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Promoting the study and teaching of Robert's Rules of Order Newly Revised
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Lay on the Table
Rod G Davidson, Professional Registered Parliamentarian
www.parlipro.org
The motion to Lay on
the Table is undebatable and cannot have any subsidiary
motion applied to it. It may be applied to any main
motion; to any question of privilege or order of the day, after
it is before the assembly for consideration; to an appeal that
does not adhere to the main question. No motion that has another
motion adhering to it can be laid on the table by itself; if
laid on the table it carries with it everything that adheres to
it.
When a motion is taken from the table
everything is in the same condition, as far as practicable, as
when the motion was laid on the table, except that if not taken
up until the next session the effect of the previous question is
exhausted. If debate has been closed by ordering the previous
question, or otherwise, up to the moment of taking the last vote
under the order, the questions still before the assembly may be
laid on the table.
This motion cannot be applied to anything
except a question actually pending, therefore it is not in order
to lay on the table a class of questions, as the orders of the
day, or unfinished business, or reports of committees, because
they are not pending questions, as only one main motion can be
pending at a time. To accomplish the desired object, which is
evidently to reach a special subject or class of business, the
proper course is to suspend the rules by a two-thirds vote and
take up the desired question or class of business.
If a motion to lay on the table has been
made and lost, or if a question laid on the table has been taken
from the table, it shows that the assembly wishes to consider
the question now, and therefore a motion made the same day to
lay that question on the table is out of order until there has
been material progress in business or debate, or unless an
unforeseen urgent matter requires immediate attention.
The assembly cannot be required to vote
again the same day on laying the question on the table unless
there is such a change in the state of affairs as to make it a
new question. A vote on laying on the table cannot be
reconsidered, because, if lost the motion may be renewed as soon
as there has been material progress in debate or business, or
even before if anything unforeseen occurs of such an urgent
nature as to require immediate attention; and if adopted the
question may be taken from the table as soon as the interrupting
business has been disposed of and while no question is pending,
and business of this class, or new or unfinished business, is in
order.
The Form of this motion is:
"I move to lay the question on the table."
or
"I move that the question be laid on
the table."
It cannot be qualified in any way; if it
is qualified, thus, "To lay the question on the table until 2
P.M.," the chair should state it properly as a motion to
postpone until 2 P.M., which is a debatable question, and
is not the motion to
Lay on the Table.
Purpose:
The Object of this motion is to enable the assembly, in
order to attend to more urgent business, to lay aside the
pending question in such a way that its consideration may be
resumed at the will of the assembly as easily as if it were a
new question, and in preference to new questions competing with
it for consideration. It is to the interest of the assembly that
this object should be attained instantly by a majority vote, and
therefore this motion must either apply to, or take precedence
of, every debatable motion whatever its rank.
The motion to Lay on
the Table is undebatable, and requires only a majority
vote, notwithstanding the fact that if not taken from the table
the question is suppressed.
These are dangerous privileges which are
given to no other motion whose adoption would result in final
action on a main motion. There is a great temptation to make an
improper use of them, and lay questions on the table for the
purpose of instantly suppressing them by a majority vote,
instead of using the previous question, the legitimate motion to
bring the assembly to an immediate vote.
The fundamental principles of
parliamentary law require a two-thirds vote for every motion
that suppresses a main question for the session without free
debate. The motion to lay on the table being undebatable, and
requiring only a majority vote, and having the highest rank of
all subsidiary motions, is in direct conflict with these
principles, if used to suppress a question. If habitually used
in this way, it should, like the other motions to suppress
without debate, require a two-thirds vote.
[Note: The current (Tenth) edition of Robert's Rules of Order
Newly Revised, does not permit this usage of Lay on the
Table to suppress a question.]
As motions laid on the table are merely
temporarily laid aside, the majority should remember that the
minority may all stay to the moment of final adjournment and
then be in the majority, and take up and pass the resolutions
laid on the table. They may also take the question from the
table at the next meeting in societies having regular meetings
as frequently as quarterly. If not taken from
the table at the next meeting, however, the motion dies.
Effect:
The Effect of the adoption of this motion is to place on
the table, that is, in charge of the secretary, the pending
question and everything adhering to it; so, if an amendment is
pending to a motion to refer a resolution to a committee, and
the question is laid on the table, all these questions go
together to the table, and when taken from the table they all
come up together.
In legislative bodies, and all others that
do not have regular sessions as often as quarterly, questions
laid on the table remain there for that entire session, unless
taken up before the session closes. In deliberative bodies with
regular sessions as frequent as quarterly, the sessions usually
are very short and questions laid on the table remain there
until the close of the next regular session, if not taken up
earlier; just as in the same assemblies a question can be
postponed to the next session, and the effect of the motion to
reconsider, if not called up, does not terminate until the close
of the next session.
While a question is on the table no motion
on the same subject is in order that would in any way affect the
question that is on the table; it is necessary first to take the
question from the table and move the new one as a substitute, or
to make such other motion as is adapted to the case.
Now, test your
understanding of the motion to Lay on the Table. Answer
the questions below and then click the button underneath to see
your results. Good luck!
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