Notes and Comments on Robert's Rules, Fourth Edition

Lay on the Table

59 Lay on the Table What is the purpose of the motion to Lay on the Table? Lay on the Table permits an assembly to temporarily lay the pending question aside when “something else of immediate urgency has arisen” or “something else needs to be addressed before consideration of the pending question is resumed.” (209). Robert’s terminology, which is archaic, grew out of the legislative custom of laying a bill on the clerk’s table to await further consideration. A more accurate form would be, as The Standard Code, 4th edition suggests, to postpone temporarily.45 When a main motion is laid on the table, do any pending motions accompany the main motion? Yes, all pending motions accompany the main motion to the table. How long may the main motion remain on the table before expiring? In organizations meeting at least quarterly, the motion remains on the table until the end of the following meeting. If an organization meets less often than quarterly, the motion remains on the table until the end of the same meeting (90–91, 214). (See “Postpone to a Certain Time (or Definitely),” pages 45–46.) Why can’t motions be tabled beyond the end of the following meeting? To table a motion for an extended period would only complicate matters . Once a motion is laid on the table, “no other motion on the same subject is in order that would either conflict with, or present substantially the same question as, the motion that is lying on the table” (214). To lay a motion on the table beyond the next meeting would, in effect, postpone the subject indefinitely. May a group of business items be laid on the table? No (211). The same answer applies to the motion to Postpone to a Certain Time (184–85). 60 Notes and Comments on Robert’s Rules May a motion to Lay on the Table be made after debate has been closed? Yes. Lay on the Table, as the highest ranking subsidiary motion, can be moved “up until the moment of taking the last vote” following adoption of the Previous Question (212). How is the motion to Lay on the Table misused? Because the motion to Lay on the Table is not debatable, requires only a majority vote, and has high precedence, members are too often tempted to use it to kill the main motion. This is an improper use of the motion to Lay on the Table and an example of railroading (210, 215–16). If a member opposes a main motion, he should speak and vote against it. To suppress action on a main motion, a member should move to Postpone Indefinitely (which is debatable). Another misuse of the motion to Lay on the Table occurs when members confuse it with the motion to Postpone to a Certain Time. Often, a member who wishes to postpone a main motion until later in the same meeting or to the following meeting uses the motion to Lay on the Table rather than the proper motion, the motion to Postpone. There is no such thing as the motion “to lay on the table until . . .” (209, 217). (See “Postpone to a Certain Time (or Definitely),” pages 45–47.) The motion to Lay on the Table is one of the parliamentary motions that is used too often, and hardly ever—in fact, never—properly. Its purpose gives it a unique power, but that power provides the temptation for misuse. How can the chair prevent the misuse of the motion to Lay on the Table? It is a hopeless task. Parliamentarians, when teaching or presenting workshops on parliamentary procedure, inevitably include a sermon against the misuse of Lay on the Table. Indeed, we sound more like priests than parliamentarians. The priest would be more successful. In a meeting, for a bored majority, the temptation is too great not to use the motion to Lay on the Table as a motion to kill. Robert’s warns of the misuses of the motion: This motion is commonly misused in ordinary assemblies—in place of the motion to Postpone Indefinitely, to Postpone to a Certain Time, or other motions. . . . 61 Lay on the Table In ordinary assemblies, the motion to Lay on the Table is out of order if the evident intent is to kill or avoid dealing with a measure. (210) Then Robert’s repeats the warning: misuses of the motion . . . the...