Notes and Comments on Robert's Rules, Fourth Edition

Adjourn

67 Adjourn What are the different forms of the motion to Adjourn? The motion to Adjourn can be made in either the unqualified or qualified form. “When there is provision for another meeting and no time for adjourning is already set,” the unqualified motion to Adjourn, “I move we adjourn,” is always a privileged motion and thus undebatable , regardless of whether business is pending (233).52 In meetings of ordinary societies, seldom will a member use any form other than the unqualified (and privileged) motion “I move we adjourn,” and beginners need read no further. The exceptions to the rule that the motion to Adjourn is a privileged motion and undebatable––when instead it is a main motion and debatable, are: 1. when the motion is qualified in any way, such as to adjourn at or to a future time; 2. when a time for adjourning is already established; 3. or when the effect of the motion to Adjourn, if adopted, would be to dissolve the assembly—adjourn sine die—with no provision for another meeting (such as the last day of a convention). (234) Is the motion to Adjourn in order while a vote is being taken? No, but there is an exception. The motion to Adjourn “is not in order while the assembly is engaged in voting or verifying a vote, or before the result of a vote has been announced by the chair, except that, in the case of a vote taken by ballot, a motion to Adjourn is in order after the ballots have been collected . . . and before the result has been announced ” (235). This exception is music to the ears of delegates who wish to leave for home following a long convention. May the chair just announce that the meeting is adjourned? The answer is a qualified yes. In a convention with a scheduled adjournment time in an adopted agenda, no motion to Adjourn 68 Notes and Comments on Robert’s Rules is necessary (240–41). Similarly, in a local society with regular meetings , when the order of business has been completed and there is no further business, the chair may state, “Since there is no further business, the meeting is adjourned” (241, 86). What parliamentary steps are in order while a motion to Adjourn is pending? 1. to notify the assembly of business requiring attention; 2. to make important announcements; 3. to make a motion to Reconsider; 4. to make a motion to Reconsider and Enter on the Minutes; 5. to give notice of a motion requiring previous notice; 6. to move to Fix the Time to Which to Adjourn (238–39). May the chair call an adjourned meeting back to order? Yes. Robert’s provides that if immediately following adjournment, the chair learns that a member was seeking the floor to take certain parliamentary steps, the chair must call the meeting back to order (240). ...