 | The examples and perspective in this article deal primarily with the United States and do not represent a worldwide view of the subject.(May 2019) |
In United States parliamentary procedure, a suspension of the rules allows a deliberative assembly to set aside its normal rules to do something that it could not do otherwise. However, there are rules that cannot be suspended.
| Class | Incidental motion |
|---|---|
| In order when another has the floor? | No |
| Requires second? | Yes |
| Debatable? | No |
| May be reconsidered? | No |
| Amendable? | No |
| Vote required | Usually two-thirds (depends on the rule being suspended) |
Rules are essential to the regularity of the proceedings. They protect the principles of parliamentary procedure—order, the right of individual members and of minorities to be heard, and the right of a majority to carry out its will. For these reasons, members have a right to insist on the observance of the rules. Yet, the assembly may dispense with certain rules. [1]
Special rules of order, rules contained in the parliamentary authority, the standing rules of the assembly, and rules of order contained in the bylaws or constitution may be suspended. [2] In addition, the bylaws may provide for a specific rule to be suspended. [3]
Depending on the type of rule being suspended, a motion to suspend the rules could be adopted with a two-thirds vote. [4] In many cases, suspension of the rules may take place with unanimous consent. [5] Typically, a member will make a request to consider particular business or take a special action not permitted by the rules. The chair will ask if there is any objection; if there is no objection, the rules are suspended. [5] [6]
Rules which embody fundamental principles of parliamentary law or require a ballot vote and rules protecting absentees or a basic right of the individual cannot be suspended, even by unanimous vote. [3] [7] Thus, the rules cannot be suspended to allow non-members to vote; to authorize absentee or cumulative voting; to waive the requirement of a quorum; or to waive the requirement for previous notice for a bylaws amendment. [3] Moreover, the rules cannot be suspended to take away a particular member's right to attend meetings, make motions, speak in debate, and vote; these can only be curtailed through disciplinary procedures. [8]
Three of the major parliamentary authorities: Robert's Rules of Order Newly Revised , The Standard Code of Parliamentary Procedure , and Demeter's Manual – all agree that provisions in the bylaws that do not relate to parliamentary procedure may not be suspended. [3] [7] Demeter notes how this plays into the reality of parliamentary situations: [9]
Bylaws cannot be suspended even by unanimous vote. But sometimes circumstances, expediency or strong assembly determination in behalf of a cause or proposition make violations necessary. In all such cases of violations, the action taken is illegal per se; but if no one objects at the time, or never challenges it at any time thereafter, a violation never challenged is never a violation.
Similarly, Mason states: [10]
It has been held that public bodies can adopt rules, even by majority vote, that cannot be suspended or amended without a two-thirds vote, but it is also held by the courts that actions, taken in violation of procedural rules of parliamentary law and of adopted rules, are valid nevertheless, since failure to conform to the rules of this class suspended them by implication.
The action is still illegal if it violates a mandatory constitutional provision, since a legislature cannot suspend the constitution. [11]
One application of the motion to suspend the rules is called the "Gordian knot" motion. [12] If confusion has caused the assembly to get so tangled up in a parliamentary snarl that neither the chairman nor the members can unravel it, a member can move to suspend the rules to start fresh. The use of the "Gordian knot" motion is illustrated in The Standard Code with this example: "Madam President, in view of the confusion about the parliamentary situation, I believe it would be best if we were to cancel out everything that has been done on this motion and start over from the beginning, permitting the motion to be resubmitted in whatever form the maker wishes. I move that the rules be suspended to permit this." [12] The "Gordian knot" version of suspension of the rules was introduced by Floyd Riddick, Parliamentarian Emeritus of the United States Senate, at a meeting of the Board of Directors of the American Institute of Parliamentarians. [13]
Robert's Rules of Order Newly Revised does not have such a motion. However, the same effect could be done by having the maker of a main motion request to withdraw it. If the assembly approves this request, all adhering motions to the main motion cease to be before the assembly as well. [14]
In the House of Representatives of the US Congress, motions to suspend the rules are in order on Mondays, Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and during the last six days of a session. [15] The Committee on Rules normally releases a list of bills and resolutions to be suspended for the week as were requested by the various committee chairmen. The motion is made on the House floor, which is debatable for 20 minutes each by the proponent and an opponent of the measure. Two-thirds of the Members present and voting must vote in the affirmative for the rules to be suspended and pass, adopt, or agree to the measure. Most measures that are passed in this manner are noncontroversial and are often bipartisan.
