Parliamentaasafsafasfasry Procedure

PARLIAMENTARY PROCEDURE By: Antonio Orendain (Basically a Robert’s Rules of Order)

FUNDAMENTAL PRINCIPLES OF PARLIAMENTARY PROCEDURE 1. Members have equal rights and obligations. Members rights include right to speak, right to vote and be voted upon, right to be informed, etc. But such rights have certain limitations as provided in these rules and the by-laws of the organization. Members obligations include attendance in a meeting, perform the assigned task, payment of dues, etc . 2. Majority rule. Majority simply means at least one half of the total number of members plus one. 3. Minority must be protected. 4. Singularity of the Subject. This principle means that only one subject must be brought before the assembly at a time. 5. Full and free debate must be allowed. This principle is obviously founded on the theory that there are at least two sides to every question, and that all sides must be heard before any decision is made on it. 6. Every motion must be voted upon. With the exception of a few, all motions brought before the assembly should be voted upon for their proper disposition. 7. Group interest must prevail. Every member is an integral part of the organization, each one plays a significant role in the collective efforts of the entire group. But as such, his personality and private desires should be subordinate to that of the organization. 8. The presiding officer must be impartial. He should not take sides in a debate, and should volunteer information or advance his personal opinion only when necessary. As a member of the organization, he is entitled to participate in the deliberation of any question before the assembly, but this he should do only from the floor after surrendering the Chair temporarily to some other member.

MEETINGS. A meeting is a gathering of members or officers of an organization. 1

Kinds of Meetings 1. A regular meeting is one which is held at the time provided for in the constitution or by-laws of the organization. Members are presumed to know the regular meeting days and are usually not served with notices to the effect. joi 2. A special meeting may be called from time to time either by the head of the organization, or a certain number of the members, depending upon the rules of the organization. No business can be transacted in a special meeting except that which is specified in the notice which must be served to every member. 3. An adjourned meeting is merely a continuation of an original meeting (whether regular or special) in which any business left pending. QUORUM A Quorum is that number or proportion of the members of an organization which must be present at a particular meeting for the organization to legally transact business. In the absence of a quorum, no business can be transacted with legal effect even with unanimous consent of those who are present except to adopt such measures as are deemed necessary to obtain a quorum or to adjourn. Quorum is purely discretionary on the part of the organization as it may be provided in its constitution and by-laws. In the absence, however of any such provision, common parliamentary law fixes the quorum at a majority of its members.

ORDER OF BUSINESS (AGENDA) Order of business is a program or outline of the things to be done or questions to be taken up during a meeting. It serves as a guide of the proceedings to insure the orderly and efficient transaction of business. 1. Call to Order. A meeting is called to order by the presiding officer who, after rapping the gavel, announces: “ The meeting will please come to order” 2. Invocation. 3. Roll Call. The calling of the roll is performed by the secretary which the members answering “here” or “present” as their respective names are called. 2

4. Reading and consideration of the minutes of the previous meeting. The presiding officer directs the secretary by saying: “ The secretary is directed to read the minutes of the previous meeting”. After the reading of the minutes, the presiding officer ask: “ Are there corrections to the minutes”? If no correction is offered, he states: “ There being no corrections, the minutes stand approved as read” If corrections are proposed, the presiding officer directs the secretary to note them down, and then puts them to a vote. 5. Reports of Standing Committees. 6. Reports of Special Committees. 7. Unfinished Business. These are matters which have been left pending at the adjournment of the last meeting. 8. New Business. When all the unfinished business have been disposed off, new business are taken up upon the announcement of the presiding officer, thus: “The table is now open for new business”. 9. Announcement. Any announcement which the presiding officer or a member may wish to make to the assembly should be done at this stage of the meeting. 10. Adjournment. A meeting may be adjourned at any time upon a motion duly approved or at a certain fixed time if one has been previously set. In any case, a meeting is not properly adjourned until the presiding officer declares the adjournment. (See Section 2, To Adjourn)

DEBATES A debate is a discussion on any subject for the purpose of elucidating the truth or influencing action. Inquiries and suggestions are not debates

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Debates are necessary part of parliamentary procedure because it is only through the medium of a free and full discussion that the members of an assembly may be able to decide a question intelligently.

BASIC RULES OF DEBATE Relevancy and Decorum are two important requirement of debate. Relevancy means that all discussions must be related to the question at issue. When a member is given the right to speak on a question, he is expected to confine his discussion to the question before the assembly; the moment he strays from the subject he said to be out of order and should be declared so either by the chair or by any other member. It is also fundamental rule in debate that the speaker should not speak against his own motion, although he may ask to withdraw it or, failing to do this, vote against the measure. ( See Section 21, to withdraw).

