38:1 If a motion is made and disposed of without being adopted, and is later allowed to come before the assembly after being made again by any member in essentially the same connection, the motion is said to be renewed. Renewal of motions is limited by the basic principle that an assembly cannot be asked to decide the same, or substantially the same, question twice during one session—except through a motion to reconsider a vote (37) or a motion to rescind an action (35), or in connection with amending something already adopted (see also 6:25). A previously considered motion may become a substantially different question through a significant change in the wording or because of a difference in the time or circumstances in which it is proposed, and such a motion may thus be in order when it could not otherwise be renewed.
38:2 The rules restricting renewal of motions do not apply to any motion that was last disposed of by being withdrawn. A motion that is withdrawn becomes as if it had never been made and can be renewed whenever it would be originally in order. The rules restricting renewal of motions also do not apply to any motion that dies for lack of a second. Although such a motion is not treated as if it had never been made, it too is a motion which the assembly was not called upon to decide, and thus it too may be renewed whenever it would originally be in order to make it.
38:3 Two general principles govern the renewal of motions:
1) No motion can be renewed during the same session in which it has already been before the assembly, except where its renewal is permitted by a specific rule; and such a rule always implies circumstances under which the motion has in some respect become a different question. (For a discussion of the rules growing out of this principle, see Nonrenewability During the Same Session, and Exceptions, below.) Whenever it is stated without qualification that a particular parliamentary motion “cannot be renewed,” such a statement means that the motion cannot be renewed during the same session, or, in the case of a subsidiary or incidental motion, not during that session in connection with the same motion to which it directly adhered.
2) Any motion that is still applicable can be renewed at any later session, except where a specific rule prevents its renewal; and such an impediment to renewal at a later session normally can exist only when the first motion goes over to that session as not finally disposed of, in which case the question can then be reached through the first motion (see 9:7–11, 38:8–9).
38:4 The following rules are derived from the first principle stated above, by which a motion is not renewable at the same session unless the question has become somehow different.
38:5 Particular Cases of the General Rule Against Renewal. Applications of the general rule against renewal during the same session include the following:
1) A main motion, or a motion for the same amendment to a given motion, cannot be renewed at the same session unless there is a change in wording or circumstances sufficient to present substantially a new question, in which case this becomes technically a different motion. If a series of resolutions voted on together is lost, however, one or more of them can be offered again at the same session, but enough resolutions must be left out to present a genuinely different question from the viewpoint of probable voting result; otherwise this procedure becomes dilatory.
2) A motion to Postpone Indefinitely cannot be renewed in connection with the same main question during the same session, even if the main motion has been materially amended since the previous vote against indefinite postponement. There will be another opportunity to accomplish the same object—that is, to defeat the main motion—when it comes up for a final vote.
3) A motion to Reconsider that has been rejected cannot be renewed in connection with the same vote. To be able to be reconsidered a second time, the original question must have been materially amended during the first reconsideration—in which case the proposal to reconsider a second time is a new question.
4) A motion to Rescind that has been voted down cannot be renewed at the same session unless the motion proposed to be rescinded has meanwhile been amended sufficiently to present a new question.
5) A motion to divide the same question in substantially the same way cannot be renewed at the same session.
6) When a Question of Privilege or a Point of Order has been ruled on adversely by the chair, it cannot be raised again at the same session unless an appeal is made and the chair’s decision is reversed. After a decision of the chair has been sustained on an appeal, no point of order or appeal contrary to it can be made during that session.
38:6 Motions That Can Be Renewed at a Later Meeting of the Same Session. Following are two cases of motions which cannot be renewed at the same meeting, but which may have become different questions—and consequently are renewable—at another meeting of the same session (see 8):
1) Although the motion to Suspend the Rules for the same purpose cannot be renewed at the same meeting, such a motion can be renewed at the next meeting or any later meeting, even if the next meeting is held on the same day or is part of the same session. This renewal is allowable because by the time of the next meeting the attendance or situation may already have changed sufficiently to justify the renewal. The mere passage of time may make it a new question.
2) The same motion to Fix the Time to Which to Adjourn—that is, a motion to set the same date, hour, and place for an adjourned meeting—cannot be renewed at the same meeting at which it is voted down; but if, after the first motion is rejected, the assembly decides to set an adjourned meeting for an earlier time than proposed in the first motion, then at that adjourned meeting it is in order to move to set a second adjourned meeting for the same time as originally considered for the first.
38:7 Motions That Can Be Renewed After Material Progress in Business or Debate. The following motions are renewable if they become new questions as described, even within the same meeting:
1) The subsidiary motions to Commit, to Postpone to a Certain Time, to Limit or Extend Limits of Debate, for the Previous Question, and to Lay on the Table can be renewed whenever progress in business or debate has been such that they are no longer practically the same questions. In addition, a motion to Lay on the Table can be renewed if something urgent has arisen that was not known when the assembly rejected this motion.
2) A motion to Take from the Table that has failed can be renewed after disposal of the business that was taken up following rejection of the motion.
