The chair has the duty of making sure that the rules are followed. Any member may call the attention of the chair to a violation of the rules.
To do so, you stand up, interrupt the chair or a speaker if necessary, and without waiting to be recognized, call out, “Point of order!” Anyone speaking takes a seat, and the chair says, “The member will state her point of order.” You then tell how you think the rules are being broken, and sit down.1
No second is necessary, and no vote is taken. Instead, the chair stands and rules on the point of order, saying, “The Chair rules that the point of order is well taken” or “The Chair rules that the point of order is not well taken,” briefly giving reasons (which are recorded in the minutes). [RONR (12th ed.) 23:1–21.]
B. APPEAL
The group as a whole, not the chair, is the final authority in judging whether the rules have been violated. If you disagree with a ruling by the chair, you may Appeal it to the group as a whole.
Without waiting to be recognized, you stand and say, “I appeal from the decision of the chair.” An Appeal requires a second.
An Appeal may generally be debated by the members, but unlike debate on other motions, each member may speak only once. The chair may speak in debate twice, the first time in preference over other members and the second time to close debate. However, the vote must be taken on the Appeal without debate if the Appeal:
a) relates to indecorum or a transgression of the rules of speaking;
b) relates to the priority of business; or
c) is made when an undebatable question is immediately pending or involved in the Appeal.
An Appeal is stated and put to a vote as “Shall the decision of the chair be sustained?” It requires a majority vote in the negative to overturn the chair’s ruling. A tie sustains the decision of the chair, and loses the Appeal. [RONR (12th ed.) 24:1–13.]
C. SUSPEND THE RULES
There are times when you wish to be able to do something forbidden by the rules. For example, you may want to allow a member to continue speaking when the allotted time has expired, or to permit consideration of a motion that would otherwise not be in order, or even to adopt a motion without debate or amendment.
In many cases like these the group may use the motion to Suspend the Rules, which requires a second, may be neither amended nor debated, and requires a two-thirds vote.
In moving to Suspend the Rules, you do not name the rule that is to be suspended. Instead you just describe what it is you want to be able to do that would violate the rules. For example, “I move to suspend the rules to give the speaker two more minutes,” or “I move to suspend the rules which interfere with taking up the budget at this time.” [RONR (12th ed.) 25:1–20.]
D. PARLIAMENTARY INQUIRY
If you want to ask a question about the rules and how they apply to what is going on or to something you want to do, you may make a Parliamentary Inquiry of the chair.
If, and only if, your question requires immediate attention, you may interrupt a speaker to ask it. In any case, you do not have to be recognized first. You simply stand, and say, “A parliamentary inquiry, please.” The chair replies, “The member will state the inquiry,” and you say, for example, “Is it in order at this time to move to refer to a committee?” or “What is the pending question?”
The chair has the duty of responding to such questions when the answer may assist you to make an appropriate motion, raise a proper Point of Order, or understand the parliamentary situation or the effect of a motion.2 However, the chair’s answers are not rulings and consequently are not subject to appeal. If you believe the chair’s response is wrong and want a chance to ask the full group to correct it, you must act contrary to the opinion expressed by the chair. Upon that action being ruled out of order, you may then appeal. [RONR (12th ed.) 33:3–5.]
E. PARLIAMENTARIAN’S ROLE
To advise the presiding officer in responding to points of order and parliamentary inquiries, and generally to provide advice on conducting the meeting according to the rules, the president may appoint a parliamentarian. The parliamentarian, who should be seated next to the presiding officer, has a role that is purely advisory. Only the chair, not the parliamentarian, can rule on the proper application of the rules, and only on the most involved matters should the presiding officer ask the parliamentarian to give an explanation directly to the group. [RONR (12th ed.) 47:46–56.]
1. A Point of Order must be timely. This means that, with some important exceptions, it must be made at the time the rules violation occurs. For example, suppose the chair states the question on a motion that has not been seconded. Once debate has already begun on that motion, it is too late to make the point of order that the motion had no second. RONR (12th ed.) 23:5–6.
2. See RONR (12th ed.) 33:3. A Request for Information asks a question relevant to the business before the body but not related to parliamentary procedure, e.g., “How much uncommitted money is now in the treasury?” It is handled similarly to a Parliamentary Inquiry. It is not in order to raise a Request for Information to give information; instead, you must wait to be recognized and make your informative point as part of debate. RONR (12th ed.) 33:6–10.