25/2023 at 12:02 PM, Josh Martin said:

I am also inclined to think that the Secretary should maintain a list of committees. While there is nothing in 47:32-36 explicitly stating that the Secretary must maintain such a list, there are a number of duties tangentially related to this, such that it would be highly beneficial for the Secretary to maintain such a list.

I stand corrected - this is explicitly mentioned as part of the Secretary's records.

"The duties of the secretary are:

5) To notify officers, committee members, and delegates of their election or appointment, to furnish committees with whatever documents are required for the performance of their duties, and to have on hand at each meeting a list of all existing committees and their members." RONR (12th ed.) 47:33

[Tomm]

On 10/25/2023 at 10:02 AM, Josh Martin said:

Please explain what you mean by "regular committee."

I see your point. I was kinda referring to a standing committee that didn't need to be established by a bylaw or special rule of order! Every other committee is special/ad-hoc.