Bylaws being placed on Consent Agenda

[Guest loribagwell@charter.net]

Bylaws require a 2/3 vote to approve.  The chair of a meeting has decided to place extensive bylaw amendments on a consent agenda and then require members to ask to remove from consent the bylaw with an issue.  She is indicating that a motion to pull all bylaws off the consent calendar will not be accepted and only one item per member may be pulled.  Causing us to have 43 different people pull it off consent.  A consent calendar/agenda is only required to be a majority vote while bylaws require 2/3rd.  She is using Roberts Rule to say the agenda is so long she is doing consent.  Thoughts Please.  Is this proper?

[Dan Honemann]

On 3/11/2024 at 1:03 AM, Guest loribagwell@charter.net said:

Bylaws require a 2/3 vote to approve.  The chair of a meeting has decided to place extensive bylaw amendments on a consent agenda and then require members to ask to remove from consent the bylaw with an issue.  She is indicating that a motion to pull all bylaws off the consent calendar will not be accepted and only one item per member may be pulled.  Causing us to have 43 different people pull it off consent.  A consent calendar/agenda is only required to be a majority vote while bylaws require 2/3rd.  She is using Roberts Rule to say the agenda is so long she is doing consent.  Thoughts Please.  Is this proper?

RONR (12th ed.) 41:32 tells us that:

"... The special rule of order establishing a consent calendar may provide that, when the matters on the calendar are called up, they may be considered in gross or without debate or amendment. Otherwise, they are considered under the rules just as any other business, in which case the 'consent' relates only to permitting the matter to be on the calendar for consideration without conforming to the usual, more onerous, rules for reaching measures in the body.

What, exactly, do your bylaws or special rule of order provide with respect to your consent calendar?

[Josh Martin]

On 3/11/2024 at 12:03 AM, Guest loribagwell@charter.net said:

Bylaws require a 2/3 vote to approve.  The chair of a meeting has decided to place extensive bylaw amendments on a consent agenda and then require members to ask to remove from consent the bylaw with an issue.  She is indicating that a motion to pull all bylaws off the consent calendar will not be accepted and only one item per member may be pulled.  Causing us to have 43 different people pull it off consent.  A consent calendar/agenda is only required to be a majority vote while bylaws require 2/3rd.  She is using Roberts Rule to say the agenda is so long she is doing consent.  Thoughts Please.  Is this proper?

It sounds to me like your chair is making up a lot of nonsense.

For starters, I'm not sure your chair has, in fact, read what RONR says concerning a consent calendar.

"Consent Calendar. Legislatures, city, town, or county councils, or other assemblies which have a heavy work load including a large number of routine or noncontroversial matters may find a consent calendar a useful tool for disposing of such items of business. Commonly, when such a matter has been introduced or reported by a committee for consideration in the assembly, its sponsor, or, sometimes, an administrator, may seek to have it placed on the consent calendar. This calendar is called over periodically at a point established in the agenda by special rule of order, at least preceding standing committee reports. The matters listed on it are taken up in order, unless objected to, in which case they are restored to the ordinary process by which they are placed in line for consideration on the regular agenda. The special rule of order establishing a consent calendar may provide that, when the matters on the calendar are called up, they may be considered in gross or without debate or amendment. Otherwise, they are considered under the rules just as any other business, in which case the “consent” relates only to permitting the matter to be on the calendar for consideration without conforming to the usual, more onerous, rules for reaching measures in the body." RONR (12th ed.) 41:32

So...

• Your assembly does not, in fact, have a consent calendar unless it is provided for in your organization's bylaws or special rules of order.
• The items on the consent calendar are "considered in gross or without debate or amendment" only if the rule establishing the consent calendar so provides.
• There is nothing in RONR suggesting that a member is restricted to pulling only one item, so this is only the case if your rules so provide.
• There is nothing in RONR suggesting that placing an item on a consent calendar lowers the threshold for adoption, so this is the case only if your rules so provide. (And in in this instance, such a rule would be effective only if the rule in question is found in the bylaws, since a special rule of order cannot conflict with the bylaws.)
  • Typically, a consent calendar is adopted by unanimous consent, because that's kind of the point of a consent calendar - to adopt the "routine or noncontroversial items" for which there is consent. If for some reason a vote is taken on the consent calendar, the consent calendar would require for its adoption the same vote threshold as the items included on it, or if the thresholds vary, then it would require the highest vote threshold for any item included.

In the event your rules do not provide for a consent calendar, the controlling rule on this matter is as follows:

"Sometimes a series of independent resolutions or main motions dealing with different subjects is offered in one motion. In such a case, one or more of the several resolutions must receive separate consideration and vote at the request of a single member, and the motion for Division of a Question is not used. Such a demand (which should not be confused with a demand for a division of the assembly—that is, for a rising vote) can be made even when another has the floor, as in, “Mr. President, I call for a separate vote on Resolution No. 3.” This demand must be asserted before the question on adopting the series has actually been put to vote." RONR (12th ed.) 27:10

That is, if the organization has no rule on this matter, it is permissible for a member to propose adopting all 43 of the bylaw amendments in gross, however:

• Any member may demand that a particular amendment be considered separately.
• There is no limit on how many motions a member may request a separate vote on in this manner. A member could even insist on considering all 43 amendments separately, if desired. (Although I expect a member is not going to make a great deal of friends with such a demand.)
• A 2/3 vote (or unanimous consent) will be required to adopt the motion and whatever bylaw amendments are left on it, after any amendments have been pulled for separate consideration.

I will say, I don't particularly object to the chair's general suggestion to adopt as many of these amendments as possible by unanimous consent. It may well save the assembly a great deal of time. But the chair cannot impose limitations on how many amendments a member can request to be considered separately, nor can the chair provide that a majority vote is sufficient to adopt amendments to the bylaws, unless your rules so provide.

If you expect your chair will continue to be a problem in this matter, I suggest reviewing RONR (12th ed.) Section 24 (Point of Order), Section 25 (Appeal), and 62:2-15 (Remedies for Abuse of Authority by the Chair in a Meeting).

Edited March 11, 2024 at 12:20 PM by Josh Martin

[Rob Elsman]

The chair seems to be pretty bossy. Is any of this hogwash actually enshrined in the rules?

[Gary Novosielski]

On 3/11/2024 at 1:03 AM, Guest loribagwell@charter.net said:

Bylaws require a 2/3 vote to approve.  The chair of a meeting has decided to place extensive bylaw amendments on a consent agenda and then require members to ask to remove from consent the bylaw with an issue.  She is indicating that a motion to pull all bylaws off the consent calendar will not be accepted and only one item per member may be pulled.  Causing us to have 43 different people pull it off consent.  A consent calendar/agenda is only required to be a majority vote while bylaws require 2/3rd.  She is using Roberts Rule to say the agenda is so long she is doing consent.  Thoughts Please.  Is this proper?

No, that's rubbish.

Whether you actually have a consent agenda or not, and that seems to be in doubt, or whether somebody just moves to approve the amendments en bloc, members do not have to ask to consider the items separately.  Any single member may demand that one or more items be considered separately.  Read up on Point of Order and Appeal  (§§23-24); it sounds like you'll need them.  Your chair is assuming to herself powers that do not exist, unless your bylaws are atypical.