HomeMy WebLinkAbout102522 re_ Motion procedure in OPMA policy________________________________
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For your reference, here is the formal description of what it means to “lay a motion on the table”.
§17. LAY ON THE TABLE (To interrupt the pending business so as to permit doing something else immediately)
17:1 The motion to Lay on the Table enables the assembly to lay the pending question aside temporarily when something else of immediate urgency has arisen or when something else
needs to be addressed before consideration of the pending question is resumed, in such a way that:
• there is no set time for taking the matter up again;
• but (until the expiration of time limits explained in 17:8) its consideration can be resumed at the will of a majority and in preference to any new questions that may then be competing
with it for consideration.
This motion is commonly misused in ordinary assemblies—in place of a motion to Postpone Indefinitely (11), a motion to Postpone to a Certain Time (14), or other motions. Particularly
in such misuses, it also is known as a motion “to table.”
17:2 By adopting the motion to Lay on the Table, a majority has the power to halt consideration of a question immediately without debate. Such action violates the rights of the
minority and individual members if it is for any other purpose than the one stated in the first sentence of this section. In ordinary assemblies, the motion to Lay on the Table is not
in order if the evident intent is to kill or avoid dealing with a measure. If a time for resuming consideration is specified in making the motion, it can be admitted only as a motion
to Postpone (14), in which case it is debatable (see also 17:13–19).
For more detail, refer to: Robert, Henry M. Robert's Rules of Order Newly Revised, 12th edition (p. 221).
Thank you,
Tom Thiersch
Jefferson County, WA