Decorum in debate means courtesy in speech and propriety of action. The speaker should conduct himself with dignity and should always use decent language. Hel should extend all respects to the chair and assembly and to any colleague whether the latter’s views are in agreement or are contrary to his own. All remarks of the speaker should be addressed to the chair, and personalities should be avoided. The presiding officer should be referred to as “The Chair”, and the other officers of the organization, by their respective titles. If reference is to be made to another member the speaker should as much as possible, avoid using the member’s name, instead he should refer to him as the “ proposer of the motion”, or “sponsor of the resolution” or “the speaker who proceeded me”, or by some appropriate description. If the speaker commits any breach of decorum, it is the duty of the chair to call him to order. If the chair fails to do this any member may rise on a point of order, and the assembly if appealed to, shall decide on the case without debate. If the decision is in favor of the member called to order, he shall be at liberty to proceed but not otherwise. (See Section 24, Point of Order and Section 27, To Appeal)

At Close of Debate.

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When a question appears to have been thoroughly discussed and nobody expresses a desire to speak on it further, the chair proceeds to put the question to a vote by asking first, “ Are you ready for the question?” If after a reasonable pause no one claims the floor, the Chair proceeds to take the vote on the question, and once voting has commenced no one can claim the right to speak.

Reopening Debate Subject to certain rules and conditions, a question that has been decided upon by the assembly may be reopened by motion for reconsideration. Reconsideration opens the question to a new discussion and vote, the same as if it were introduced for the first time. (See Section 15, To Reconsider).

NOMINATIONS Nomination is a formal act of proposing to the assembly the name of a candidate for an office to be filled. It is normally a condition precedent to the election of a person to office or the selection of a member for some other purposes, like serving on a committee.

COMMITTEES A committee is a body of one or more persons appointed or elected to perform certain functions for the assembly. Its duties generally include the consideration or investigation of certain matters, or the execution of certain acts that may be specially assigned to it.

MOTION AND RESOLUTION

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Motion is a formal proposal that the assembly either adopt a certain view or take a certain action on a question pending before it. A motion is identified by the preparatory phrase “ I move that” which is equivalent to saying, “I propose that”, followed by the thought or subject of the proposal. A motion is generally made in oral form. However, if the proposal is of great importance or if it is quite lengthy and complex in its language it should be made in writing in a form of a resolution. A resolution, therefore, is a main motion in a written form identified by the phrase “Resolved that” which precedes the subject of proposal. If the proposer feels it necessary to give the reason or reasons for the resolution, he may express them in a preamble, each clause of which constitutes a paragraph beginning with the word “WHEREAS”.

Classification of motion Robert's Rules of Order divide motions into the following: 1. Main motions, those that bring business before the assembly when no other motion is pending. 2. Subsidiary motions, which affect the main motion being considered. 3. Incidental motions, which affect rules and procedures that are not specifically tied to a particular main motion. 4. Privileged motions, which are urgent matters that must be dealt with immediately, even if they interrupt pending business.

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Postpone indefinitely, Amend, Commit , Postpone to a certain time, Limit or extend limits of debate, Subsidiary motions Previous question, Lay upon the table

Privileged motions

Call for the orders of the day, Raise a question of privilege, Recess, Adjourn, Fix the time to which to adjourn

Point of order, Appeal, Suspend the rules Objection to the consideration of a question, Division of a question Consideration by paragraph or seriatim, Division of the Incidental motions assembly Motions relating to methods of voting and the polls Motions relating to nominations

Incidental motions (Requests and inquiries)

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Parliamentary procedure portal

Parliamentary inquiry Request for information Request for permission to withdraw or modify a motion Request to read papers Request to be excused from a duty Request for any other privilege

