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Rewording of a motion


Guest Kathy

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A motion was developed by our Board and passed. It then went to the membership for a vote but the presenter of the motion stated it incorrectly. It should have stated the Board approves and I move but she read the motion as follows; the Ed commmittee recommends, the board approves and I move. It was approved as I just stated but that was not the motion actually approved by the Board. The membership approved the motion but I'm wondering since it was stated incorrectly is it actually approved by the membership?

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A motion was developed by our Board and passed. It then went to the membership for a vote but the presenter of the motion stated it incorrectly. It should have stated the Board approves and I move but she read the motion as follows; the Ed commmittee recommends, the board approves and I move. It was approved as I just stated but that was not the motion actually approved by the Board. The membership approved the motion but I'm wondering since it was stated incorrectly is it actually approved by the membership?

As far as the general law is concerned, a motion in the general membership assembly to reaffirm a decision taken by the board in the name of the society is out of order, RONR (10th ed.), p. 100, ll. 10-17.

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A motion was developed by our Board and passed. It then went to the membership for a vote but the presenter of the motion stated it incorrectly. It should have stated the Board approves and I move but she read the motion as follows; the Ed commmittee recommends, the board approves and I move. It was approved as I just stated but that was not the motion actually approved by the Board. The membership approved the motion but I'm wondering since it was stated incorrectly is it actually approved by the membership?

Whatever motion, as announced by the chair in putting the motion to a vote, is the adopted motion (pp. 42-3).

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As far as the general law is concerned, a motion in the general membership assembly to reaffirm a decision taken by the board in the name of the society is out of order, RONR (10th ed.), p. 100, ll. 10-17.

According to Kathy, the board recommended some action to the general membership meeting. If so, the board's action was onlt to recommend some action. The citation does not apply.

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A motion was developed by our Board and passed. It then went to the membership for a vote but the presenter of the motion stated it incorrectly. It should have stated the Board approves and I move but she read the motion as follows; the Ed commmittee recommends, the board approves and I move. It was approved as I just stated but that was not the motion actually approved by the Board. The membership approved the motion but I'm wondering since it was stated incorrectly is it actually approved by the membership?

Whatever motion, as announced by the chair in putting the motion to a vote, is the adopted motion (pp. 42-3).

If the reference to the Ed committee found its way into the text of the motion, and if the organization really doesn't want it there, you can (at a future meeting) move to amend something previously adopted (RONR pp. 293-299) and fix it that way. I'm not sure why that preamble stuff is in the adopted motion at all (i.e. who previously recommended and approved the motion), but, if it is and the organization doesn't want it there, you can deal with that via ASPA. As J.J. said, the membership approved what it approved -- it doesn't matter if the actual wording was different than the planned wording.

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It should have stated the Board approves and I move but she read the motion as follows; the Ed commmittee recommends, the board approves and I move.

If this is the only difference I don't see what the big deal is. :)

The membership approved the motion but I'm wondering since it was stated incorrectly is it actually approved by the membership?

Yes, the motion stated by the chair was approved by the membership.

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A motion was developed by our Board and passed.

This is either a recommendation by the board, or it is an actual action taken by the board. It's not clear which is the case. If it's the latter, the general assembly would not need to approve it. We'll assume it was the former.

It then went to the membership for a vote but the presenter of the motion stated it incorrectly. It should have stated the Board approves and I move but she read the motion as follows; the Ed commmittee recommends, the board approves and I move.

All of that precedes the motion. The actual motion immediately follows the word "move" in your example. So, any incorrect wording wasn't in the actual motion.

It was approved as I just stated but that was not the motion actually approved by the Board. The membership approved the motion but I'm wondering since it was stated incorrectly is it actually approved by the membership?

As stated above, I don't think we're talking about a difference in the motion, here. However, if there was a difference, the fact that the reporting member of the board reported the recommendation incorrectly does not invalidate the action taken by the assembly of the general membership. A point of order should have been raised at the time that the reporting member rendered a report that was not the report of the board.

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According to Kathy, the board recommended some action to the general membership meeting. If so, the board's action was onlt to recommend some action. The citation does not apply.

In fact the citation does not mention boards at all. It refers to "reaffirming" action taken by the assembly itself.

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In fact the citation does not mention boards at all. It refers to "reaffirming" action taken by the assembly itself.

The citation would be equally applicable to motions to reaffirm a motion taken by a board which is empowered to act in the name of the society between meetings of the general membership, and I'm sure that was the idea Mr. Elsman had in mind when providing the citation. It is not clear to me, however, that the board is empowered to act for the society, at least in this particular circumstance.

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The citation would be equally applicable to motions to reaffirm a motion taken by a board which is empowered to act in the name of the society between meetings of the general membership, and I'm sure that was the idea Mr. Elsman had in mind when providing the citation. It is not clear to me, however, that the board is empowered to act for the society, at least in this particular circumstance.

It sounded the same to me. The board seemed in this case, presumably by some rule, to require the consent of the assembly in order to implement this proposal, and so it was not a motion to "reaffirm" but rather to affirm in the first place. Something along the lines of a motion to Ratify.

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The board seemed in this case, presumably by some rule, to require the consent of the assembly in order to implement this proposal, and so it was not a motion to "reaffirm" but rather to affirm in the first place. Something along the lines of a motion to Ratify.

Well, either that or the board is making a recommendation to the general membership.

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