C. How Committee Members Are Chosen
Suppose that you are in the middle of debate on a main motion, and you want to put off taking a vote on it. Perhaps it is a matter that is not urgent, and you want to take up something which is. Perhaps you feel more information is needed, and want time to gather it, before making a decision. There could be a hundred reasons why you might want to stop dealing with a proposal for the time being and put it off until another occasion.
The motion to Postpone to a Certain Time meets this need. If adopted by a majority vote, it puts off further consideration of the main motion to a later time or meeting named in the motion. For example:
After a motion to Postpone to a Certain Time has been stated, it may itself be amended, for example to change the time to which the main motion is to be postponed. It is also debatable, but the debate must be limited to the motion to Postpone. This means you may talk about whether it is or is not a good idea to postpone the main motion, or about the details of the postponement, such as for how long it should be. However, you may not debate whether the main motion itself is good or bad.
In the ordinary circumstance, you cannot postpone a motion beyond the next regular meeting, and not beyond the third month after the present month. For example, at a meeting in February, a motion can’t be postponed to a meeting later than in May, even if that is the next regular meeting. [RONR (12th ed.) 14:1–22.]
B. COMMIT OR REFER
Before voting on a main motion, you may feel that it would profit from redrafting or further study by a small group of people. It may be that much time would be required to amend the main motion properly, or that additional information is needed, so that it would be best to turn the motion over to a committee for study or redrafting before the full group considers it further.
The motion to Commit (Refer to a committee) allows this. It requires a majority vote, and should identify the committee to which the motion is to be referred. It may include instructions to the committee; for example, it may specify when the committee is to report, or that the committee shall propose an amendment written to accomplish a particular purpose.
Committees are of two basic types. Standing committees have a continuing existence and function, normally responsibility over a particular subject matter: for example, the Education Committee, or the Membership Committee. If a motion’s content falls within the subject matter of a standing committee, it must be referred—if it is to be sent to a committee at all—to that committee.
A motion to refer to a standing committee might be:
Special committees are created for a particular task, and go out of existence when that task is completed. For example, if a main motion to purchase a new headquarters is pending, you may want to refer it to a specially created committee with instructions to study the proposal and report the committee’s recommendations at the next meeting.
A motion to refer to a special committee might be:
The motion to Commit is amendable: for example, to change any proposed instructions to the committee, or to change the makeup of a special committee. It is also debatable. Debate must be about the desirability of referring the matter to the committee, or about the details of the referral (which committee, when to report, and so forth). While the motion to Commit is pending, you may not debate whether the main motion itself is good or bad. [RONR (12th ed.) 13:1–26.]
C. HOW COMMITTEE MEMBERS ARE CHOSEN
1. Standing Committees
The method of selection of the chairmen and members of standing committees is usually established in the organization’s bylaws.2 Normally, bylaws provide either that the members of standing committees are appointed by the president at the beginning of his or her term of office or that they are elected by the group at the same meeting at which the group’s officers are elected. Members of standing committees generally serve for the same period as the officers of the organization.
2. Special Committees
As we have seen, special committees are created for a particular purpose. A motion to refer a pending motion to a special committee itself creates the special committee. If no motion is pending, a special committee may also be created by a main motion that assigns a particular subject or matter to the committee. If the bylaws are silent on the method of appointing members of special committees, the method is typically set for that committee in the motion creating the committee.3 One common method is to provide that the members of the special committee be appointed by the presiding officer. Another is for the motion itself to name the members. The sample motion in the box on page 55 illustrates a combination of these methods.4
1. The full name of the class of business described in this book as “Unfinished Business” is actually “Unfinished Business and General Orders,” and an item postponed to the next meeting in this manner is an example of a “general order.” The topic of general orders is somewhat complicated, and is covered in RONR (12th ed.); see 41:21–26 and 41:40–52. See also 14:13–17.
2. Bylaws are explained in Chapter 10.
3. If the motion to Commit does not establish how the committee is to be appointed, then after its adoption the assembly, guided by the presiding officer, must vote on how this is to be done. RONR (12th ed.) 13:12–14.
4. RONR (12th ed.) 50:11–13. For procedure in committees and committee reports, see Chapter 19.