Committee Reports: What really needs to be reported?

Any organization can split themselves into groups to concur different tasks during a meeting, and call them committees. Committees are a great way to divide and concur to ensure all work gets done, but when it comes time to report back to the assembly how many times are items missed? Throughout my time in the Midd-West FFA I noticed that our committees managed to help the assembly accomplish many tasks at once, but telling the assembly what really went on in their meeting never went very well. Students did not know how to properly form a report, and many times would say "We discussed the topic at hand", and that was all the assembly knew. They did not know what was voted on, what details were brought up, or even what the committee thought was the best route for the assembly to take in the matter.

Reading about committee reports in RONR this week has really helped me see the value of properly presenting the information that was accomplished during a committee meeting. It also allowed me to evaluate how much more effective the Midd-West FFA could be if the properly presented their committee reports. It also got me thinking about how many other organizations struggled because they did not properly utilize their committees and the reports presented back.

A few details I picked out of RONR 11th Edition Newly Revised included; a report can only contain "what has been agreed to by majority vote at a regular or properly called meeting of which every member has been notified... where a quorum of the board or committee was present" (503, 16-21). To form a detailed report on one topic there are four easy steps. In the following order those are, "A description of the way in which the reporting body (usually a committee in such cases) undertook its charge; the facts uncovered or information obtained; the findings or conclusions derived from the facts or information; and resolutions or recommendations" (505, 26-33).

If I have the opportunity to work another service project over my holiday break, I would love to go into a meeting of the Midd-West FFA Chapter and assist in having committees work towards strengthening their reports back to the assembly. The few details about committee reports could really change the course of the committee structure and reports within the Midd-West FFA Chapter, and I hope to shed some light on that as another service project after this class!

Committees!

In Robert's Rules of Order a committee is defined as follows... "A committee, as understood in parliamentary law, is a body of one or more persons, elected or appointed by (or by direction of) an assembly or society, to consider, investigate, or take action on certain matters or subjects, or to do all of these things" (RONR, page 489, lines 20-24).

Two Types of Ordinary Committees: 

Special Committee - Also known as a "select" or "ad hoc" committee. This is a committee as a need arises, to perform a certain task. The committee comes to an end when the matter that they are taking care of is addressed in full.

Standing Committee - This is a committee put together to perform a continuing function and always exists. A standing committee will have its name and description of what it does within an organization's bylaws.

Fun Fact: When referring any business to a committee, if the motion maker does not mention who the committee chair will be then the first name said aloud by the chair automatically becomes the chair of the committee.

Many of us have been on a committee at least once before and we have worked with others. Thinking about the descriptions of the two ordinary committees above, which type of committee were you in and what did you do?

Angela Becker
#PSUAgEd18
Student Teacher at Manheim Central High School

What are Incidental Motions?

The past two classes in AEE 297 a were all about Incidental Motions. Our Robert's Rules of Order book is becoming our best friend as we dive head first into these motions.

Incidental motions are motions that are not planned. They have no order of precedence because they are taken up when they are made, unlike other motions. 

There are 11 incidental motions total, but we focused on the 8 common ones. Our mnemonic device is...

Point of Order 

• This motion does not need a second, is not debatable, amendable, and does not require a vote.
• Point of Order corrects a mistake in the rules. It should not be used on minor infractions because it can be a waste of time during a meeting. 

Object to Consideration of Question

• This motion does not require a second, is not debatable, amendable, and requires a 2/3 vote in the negative.
• The purpose is to allow an assembly to avoid an original main motion when it can be considered undesirable for the assembly. 

Withdraw 

• This motion does not require a second, unless the question has been stated by the chair. It is not debatable or amendable and does not require a vote unless it has been stated by the chair. Then it requires majority vote to pass. 
• This motion becomes useful when the motion maker realizes the main motion can conflict or won't work for the assembly. 

Parliamentary Inquiry

• This motion does not require a second, is not debatable or amendable, and does not require a vote.
• The purpose of this motion is to ask a question about how to perform parliamentary procedure. 

Appeal

• This motion requires a second and is debatable when it is applied to a motion. It cannot be amended and requires a majority vote.
• A chair is delegated to run a meeting and make decisions, but any member has the right to appeal from the decision. 
• EXAMPLE: There has been a main motion made and seconded and the chair has asked for debate. Three members stand at the same time to be recognized by the chair, one of them being the motion maker. The chair decides to recognize Sally instead. Another member can call point of order, but if the chair decides to continue in recognizing Sally, someone can appeal the chairs decision. 

Division of Assembly

• This motion does not require a second, is not debatable or amendable, and does not require a vote.
• This motion is used during voting. Most of the time there are voice votes taken. Voice voting can be unclear sometimes. A member can call for Division of the Assembly when there is an unclear divide in the vote. 

Division of Question

• This motion requires a second, is not debatable, can be amended, and requires a majority vote.
• Division of a Question is made when the main motion has two separate motions together. 
• EXAMPLE: Sally says, "I move that the 4-H club buys a new set of flags for the meetings and  club T-shirts for all the members." This motion has two motions: to buy a new set of flags and club T-shirts for all members. The motion needs to be split in two, so a member can call for Division of a Question. 

Suspend the Rules

• This motion requires a second and is not debatable or amendable. It requires a 2/3 vote to suspend a parliamentary order or order of business. It requires a majority vote to suspend the standing rule. 
• The rules of parliamentary order, order or business, or standing rules can be suspended. Any rules in the bylaws or fundamental principles of parliamentary law cannot be suspended. This is done when the assembly wants to do something during the meeting that could not have been done with the rules. 
• EXAMPLE: (This is just one of many) The assembly can suspend the rules to allow multiple people to debate on the motion. 

As you can see, some of these motions are very complex with gray areas. They aren't as straight forward as the subsidiary motions. For more information on these motions, you can visit Robert's Rules of Order 11th Edition pages 247-299.

Erin Yoest

Subsidiary What?

 

This week in AEE 297A we delved further into our Roberts Rules of Order...

 ... and focused on Subsidiary Motions! So, if your anything like me you are probably wondering what exactly this is!

Subsidiary motions are motions that "assist the assembly in treating or disposing of a man motion (and sometimes other motions) (RONR p.62, ln. 34-35). Whew, that is a mouthful. So basically, the SEVEN subsidiary motions allow for business to proceed once a main motion has been stated.

So, what are the seven subsidiary motions?

Well, it is helpful to remember LCLPRAP: A table of the subsidiary motions is detailed below

MOTION	2nd ?	Debate?	Amend?	Vote?
Lay On the Table	Yes	NO	NO	Majority
Call Previous Question	Yes	NO	NO	2/3
Limit/Extend Debate	Yes	NO	Yes	2/3
Postpone Definitely	Yes	Yes	Yes	Majority
Refer to Committee	Yes	Yes	Yes	Majority
Amend	Yes	Yes	Yes	Majority
Postpone Indefinitely	Yes	Yes	NO	Majority

This chart helps us to remember that all seven subsidiary motions require a Second, however, not all of them allow debate and/or amendments. Additionally, the motions to Call Previous Question and Limit/Extend Debate require a 2/3rds vote because it is taking away the right for members to debate, and thus requires more than just the majority!

We also discussed the notion of precedence and pending motions. Just as in solitaire, motions have several layers and it is essential to focus and vote on the top priority motion first. The main motion is lower in precedence than all of the subsidiary motions.

So there you have it, from tables and solitaire we get subsidiary motions!

Thanks for reading,

Cheers,

Sarabeth