Simplified Rules of Order

Sample Order of Business

Committee Reports

Before the meeting, the chairperson should check with committee chairs to determine which committees or task forces have reports ready for the meeting and the importance of the material to be presented. All reports must be listed on the agenda.

In establishing the order in which committees should be heard, the chairperson should give priority to those with the most important reports. If none of the reports is of particular importance, any committee report that is pending from the previous meeting should be heard first. Usually, standing committees are given precedence over task forces (a standing committee is one that functions over an extended period of time; a task force or ad hoc committee is set up to deal with a special problem and is discharged when its task is completed).

Committee reports should be in written form, so that a copy can be placed in the association's files.

There is no need for a motion to receive a committee or task force report. The adoption of the agenda has guaranteed that the report will be heard.

If the report has been duplicated, the committee or task force chairperson should not read the report. He/she may want to make a few comments, however, before answering questions from the meeting.

After all questions have been answered, the committee or task force chairperson will move any recommendations on behalf of the committee or task force. Robert's rules indicate that a seconder is unnecessary for such motions, because the motion is being made on behalf of a committee.

Amendments to the recommendations may be proposed by any member at the meeting. After all the recommendations have been dealt with, motions may be received from the floor dealing with the substance of the report or the work of the committee or task force concerned.

Note: A committee or task force report need not be adopted. On rare occasions, says Robert's Rules of Order, a meeting may have occasion to adopt the entire report. An affirmative vote on such a motion has the effect of the meeting's endorsing every word of the report--including the indicated facts and the reasoning--as its own. The treasurer's audited annual report should be adopted.

Occasionally it becomes evident that the report of a committee, or one of the recommendations, is not acceptable to a large proportion of the membership present at the meeting. The committee can be directed to review its work in the light of the discussion heard.