BMNA STANDING ORDERS AND RULES OF DEBATE
Standing orders are the permanent rules for the regulation of the business and
proceedings at Association meetings and describe the methods for conducting a
meeting. Standing orders protect both the chairperson (chair) and the members, both
the majority and minority and are binding on the members until repealed. Members must
know the rules as well as the chair.
These standing orders shall be applicable to all general meetings and committee
meetings and as far as appropriate, to meetings of sub-committees, and shall be
construed subject to the constitution.
Quorum
1. Meetings shall, subject to the presence of a quorum, start at the time
set out on the notice, and shall, subject to the discretion of the meeting
continue until all business on the agenda is disposed of. A finishing
time for a meeting may be set at the commencement of that meeting.
2. The quorum for Council meetings of the association shall be twothirds (2/3) of the Executive Committee and the number of delegates
representing at least two-thirds (2/3) of the affiliated clubs. The
quorum for the Executive Committee and Sub-committees shall be twothirds (2/3) of the Executive or Sub-committee.
3. If no quorum is present within 30 minutes of the starting time set out
on the notice, the meeting shall lapse, and, subject to any resolution
previously passed, the chair shall fix the time of the next meeting. All
business on the agenda of the lapsed meeting shall be included on the
agenda of the next meeting and shall take precedence over new
business.
4. The order of business shall follow the agenda prepared by the chair
or convener and secretary. Members shall introduce new business
only after completion of the business set out on the agenda. The first
item on the agenda shall be the confirmation of the minutes as a
correct record.
5. Should any matter of urgency arise, a member may move
suspension of standing orders for a stated period of time to allow the
urgent question to be discussed.
6. When the chair rises to address the meeting all others must remain
seated. Any person wishing to speak must arise and address the
chair.
7. No interruption of a speaker is allowed except for two formal motions
(35 and 36) and on a point of order, which must be taken immediately
the alleged breach has occurred. Any member may raise a point of
order, which shall take precedence over all other business, and which
shall be open to discussion. An explanation or contradiction shall not
constitute a point of order.
8. If two or more speakers rise, the chair shall call on the first one
observed, subject to the power of the meeting to pass a resolution that
a particular person be heard and subject also to the chair’s decision to
choose speakers alternately supporting and opposing the motion.
Order of
business
Suspension
of standing
orders
Conduct of
speakers
1
st
As adopted 21 October 2009
Conduct of
speakers
(cont.)
Chairperson’s
ruling
Motions and
amendments
Withdrawal
Personal
explanation
Only one
amendment
Not direct
negation
Order of
amendments
9. All remarks shall be addressed to the chair, and any questions to
another member shall be put through the chair.
10. The chair’s ruling on all points of order and procedure shall be final,
unless a motion is moved, seconded, and carried “that the chair’s ruling
be disagreed with”. The mover may speak briefly in support of the
motion, and the chair can explain why a ruling was given. The chair
takes the vote.
11. All proposals made to the meeting shall be in the form of motions.
12. If required to do so by the Chair, proposer of any motion or
amendment shall submit it in writing.
13. All proposed motions and amendments should be clearly
expressed and be capable of only one interpretation.
14. Every speaker must keep to the question before the meeting. Any
member who digresses from the subject may be called to order by the
chair.
15. All motions and amendments, except the closure, must be moved
and seconded. If no seconder is found, the motion or amendment
lapses and shall not be recorded in the minutes.
16. A motion or amendment may be seconded pro forma, to allow
discussion to take place, but the seconder need not support or vote for
the proposal
17. The seconder of a motion or amendment may wait to speak until a
later stage of the debate.
18 No motion or amendment that has been moved and seconded shall
be withdrawn without the unanimous consent of the meeting.
19. No person may speak twice to the same question except in
explanation, unless that person is the mover of the original motion
exercising the right of reply.
20. By permission of the chair, a member may speak briefly in personal
explanation of a previous statement, but must keep strictly to the point
which has been understood. Any explanation must not interrupt
another speaker.
21. When an amendment is moved to an original motion, no further
amendment shall be discussed until the first amendment is disposed
of, but further amendments may be foreshadowed without discussion.
Amendments are voted upon before the motion.
22. An amendment must be relevant to the question, and so framed
that it forms, with the part of the original motion unaffected by it, a
sensible and consistent proposal. Try not to make it a direct negation
of the original motion.
