A. The Importance of Committees
B. Scheduling Committee Meetings
C. Validity of Committee Action
E. Standing and Special Committees
A. THE IMPORTANCE OF COMMITTEES
A great deal of the work of many organizations is done in committees, so your position as a member of a committee—and especially your position if you are a committee chairman—is an important one.
B. SCHEDULING COMMITTEE MEETINGS
The first meeting of a committee is scheduled, or called, by the chairman giving notice of it to all the committee members. If the chairman fails to call a meeting, any two members can do so. To schedule subsequent meetings, the committee can vote to adjourn to a later time. Alternatively, the committee can just adjourn, in which case it meets again at the call of the chairman (or of any two members). [RONR (12th ed.) 50:21–23.]
C. VALIDITY OF COMMITTEE ACTION
As with a board, a committee acts validly if its decisions are agreed to at a properly called meeting of which every committee member was given the proper notice and at which a quorum—a majority of its members—is present. If properly authorized, meetings may be by videoconference or teleconference (including over the Internet) so long as all persons participating can hear each other at the same time (and, if a videoconference, can see each other as well).
Unlike a board, however, a committee may also validly act without a meeting if what it decides is agreed to by every one of its members. [RONR (12th ed.) 9:30–36, 51:2.]
Only committee members have the right to be present during its actual deliberations. When the committee will be making substantive recommendations or decisions on an important matter, however, it should schedule a hearing at which any member of the organization can appear before it to present views on the subject.
While the chairman usually acts as secretary in small committees, in many committees another member is elected as secretary to prepare temporary memoranda for the committee’s use, somewhat like minutes of the committee meetings. These, however, are not approved or corrected at the next meeting or permanently retained, as are the minutes of an assembly.
During committee meetings, unlike meetings of the organization’s full membership, the chairman has the right to make and debate motions; indeed, he or she is usually the most active participant in the discussion and work of the committee. Motions to close or limit debate are not allowed. In other respects, committees use the informal procedure for boards of about a dozen or fewer members described in the previous chapter. This informal procedure is followed in a committee even if the committee’s membership exceeds a dozen, unless it is otherwise instructed by its parent assembly.
A committee can take it upon itself to appoint subcommittees of its own members, which report to it. Unless authorized by the assembly, however, it cannot adopt rules of its own. [RONR (12th ed.) 50:15, 50:21–28.]
E. STANDING AND SPECIAL COMMITTEES
As described in Chapter 6, there are two types of committees: standing committees, which have a continuing existence and function, normally responsibility for a particular subject matter (for example, the Membership Committee), and special (ad hoc, or select) committees, which are created for a particular purpose and go out of existence when that purpose is completed. Usually, members of standing committees are either elected at the same time as the officers or appointed by the president at the beginning of his or her term. Members of special committees are selected when the committees are created, as described in Chapter 6. [RONR (12th ed.) 50:7–13.]
New committees may not be established by the president unless the bylaws expressly grant this power. Although the president may, in his or her report, recommend that a special committee be constituted, only the assembly may create it. If the bylaws empower the president to “appoint all committees (except the Nominating Committee),” that gives him or her the authority to appoint the members of committees, but not to create new ones. [RONR (12th ed.) 50:13(d).]
A standing committee can originate recommendations and motions concerning subjects within its area of responsibility, without specific instructions from the assembly. If a special committee is created with instructions to deal with a specified subject (as distinct from a particular motion), it can originate recommendations and motions concerning that subject. In addition, either type of committee may have particular motions referred to it by the assembly for consideration, in which case the committee normally reports the referred motions back to the assembly with its recommendations.
F. COMMITTEE REPORTS
Whether a committee originates a motion or considers a motion referred to it by the assembly, the committee conveys its views to the assembly by means of a report. Often it is best for the formal committee report to be confined as much as possible to the committee’s recommendations, in the form of proposed resolutions or otherwise. The person who presents the report can then add brief oral explanations of supporting reasons. If a more detailed report is considered necessary, it can include:
1) a description of the way in which the committee undertook its charge;
2) the facts uncovered or information obtained;
3) the committee’s findings or conclusions; and
4) resolutions or recommendations. [RONR (12th ed.) 51:1–7.]
The committee chairman presents the report unless he or she declines, in which case the committee designates another of its members to do so.
When assigned the floor (normally at the time for committee reports in the order of business), the chairman or other reporting member either gives the report orally or, if it is written, reads it or gives it to the secretary to read. At the conclusion of the report, the chairman or other reporting member makes any necessary motion to implement the report’s recommendations, for example: “By direction of the committee, I move the adoption of the resolution just read.”1 Assuming the committee has at least two members, no second is required. [RONR (12th ed.) 51:10–13, 51:30–71.]
1. For the procedure when a committee recommends new amendments to a motion that has been referred to it, see RONR (12th ed.) 51:45–52.