In the United States Senate, the motion to suspend the rules is allowed only with notice or by unanimous consent. [16]
Robert's Rules of Order, often simply referred to as Robert's Rules, is a manual of parliamentary procedure by U.S. Army officer Henry Martyn Robert. "The object of Rules of Order is to assist an assembly to accomplish the work for which it was designed ... Where there is no law ... there is the least of real liberty." The term "Robert's Rules of Order" is also used more generically to refer to any of the more recent editions, by various editors and authors, based on any of Robert's original editions, and the term is used more generically in the United States to refer to parliamentary procedure.
Parliamentary procedure is the accepted rules, ethics, and customs governing meetings of an assembly or organization. Its object is to allow orderly deliberation upon questions of interest to the organization and thus to arrive at the sense or the will of the majority of the assembly upon these questions. Self-governing organizations follow parliamentary procedure to debate and reach group decisions, usually by vote, with the least possible friction.
In parliamentary procedure, a point of order occurs when someone draws attention to a rules violation in a meeting of a deliberative assembly.
A censure is an expression of strong disapproval or harsh criticism. In parliamentary procedure, it is a debatable main motion that could be adopted by a majority vote. Among the forms that it can take are a stern rebuke by a legislature, a spiritual penalty imposed by a church, or a negative judgment pronounced on a theological proposition. It is usually non-binding, unlike a motion of no confidence.
In deliberative bodies a second to a proposed motion is an indication that there is at least one person besides the mover that is interested in seeing the motion come before the meeting. It does not necessarily indicate that the seconder favors the motion.
A repeal is the removal or reversal of a law. There are two basic types of repeal; a repeal with a re-enactment is used to replace the law with an updated, amended, or otherwise related law, or a repeal without replacement so as to abolish its provisions altogether.
In parliamentary procedure, unanimous consent, also known as general consent, or in the case of the parliaments under the Westminster system, leave of the house, is a situation in which no member present objects to a proposal.
A parliamentary authority is a book of rules for conducting business in deliberative assemblies. Several different books have been used by legislative assemblies and by organizations' deliberative bodies.
Deliberative assemblies – bodies that use parliamentary procedure to arrive at decisions – use several methods of voting on motions. The regular methods of voting in such bodies are a voice vote, a rising vote, and a show of hands. Additional forms of voting include a recorded vote and balloting.
In parliamentary procedure, reconsideration of a motion may be done on a matter previously decided. The motion to "reconsider" is used for this purpose. This motion originated in the United States and is generally not used in parliaments. A special form of this motion is reconsider and enter on the minutes.
In parliamentary procedure, a motion to appeal from the decision of the chair is used to challenge a ruling of the chair.
In parliamentary procedure, a motion is a formal proposal by a member of a deliberative assembly that the assembly take certain action. Such motions, and the form they take are specified by the deliberate assembly and/or a pre-agreed volume detailing parliamentary procedure, such as Robert's Rules of Order, Newly Revised; The Standard Code of Parliamentary Procedure; or Lord Critine's The ABC of Chairmanship. Motions are used in conducting business in almost all legislative bodies worldwide, and are used in meetings of many church vestries, corporate boards, and fraternal organizations.
In parliamentary procedure in the United States, a motion to postpone to a certain time is used to delay action on a pending question until a different day, meeting, hour or until after a certain event. Then, when that time comes, the consideration of the question is picked up where it was left off when it was postponed.
Debate in parliamentary procedure refers to discussion on the merits of a pending question; that is, whether it should or should not be agreed to. It is also commonly referred to as "discussion".
In a deliberative assembly, disciplinary procedures are used to punish members for violating the rules of the assembly.
In disciplinary procedures, the motion to declare the chair vacant is used as a remedy to misconduct or dereliction of duty by the chairperson of a deliberative assembly, when the rules allow it. It is usually combined with a motion to elect a new chair.
In parliamentary procedure, requests and inquiries are motions used by members of a deliberative assembly to obtain information or to do or have something done that requires permission of the assembly. Except for a request to be excused from a duty, these requests and inquiries are not debatable nor amendable.
Parliamentary procedure is the body of rules, ethics, and customs governing meetings and other operations of clubs, organizations, legislative bodies, and other deliberative assemblies. General principles of parliamentary procedure include rule of the majority with respect for the minority.
In parliamentary procedure, the verb to table has the opposite meaning in the United States from that of the rest of the world:
