Tabled motions at meeting

[Joyce Ward]

Hi,

At a recent Board meeting, a participant tabled the agenda item because the person who added to the agenda was not present at the meeting.  The Chair objected to the motion and requested that the item be discussed at the meeting.   Another person appealed the decision by the Chair, and the tabling motion was passed.  Does the tabling motion be brought to the next meeting as business arising or does it need to be lifted off the table at the meeting?  Also who is able to lift the motion off the table.  When reviewing our Robert's Rules of Order, we are thinking that the only people that can lift the motion off the table are those that voting in favor of the tabling motion and were present at the meeting.

Thanks.

[Shmuel Gerber]

On 12/19/2023 at 10:37 AM, Joyce Ward said:

Hi,

At a recent Board meeting, a participant tabled the agenda item because the person who added to the agenda was not present at the meeting.  The Chair objected to the motion and requested that the item be discussed at the meeting.   Another person appealed the decision by the Chair, and the tabling motion was passed.  Does the tabling motion be brought to the next meeting as business arising or does it need to be lifted off the table at the meeting?  Also who is able to lift the motion off the table.  When reviewing our Robert's Rules of Order, we are thinking that the only people that can lift the motion off the table are those that voting in favor of the tabling motion and were present at the meeting.

Thanks.

Nothing in this description resembles how business is conducted under Robert's Rules of Order.

I think your guess as to what happens next, according to the way this board handles its business, is as good as ours, if not better. 

[Josh Martin]

You all really botched things, and you have a number of issues to correct for the future.

On 12/19/2023 at 9:37 AM, Joyce Ward said:

At a recent Board meeting, a participant tabled the agenda item because the person who added to the agenda was not present at the meeting.

The motion you want for this purpose is the motion to Postpone to a Certain Time (or Postpone Definitely), not the motion to Lay on the Table.

"Isn't it always in order to move to table a motion to the next meeting?

This question confuses the motion to Lay on the Table with the motion to Postpone to a Certain Time. The purpose of the motion to Lay on the Table is to enable an assembly, by majority vote and without debate, to lay a pending question aside temporarily when something else of immediate urgency has arisen or when something else needs to be addressed before consideration of the pending question is resumed. In ordinary societies it is rarely needed, and hence seldom in order. [RONR (12th ed.) 17:1–24; see also p. 127 of RONR In Brief.]" FAQ #12

As I understand the facts, a member believed it would be preferable to postpone this item to the next meeting, because "the person who added [the item] to the agenda was not present at the meeting." (This phrase also suggests deviations from the rules in RONR on that subject, because under Robert's Rules, to the extent an agenda is used at all [often the standard order of business should suffice], that agenda is adopted by the assembly at the meeting, so it's not possible for someone who is absent to add an item to the agenda.)

In any event, if a member wished to postpone this item to the next meeting, he is free to move to do so. The motion to Postpone to a Certain Time is debatable and amendable and requires a majority vote for adoption. The motion to Lay on the Table, by contrast, is used to temporarily set aside a motion in order to take up some other urgent business (which clearly was not the purpose here), is neither debatable nor amendable, and requires a majority vote for adoption. No individual person can "table" anything.

On 12/19/2023 at 9:37 AM, Joyce Ward said:

The Chair objected to the motion and requested that the item be discussed at the meeting.

The chair cannot "object" to a motion to postpone (or table) simply on the basis that the chair's personal preference is to consider the motion at the present time. He can rule the motion out of order if it violates some parliamentary rule. If he simply disagrees with the motion, his only options are to speak and vote against it, like any other member. If the chair does not promptly correct this sort of behavior, I'd suggest the board get a new chair.

On 12/19/2023 at 9:37 AM, Joyce Ward said:

Another person appealed the decision by the Chair, and the tabling motion was passed.

A single member cannot overturn the chair's ruling. When an appeal is made (and seconded, although it may be this is a small board and seconds are not required), the appeal is debated and, ultimately, the assembly votes on whether to sustain the chair's ruling, with a majority in the negative being required to overturn the ruling. While this should be relatively easy in this case, since the chair's ruling was essentially "This is out of order because I don't like it," the fact remains that a single member cannot overturn this ruling.

Although as noted previously, while the chair's reasoning was incorrect, the chair was correct that the motion was out of order - not because the motion had to be considered at that meeting, but because the member used the wrong motion to delay the motion to the next meeting. So the assembly erred in adopting the motion to Lay on the Table, for the reasons noted previously.

On 12/19/2023 at 9:37 AM, Joyce Ward said:

Does the tabling motion be brought to the next meeting as business arising or does it need to be lifted off the table at the meeting?

Well, that's an interesting question, and I suppose it depends on how the board interprets the nonsense that happened at the previous meeting.

On the one hand, when a motion to Lay on the Table is adopted, then it is necessary to adopt a motion to Take from the Table in order to bring that motion before the assembly. This may be done during the same meeting or during the next regular meeting, provided it is within a quarterly interval. After that time period, the motion on the table "dies," although the motion could be made anew.

On the other hand, it seems quite obvious that this was not a proper motion to Lay on the Table, and should have instead been a motion to Postpone to a Certain Time. When a motion is postponed to the next regular meeting and no further details are specified, it automatically becomes an order of the day for the next regular meeting under the heading of Unfinished Business and General Orders (I have no idea what "business arising" is), provided that meeting is within a quarterly interval.

On 12/19/2023 at 9:37 AM, Joyce Ward said:

Also who is able to lift the motion off the table. 

To the extent such a motion is required at all, ultimately, only the assembly itself may lift a motion from the table. The motion to Take from the Table is neither debatable nor amendable and requires a majority vote for adoption. Any member may make (or second) a motion to Take from the Table, if that is your question. (And of course, all members are free to vote on the motion.)

On 12/19/2023 at 9:37 AM, Joyce Ward said:

When reviewing our Robert's Rules of Order, we are thinking that the only people that can lift the motion off the table are those that voting in favor of the tabling motion and were present at the meeting.

All of this is incorrect, and I am not certain what in Robert's Rules of Order led you to this idea. Any member may make, second, and vote on a motion to Take from the Table, regardless of how that member voted on the motion to Lay on the Table, and regardless of whether the member was even present when the motion was laid on the table.

Edited December 20, 2023 at 03:00 PM by Josh Martin

[Gary Novosielski]

On 12/19/2023 at 10:37 AM, Joyce Ward said:

Hi,

At a recent Board meeting, a participant tabled the agenda item because the person who added to the agenda was not present at the meeting.  The Chair objected to the motion and requested that the item be discussed at the meeting.   Another person appealed the decision by the Chair, and the tabling motion was passed.  Does the tabling motion be brought to the next meeting as business arising or does it need to be lifted off the table at the meeting?  Also who is able to lift the motion off the table.  When reviewing our Robert's Rules of Order, we are thinking that the only people that can lift the motion off the table are those that voting in favor of the tabling motion and were present at the meeting.

Thanks.

Agreeing with the responses above, I will point out that it is not unthinkable that you may go through your entire life's connection with parliamentary procedure and never once encounter a situation where the motion to Lay on the Table was properly in order.

Whenever you encounter it, ask yourself whether the motion to Postpone Definitely was the proper motion.  If you always say Yes, you will be wrong a vanishingly small fraction of the time.