Reconsider and enter on the minutes

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The motion to reconsider and enter on the minutes is a special form of the motion to reconsider that automatically halts a passed motion from taking effect until it is called up at another meeting, which cannot be held on the same day.^[1] Its purpose is to delay a temporary majority from taking action on a measure until there is time to notify absent members.^[2]

[edit] Explanation

Demeter's Manual notes:^[3]

“

Whenever a mischievous, arrogant or unscrupulous temporary majority passes undesirable business at a meeting, and the minority does not command enough votes to swing reconsideration and reverse it, if one of the minority who alertly voted with the prevailing side moves to reconsider and enter the objectionable act and it is seconded, this motion then has the effect of automatically restraining execution of the objectionable business until the proposed reconsideration has been acted on at the next meeting, since an adopted question is not considered as having been finally passed if a motion to reconsider it is pending.

”

[edit] When needed and allowed

According to the 1915 version of Robert's Rules of Order Revised^[4], "This is needed in large societies with frequent meetings and small quorums, the attendance in many cases not exceeding ten per cent of the membership...In Congress, where the quorum is a majority of the members elected, and the members are paid for their services, there is no need for this form of the motion." In regular organizations, however, it obviates the need for previous notice to be given of every motion that is to be introduced, by providing a safety valve.^[5] Cagle writes, "It is a legal motion, but not used much because so few people do know about it and because when someone does use it at a meeting, everybody gets extremely angry at them."^[6] The motion to reconsider and enter on the minutes takes precedence over the regular motion to reconsider.

As the motion can also be abused by an actual minority, some organizations have bylaw provisions or convention standing rules stating that the motion to reconsider and enter on the minutes is not in order at any time.^{[citation needed]} Also to help curb abuses, RONR provides that it cannot be applied to motions whose object would be defeated by a delay of one day (such as inviting a speaker to address the assembly the following morning). It also cannot be moved at the last business meeting of the session if more than a quarterly time interval will elapse before the next regular business session. For the 2000 edition of Robert's Rules of Order, another change was made so that when Reconsider and Enter on the Minutes is moved on the last day, but not the last meeting, of a session not scheduled to meet within a quarterly time interval, it may be called up at the last meeting of the session.^[7]

In contrast to Demeter's Manual and RONR, The Standard Code of Parliamentary Procedure (TSC) simply says, "When this motion is made, it should be ruled out of order." TSC calls it the "monkey-wrench motion," opining that it throws a monkey-wrench into the smoothly operating machinery of majority rule, and states that the motion should only be permitted if the bylaws or standing rules of the organization allow for it. While RONR states that abuses of the motion by an actual minority can be curtailed by a motion by the majority to call a special meeting to take up the matter, TSC notes, "It is doubtful, however, that many modern organizations would approve of calling a special meeting for the sole purpose of dealing with a parliamentary maneuver."^[8]

[edit] Strategy

Demeter's Manual notes, "If the motion to reconsider and enter a question is not called up before adjournment of the next meeting, the objectionable act then goes into effect upon adjournment. To reconsider and enter is out of order when its purpose is obviously dilatory." It is allowed to withdraw the motion to reconsider and enter before the end of the meeting in which it is made. However, this opens up the potential for more strategic use of parliamentary procedure, to wit:^[9]

“

It is conceivable that a conniving majority may deliberately give such previous notice ahead of interested majority members, and then purposefully withdraw it later at the meeting when minority members, who had qualified to give notice of reconsideration of a question, have left the meeting, in which case there would be no reconsideration to act on at the next meeting. To outwit or thwart such stratagem, either (1) stay through the meeting, so you can give the same notice if it has been withdrawn, or (2) give the previous notice ahead of them, which only you can withdraw, or (3) give the same previous notice after they give theirs...

”

[edit] Making the motion

While the motion is technically undebatable, a member can slip in a few explanatory remarks. E.g., after the chair asks, "Did you vote on the prevailing side on this question?" the member might reply, "Yes. I sensed that this unnecessary and costly proposition would pass, and so I intentionally voted with the prevailing side in order to qualify to move to reconsider and enter."^[10]

[edit] References