Powers of President on Committee decissions

[Guest Daniel D]

In our Senior Assn. we have a TRIP committee and has a chairperson.  Trips are open to anyone who wants to go. My question is:  what power/or say does President have in deciding what trips will be taken. 

[Gary Novosielski]

None, if the rules in RONR apply.   But check your bylaws to see if there's some section granting such powers to the president.

In the usual case, the committee would report to its parent body (which is?) with recommendations, and that body would decide if, when, and how those recommendations should be implemented.  The role of the president is limited to presiding over the meeting.

[Josh Martin]

On 12/7/2023 at 2:33 PM, Guest Daniel D said:

In our Senior Assn. we have a TRIP committee and has a chairperson.  Trips are open to anyone who wants to go. My question is:  what power/or say does President have in deciding what trips will be taken. 

Nothing in RONR grants the President any authority over what trips will be taken and, indeed, RONR says nothing whatsoever regarding trips. This is not a parliamentary issue, and this matter will be governed by your organization's own rules concerning these trips, not by any rule in RONR.

"All of the duties of the presiding officer described above relate to the function of presiding over the assembly at its meetings. In addition, in many organized societies, the president has duties as an administrative or executive officer; but these are outside the scope of parliamentary law, and the president has such authority only insofar as the bylaws provide it." RONR (12th ed.) 47:20

[Richard Brown]

On 12/7/2023 at 5:01 PM, Gary Novosielski said:

In the usual case, the committee would report to its parent body (which is?) with recommendations, and that body would decide if, when, and how those recommendations should be implemented. 

I agree that this is the USUAL role of a committee, but it is possible to create a committee "with power" -- that is, power to do or execute what it is recommending as long as it is within the designated powers of the committee.  In other words, such a committee is not limited to making recommendations.

[Gary Novosielski]

On 12/10/2023 at 1:58 PM, Richard Brown said:

I agree that this is the USUAL role of a committee, but it is possible to create a committee "with power" -- that is, power to do or execute what it is recommending as long as it is within the designated powers of the committee.  In other words, such a committee is not limited to making recommendations.

Well, that's certainly true, but it didn't seem applicable here, where the question was not whether the committee had the power to execute decisions, but whether the president acting alone could do so.