3) A Call for the Orders of the Day can be renewed after disposal of the business that was taken up when the assembly refused to proceed to the orders of the day.
4) A motion to Adjourn or to Recess can be renewed after material progress in business or in debate—such as an important decision or speech. A vote on a motion to Recess or to Lay on the Table is not business of a character to justify renewal of a motion to Adjourn; and a vote on any of these three motions is not sufficient business to allow renewal of either of the others.
5) Motions to close nominations or the polls can be renewed after progress in nominations or voting has been such as to make them essentially new questions.
38:8 Main Motions That Go Over to Another Session; Motions Within the Control of the Assembly, Because Not Finally Disposed Of. Referring to the second general principle stated in 38:3, a main motion that was introduced but not adopted during one session can, except as noted in this paragraph, be renewed at any later session unless it has become absurd. Such exceptions occur only through one of the processes by which, from one session to another, a main motion can remain within the control of the assembly (that is, temporarily, but not finally, disposed of), so that the same motion can be considered at the later session. Four of these processes (numbered 1 through 4 below) can arise only in cases of organizations where no more than a quarterly time interval (see 9:7) will elapse until the next regular session. In such societies, a main motion cannot be renewed during the next session after a session at which it was:
1) postponed to, or otherwise set as a general or special order for, the next session (14, 41);
2) allowed to go over to the next session as unfinished business or as an unfinished special order (see 21:7(b), 41:18(a), 41:21–24);
3) laid on the table and not taken from the table (17, 34); or
4) the subject of a motion to Reconsider (37) that was made but not finally disposed of.
Also, in any assembly:
5) a main motion that has been referred to a committee cannot be renewed until after the session at which the assembly finally disposes of the main motion—after the committee has reported it back or has been discharged from its consideration (36).
38:9 Nonrenewability of Unsustained Objection to the Consideration of a Question. An unsustained Objection to the Consideration of a Question (26) cannot be renewed in connection with the same main motion—even at a later session if the main motion goes over to that session through one of the processes stated immediately above. By deciding to consider the question, the assembly has already begun its involvement, and it is too late to make an objection. But if an original main motion is finally disposed of at one session without being adopted and is renewed at a later session, it is then a new motion and its consideration can be objected to, subject to the usual rules.
39:1 A motion is dilatory if it seeks to obstruct or thwart the will of the assembly as clearly indicated by the existing parliamentary situation.
39:2 Parliamentary forms are designed to assist in the transaction of business. Even without adopting a rule on the subject, every deliberative assembly has the right to protect itself from the dilatory use of these forms.
39:3 Any main or other motion that is frivolous or absurd or that contains no rational proposition is dilatory and cannot be introduced. As further examples, it is dilatory to obstruct business by appealing from a ruling of the chair on a question about which there cannot possibly be two reasonable opinions, by demanding a division (29) on a vote even when there has been a full vote and the result is clear, by moving to lay on the table the matter for which a special meeting has been called, by constantly raising points of order and appealing from the chair’s decision on them, or by moving to adjourn again and again when nothing has happened to justify renewal of such a motion. By use of such tactics, a minority of two or three members could bring business to a standstill.
39:4 It is the duty of the presiding officer to prevent members from misusing the legitimate forms of motions, or abusing the privilege of renewing certain motions, merely to obstruct business. Whenever the chair becomes convinced that one or more members are repeatedly using parliamentary forms for dilatory purposes, he should either not recognize these members or he should rule that such motions are not in order—but he should never adopt such a course merely to speed up business, and he should never permit his personal feelings to affect his judgment in such cases. If the chair only suspects that a motion is not made in good faith, he should give the maker of the motion the benefit of the doubt. The chair should always be courteous and fair, but at the same time he should be firm in protecting the assembly from imposition.
39:5 Motions that conflict with the corporate charter, constitution, or bylaws of a society, or with procedural rules prescribed by national, state, or local laws, are not in order,1 and if any motion of this kind is adopted, it is null and void. Likewise, apart from motions to Rescind or to Amend Something Previously Adopted (35), motions are not in order if they conflict with one or more motions previously adopted at any time and still in force. Such conflicting motions, if adopted, are null and void unless adopted by the vote required to rescind or amend the motion previously adopted.
39:6 Motions are also improper when they present practically the same question as a motion previously decided at the same session. In addition, motions are improper that conflict with, or present practically the same question as, one still within the control of the society because not finally disposed of (see 9:7–11, 38:8). If a conflicting motion were allowed in such cases, it would interfere with the freedom of the assembly in acting on the earlier motion when its consideration is resumed.
39:7 No motion can be introduced that is outside the object of the society as defined in the corporate charter, constitution, or bylaws (see 56:18), unless by a two-thirds vote the assembly agrees to its consideration (see 10:26(2)). Except as may be necessary in the case of a motion of censure or a motion related to disciplinary procedures (61, 63), a motion must not use language that reflects on a member’s conduct or character, or is discourteous, unnecessarily harsh, or not allowed in debate (see 43).
1. However, see 10:26(1) and the footnote there for exceptions.