PROGRESS OF MOTIONS. Motions brought before the assembly should be clearly presented, intelligently discussed, and properly disposed of without unnecessary waste of time and effort. To accomplish this, parliamentary rules prescribe eight steps in handling motions, namely: Step 1. Obtaining the floor. Before a member is allowed to make a motion, he should be first obtain the floor. This is done by rising and addressing the Chair, meaning, the presiding officer, by his title as “Mr. President” or “Mr. Chairman”, or Mr. Moderator”, as the case may be. Step 2. Recognition from the Chair. A member obtains the floor when the presiding officer acknowledges him either by calling out his name or position or by addressing him as “Mr Member” or by simply appointing or nodding at him. When he is so acknowledged, he is said to “have the floor” and no other person is entitled to speak from the floor except in such cases as are allowed by the rules of procedure. When two or more members rise to obtain the floor at the same time, all things being equal, the Chair should recognize the one who rose and addressed the Chair first after the floor has been yielded. In other cases, the following principles should guide the Chair in assigning the floor: 1. Priority should be given to the proposer of the motion. 2. A member who has not spoken on an immediate pending question has priority over the one who has already spoken on it. 3. If the views of the members regarding a pending question are known to the presiding officer, he should recognize the supporters and the opponents of the question alternately, giving preference to the one who is opposed to the last speaker. 4. All things being equal, preference should be given to a member who seldom speaks against the one who is frequently on the floor.

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Step 3. Presentation of Motion. A motion is introduced by the phrase “ I move that” followed by a statement of the proposal which should be couched in brief but concise language. For example, “ I move that we will send 5 delegates to the forthcoming national student’s convention”.

If the proposal is in the form of a resolution, its presentation may be made in either of the following manner: “I move that the following resolution be adopted: Resolved, that..” or

“I move for the adoption of the following resolution: resolved, that…”

or

“I offer the following resolution: Resolved, that…”

A copy of the resolution is then handed to the chair or to the secretary for consideration by the assembly.

Step 4. Seconding the Motion. Before a motion can be deliberated upon it should as a rule, be seconded, any other member may do this by saying “ I second the motion” without the need of rising or obtaining the floor. A motion is seconded to indicate that, aside from the proposer, there is at least one other member who is interested in bringing the question before the assembly, otherwise there is no sense in the assembly wasting time on the question. Evidently, the proposer cannot second his own motion. If a motion requiring a second is not seconded, it is declared lost, meaning the motion cannot be brought before the assembly for consideration. Before declaring the motion lost, the chair should however ascertain if anybody has seconded the motion by asking, “Has the motion been seconded?” or “Is there a second to the motion?” If no one has seconded it or cares to second it, the Chair declares, “The motion is lost for want of a second”.

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Step 5. Statement of the Motion. The presiding officer states the motion by repeating it verbatim or in substance, and where appropriate, by announcing that it has been seconded, as in the following example: “It has been moved and seconded that we send five delegates to the forthcoming national student’s convention. Is there any discussion?” The Chair should, as much as possible, state the motion in exactly the same way it was presented. If the motion is awkwardly worded, the presiding officer should ask the proposer to restate it correctly or he may make the necessary correction himself when stating it, but taking care not to change the thought of the motion. If the proposal is in the form of a resolution, the manner of stating it is as follows: “It has been moved and seconded that the following resolution be adopted: Resolved, that… Is there any discussion?” After a motion has been formally stated by the chair it may be referred to as “ a question”, “a proposition”, or “a measure”. Step 6. Discussion of the Question. After the question has been stated by the chair, it is posed before the assembly for consideration, and may be debated upon or modified through amendments before action is taken on it. As a general rule, all questions are debatable. Any member may speak on the question after having obtained the floor in the manner described in step 1. The debate should be confined to the pending question and should devoid of personalities. The speaker should address all the remarks to the chair, use proper language and observe courteous deportment. Step 7. Voting on the Question. After the question has been thoroughly discussed and/or amended, the Chair brings it to the assembly for action, that is for approval, disapproval, or some other form of action, as the assembly may deem proper, for the temporary or final disposition of the question. The act of submitting the question to a vote is also referred to as “putting the question”. The chair puts the question as follows” “Are you ready for the question? As many as in favor of the motion, say Aye,,, Those opposed say No” or

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“Are you ready for the question? As many as in favor of the motion, raise your hand…(after counting),.. Those opposed do the same”(count also). Step 8. Announcing the vote. After the vote has been taken, the Chair announces the result by declaring whether the motion has been approved or not, and if approved, what the effect of the motion would be, as shown in the following examples: “The ayes have it the motion is approved. We will send 5 delegates to the forthcoming national student’s convention”. or “There are 12 in favor and and 4 against, motion is carried, the question will be referred to the committee on membership” If the motion is lost, the chair merely says “The motion is lost.” or “ Failure to obtain a majority vote the motion is lost”. The announcing of the vote is more than a formality, it is necessary not only to formally advise the assembly of the action taken on the question, but also to make its decision official for purposes of record. Deliberations on a questions are normally terminated by the announcement of the vote. If new question is introduced, the entire procedure described above is generally followed all over again.

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