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Decision by a committee


Guest Patricia

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If a committee agrees on a motion and then presents it to the President of the Club, can the President make the final decision or does it have to be agreed and voted on by the Executive Board?

The president has no authority to impose committee recommendations on the organization without a vote of the membership, unless the bylaws say otherwise.

For example:

If the members had already voted to give the committee authority to implement the action, then no further action by either the membership (or the president) is needed.

If the executive board has the authority under the bylaws to make this decision and the report of the committee recomments some action, then the executive board would need to adopt the recommendation before they can be implemented.

If the committee's report does not contain recommendations, such as a study for information, then no action is needed. The report might be presented at a meeting.

-Bob

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If a committee agrees on a motion

and then presents it to the President of the Club,

can the President make the final decision

or does it have to be agreed and voted on by the Executive Board?

If Robert's Rules applies, and if there is no superior rule saying otherwise:

• Committees report INSIDE A MEETING, not to any individual, outside of a meeting.

• Committees present nothing to any individual officer. -- Not to the president.

• Presidents do not make final decisions on committee reports or committee recommendations. In fact, presidents don't have any authority to make any decisions.

• Committees report to the appropriate body, usually their creator. That may be a board. But it may not be. -- If the board created the committee, then the committee reports to the board. If the president created the committee, then the committee reports to the president.

***

As always:

If you have a rule saying otherwise, then that rule will prevail as the default rule (prohibition) of Robert's Rules of Order yields.

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If Robert's Rules applies, and if there is no superior rule saying otherwise:

• Committees report INSIDE A MEETING, not to any individual, outside of a meeting.

• Committees present nothing to any individual officer. -- Not to the president.

• Presidents do not make final decisions on committee reports or committee recommendations. In fact, presidents don't have any authority to make any decisions.

• Committees report to the appropriate body, usually their creator. That may be a board. But it may not be. -- If the board created the committee, then the committee reports to the board. If the president created the committee, then the committee reports to the president.

***

As always:

If you have a rule saying otherwise, then that rule will prevail as the default rule (prohibition) of Robert's Rules of Order yields.

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If Robert's Rules applies, and if there is no superior rule saying otherwise:

• Committees report INSIDE A MEETING, not to any individual, outside of a meeting.

• Committees present nothing to any individual officer. -- Not to the president.

• Presidents do not make final decisions on committee reports or committee recommendations. In fact, presidents don't have any authority to make any decisions.

• Committees report to the appropriate body, usually their creator. That may be a board. But it may not be. -- If the board created the committee, then the committee reports to the board. If the president created the committee, then the committee reports to the president.

***

As always:

If you have a rule saying otherwise, then that rule will prevail as the default rule (prohibition) of Robert's Rules of Order yields.

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If the President created the committee and the committee makes a decision, is that final or does it need any further approvals.

The fact that the president created the committee does not matter. Unless empowered by some rule (bylaws or action by the assembly), the committee has no power except to study the matter(s) referred to it and to report their opinions and recommendations to the assembly for possible action.

-Bob

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If the President created the committee and the committee makes a decision, is that final or does it need any further approvals.

President's can't create committees unless there's a very odd provision in the bylaws. Even if it says the president "shall appoint all committees" that only means appointing the members of committees created by other means.

Even if he could, he can't delegate powers to the committee. So the committee can't do anything but recommend. When they do, the president still hasn't got any authority to do anything he couldn't already do without the committee.

So the committee is completely irrelevant to what finally happens. Nothing is final unless the assembly decides it. Presidents are not dictators. They have no power except to preside over meetings, plus what the bylaws grant them. They can't escalate their powers by using committees or other tricks.

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