Parliamentary Procedure Resources: Articles

Parliamentary Procedure Resources: Articles

In my book The Guerrilla Guide to Robert’s Rules, I point out that the symbol for the chair of a meeting is a gavel, which is a symbol of justice and fairness.  It is not a crown, which is a symbol of royalty!  The role of the chair is that of facilitator of the meeting, not dictator of the meeting.  Many times both the chair and the meeting attendees forget this.  The good news is that Robert’s did not! Robert’s is based on the democratic process and, as we all know, that means that the people ultimately decide!  Since time would not allow every decision to be made by the will of the people, the parliamentary procedure system gives the power to make rulings to the chair.  But, what if you disagree with a decision made by the chair?

In parliamentary procedure the process for disagreeing with the chair involves two motions, Point of Order, and Appeal from the Decision of the Chair.  It is the process of using one or both of these motions that keep the democratic process of decisions by the people alive and well.  It also keeps the chair humble!  Understanding the use of these two motions will assist you in appropriately handling a disagreement you might have with the ruling of the chair. 

In my last newsletter, I focused on the first of these two motions Point of Order.

In this newsletter, I will follow up with the second of these two motions:  Appeal from the Decision of the Chair.

Appeal from the Decision of the Chair, also referred to as Appeal, is a motion that takes a decision regarding parliamentary procedure out of the hands of the chair and places the final decision in the hands of the assembly, the members. It is one of my personal favorites of all of the motions because it is a great reminder that parliamentary procedure is all about the democratic process.

Just like Point of Order, Appeal from the Decision of the Chair is an Incidental Motion that may be offered at any time when it is needed. It can be either a secondary motion (offered while a main motion is pending) or a main motion (made when no other motion is pending). It also has some special rules:

• This motion needs a second
• It is debatable, unless: 1. It is made when an undebatable motion is pending, 2. It relates to indecorum or a transgression of the rules of speaking, 3. It relates to the priority of business. Even when it is not debatable, the chair can give the reasons for his/her decision when stating the motion.
• The debate rules are unique: No member is allowed to speak more than one time, except the chair. The chair may speak two times and does not have to leave the chair while speaking. The first time the chair speaks, he/she is entitled to be the first person to speak. The second time the chair speaks is at the close of the debate.
• This motion is not amendable
• The motion is worded differently. The wording used is “The question is: Shall the decision of the chair be sustained?”
• A majority or a tie vote sustains the decision of the chair on the principle that the chair's decision stands until reversed by a majority. If the presiding officer is a member of the assembly, he can vote to create a tie and thus sustain his decision.

Just like the motion Point of Order, the Appeal motion must meet the standard of timeliness. Robert’s requires that the appeal must be made at the time of the ruling made by the chair. The principle is that if the ruling of the chair is incorrect, it is incorrect when it is made and a member cannot wait until after some more debate has occurred to make the motion to Appeal.

An appeal can be applied to a ruling made by the chair, but only in situations where there can possibly be two reasonable opinions. Otherwise the appeal is considered dilatory and is not allowed. For example, if the bylaws require previous notice in order to make a motion to amend the bylaws, and no previous notice was given, and a member makes a motion to Amend the bylaws. The chair would rule that motion to Amend the bylaws out of order. If a member appealed that decision of the chair, that Appeal would not be in order because there is no other way to interpret the bylaws.

This motion is used any time a member disagrees with the ruling of the chair. Therefore it is most frequently used when an issue is not black or white, but gray. When there are two reasonable ways at looking at the same thing. It is used when the bylaws are vague on a particular issue or when there is more than one way to interpret a specific motion.

At the end of this article, you will find a script for the Appeal from the Decision of the Chair motion. Remember, this motion works best when the approach from both the person who is making the motion and the chair is not confrontational. In situations when both parties see it simply as a difference of opinion, Appeal is used most effectively. That means that the person making the motion realizes that the issue is one of perception and the chair perceives the issue differently than he/she does. In that situation, the motion to Appeal is a method of finding out if the rest of the assembly perceives the situation as the maker of the motion does or as the chair does. When the motion is approached in this manner, the chair should not see the Appeal motion as an altercation with the chair. Nor should the chair feel that he/she is not effective in serving as chair. It usually is a simple perception issue!