Revisiting previously defeated motion

[Shellbrook]

In 2007, at the annual business meeting of an international organization that long ago adopted RONR has its parliamentary "Bible," a motion was made, seconded, discussed (and cussed) for a extremely lengthy period, and then was defeated by a majority of the voting delegates. I should mention that the motion, if passed, would have resulted in an historically unprecedented change to the organization's By-Laws and, subsequently, a 180-degree change to the very reason for the existence of the organization. I assure the readers that the motion was properly proposed, perfectly legal and proper, but failed in receiving the required two-thirds majority vote...it received about 54% against the motion and 46% for its passage. Now, the current issue is this: the current elected leadership of the organization has, in 2010, just created a committee to revisit the exact same issue, require it to make a proposal to the upcoming Mid-Winter executive meetings of the organization, and then bring the same committee results to the voting body at its 2011 international convention and business meeting for another vote on the same matter.

My question is this: Am I or am I not correct that to bring such a motion back to the floor in 2011, which motion would be virtually exact in its wording and intent as the previously defeated motion from 2007, a "motion to reconsider" must first be made by a member of the prevailing side AND the vote to sustain such a motion must have a two-thirds majority vote to bring the motion back to the floor? Or is this new motion in order because we are talking about two completely different business meetings of the voting body, separated, as it were, by four years?

Any advice on this matter would be genuinely appreciated. The future of the organization literally depends on the correct answer.

[Chris Harrison]

You can renew the motion since it is a different session (RONR pp. 324-331).

[Guest dan]

In 2007, at the annual business meeting of an international organization that long ago adopted RONR has its parliamentary "Bible," a motion was made, seconded, discussed (and cussed) for a extremely lengthy period, and then was defeated by a majority of the voting delegates. I should mention that the motion, if passed, would have resulted in an historically unprecedented change to the organization's By-Laws and, subsequently, a 180-degree change to the very reason for the existence of the organization. I assure the readers that the motion was properly proposed, perfectly legal and proper, but failed in receiving the required two-thirds majority vote...it received about 54% against the motion and 46% for its passage. Now, the current issue is this: the current elected leadership of the organization has, in 2010, just created a committee to revisit the exact same issue, require it to make a proposal to the upcoming Mid-Winter executive meetings of the organization, and then bring the same committee results to the voting body at its 2011 international convention and business meeting for another vote on the same matter.

My question is this: Am I or am I not correct that to bring such a motion back to the floor in 2011, which motion would be virtually exact in its wording and intent as the previously defeated motion from 2007, a "motion to reconsider" must first be made by a member of the prevailing side AND the vote to sustain such a motion must have a two-thirds majority vote to bring the motion back to the floor? Or is this new motion in order because we are talking about two completely different business meetings of the voting body, separated, as it were, by four years?

Any advice on this matter would be genuinely appreciated. The future of the organization literally depends on the correct answer.

No. The same motion can be made again, and again and again.

[hmtcastle]

the current elected leadership of the organization has, in 2010, just created a committee to revisit the exact same issue, require it to make a proposal to the upcoming Mid-Winter executive meetings of the organization, and then bring the same committee results to the voting body at its 2011 international convention and business meeting for another vote on the same matter.

There is no guarantee that the 2010 committee will come up with exactly the same results as the 2007 committee but, as noted, the defeated motion can be renewed.

The motion to reconsider has very specific and narrowly-defined characteristics and is not applicable in the situation you describe.