23. If a motion is capable of amendment in different ways, the chair
should ask for all amendments to be handed up in writing. The chair
will then decide the order in which they shall be moved, which will
depend on where they will stand in the substantive motion if they are
agreed to. No amendment can be accepted to the first part of a motion
after the second or subsequent parts have been amended.
2
st
As adopted 21 October 2009
Speaking to
amendments
Right of reply
Amendment
negative
Substantive
motion
Amendments
to motions on
notice
Rescinding
resolutions
Resolution
null and void
Next
business
Closure
Speaker no
longer heard
24. No person may move or second more than one amendment to an
original motion, but the mover and seconder of a motion or amendment
may speak to subsequent amendments.
25. An amendment may not be moved or seconded by any person who
has already spoken to the original motion or to a previous amendment.
26. The mover of a motion that is opposed may reply to the arguments
raised before the motion is put, but may not introduce any new matter.
The reply ends the debate, if there are no amendments. If an
amendment is moved, the mover of the original motion exercises a
right of reply before the first amendment is put. The reply need not end
the debate on the substantive motion. The mover of the amendment
has no right of reply.
27. If the first amendment is negatived, the original motion again
becomes open to amendment.
28. If the first amendment is carried, the motion as amended becomes
the substantive motion and is again open to amendment. When the
substantive motion is put to the meeting and carried, it becomes the
resolution.
29. No member may speak on any motion after it has been put to the
vote. No amendment may be moved after the substantive motion has
been put to the vote.
30. Amendments may be moved to motions on notice provided they
are within the scope of the notice and can involve the association in no
greater obligations than the notice specifies.
31. No motion can be accepted by the chair which is the same in effect
as one already negative, except on notice of motion.
32. Resolutions may not be rescinded until six months have elapsed
except on notice of motion, forwarded to every member.
33. If a resolution is passed inadvertently in contravention to the
constitution or policies, it may be declared null and void by a majority
vote of the meeting.
34. A motion “that the meeting proceed to the next business” may be
moved either on a motion or an amendment. It requires a seconder
and cannot be discussed. Its effect is to dispose of the question under
discussion.
35. A motion “that the question be now put”, known as the “closure”,
may be moved during the discussion either of a motion or an
amendment. It can interrupt a speaker and may not be debated. It
needs no seconder. If moved on an amendment it affects the
amendment only. It does not prevent the mover of the original motion
exercising a right of reply. (See 37.)
36. A motion “that the speaker be no longer heard” must be seconded
and must not be debated. The chair should try to obtain a fair hearing
for the speaker if the speaker is in order.
3
st
As adopted 21 October 2009
Formal
Motions
37. The three (3) motions above, nos. 34, 35 and 36
, are known as formal motions, because they cannot be debated or
amended. They can only be moved by someone who has not
previously spoken at any time during the debate.
38. Any member who has not already spoken may move the
adjournment of the debate, the adjournment of the meeting, or “that the
chair leave the chair”. The two adjournment motions may be amended,
but only as to time and place. These motions may not be moved a
second time until a reasonable period has elapsed.
39. Each eligible member shall have one (1) vote to be taken in such a
manner as the Chair shall direct, except that a secret ballot shall be
taken if any member requests it.
40. The chair shall have both a deliberative and a casting vote but is
not bound to exercise them. Where voting is equal, the chair may
declare the motion “not carried”. This will not debar the motion from
being debated again at the next meeting.
41. A motion that the meeting resolve itself into committee may be duly
moved, seconded and carried, so that there shall be no restriction on
the number of times a member may speak to the question.
Adjournment
motions
Voting
Casting vote
Resolve into
committee
COMMITTEES
1. The quorum for all committees is laid down in the constitution.
2. The president and secretary are not counted in the quorum if they are exofficio members of a subcommittee, nor do they vote, but the President (or
chairperson) will certainly vote if appointed to convene a subcommittee.
3. Should the president and secretary be elected to a subcommittee as
ordinary members, they will have a vote, but in such a case the
subcommittee would choose its own chairperson.
4. Committees follow the same rules of debate as ordinary meetings except
for four points:
a) Informal discussion is allowed.
b) Motions need not be seconded.
c) Members may speak more than once.
d) Members may remain seated when speaking.
5. The final decision of the meeting on any matter should be put in the form
of a motion and recorded in the minutes. It is essential to keep minutes of
every type of committee.
4
st
As adopted 21 October 2009