Frequently Used Parliamentary Motions

Download the Often Used Parliamentary Motions

This is taken from the National Association of Parliamentarians.

These are commonly used motions and not listed in any particular order, nor is this specifically endorsed by the WCDCC. This is simply common motions and phrasings that may help you better understand parliamentary procedure.

MOTION	PURPOSE	CONSIDERATIONS
Main Motions	Commits the group to action or a position	Interrupt Speaker	Second Required	Debate	Amend	Vote Required	Can be Reconsidered
Main Motion	To introduce business, Commits the group to action	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	Majority	Yes
Rescind	Reverses a motion that has been adopted	No	Yes	Yes	No	Majority	No
Reconsider	Looks again at a motion that has failed	No	Yes	Yes	No	Majority	No
Take from the Table	Takes up item that has been laid on the table	No	Yes	No	No	Majority	No
Subsidiary Motions	Used to do something to a main motion	Interrupt Speaker	Second Required	Debate	Amend	Vote Required	Can be Reconsidered
Lay on the Table	Sets a motion aside until someone wants to bring it up again	No	Yes	No	No	Majority	No
Previous Question/Close Debate	Forces an immediate vote	No	Yes	No	No	2/3s vote	Yes
Limit or Extend Debate	Forces a time limit on debate	No	Yes	No	Yes	2/3s vote	Yes
Postpone to a certain time	Names a time when this will come up again	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	Majority	Yes
Refer to a committee	Sets up a small group to study the issue	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	Majority	Yes
Amend an amendment	To modify an amendment	No	Yes	Yes	No	Majority	Yes
Amend	To modify a motion	No	Yes	Yes	No	Majority	Yes
Postpone Indefinitely	Kills a motion	No	Yes	Yes	No	Majority	Yes
Privileged Motions	Deals with people’s concerns	Interrupt Speaker	Second Required	Debate	Amend	Vote Required	Can be Reconsidered
Fix time to adjourn	To ensure the meeting ends at a specific time	No	Yes	No	Yes	Majority	Yes
Adjourn	Ends meeting	No	Yes	No	No	Majority	No
Recess	Take a break	No	Yes	No	Yes	Majority	No
Question of Privilege	Makes a personal request	Yes	No	No	No	Decision of Chair	No
Call for Orders of the Day	To follow the agenda and deal with the issues the meeting planned to cover	Yes	No	No	No	No vote Demand	No
Incidental Motions	Deals with the way the meeting is run	Interrupt Speaker	Second Required	Debate	Amend	Vote Required	Can be Reconsidered
Appeal decision of chair	To reverse a decision of the chair	Yes	Yes	No	No	Majority	Yes
Call for Division of assembly	Force a counted vote	Yes	No	No	No	Majority	No
Call Division of Motion	Divides motion into the parts.	No	Yes	No	Yes	Majority	No
Object to Consideration	Stops a motion from being considered	Yes	No	No	No	2/3s vote	No
Point of Inquiry	A question about parliamentary procedure to Chair	Yes	No	No	No	Decision of Chair	No
Point of Order	To correct a parliamentary error	Yes	No	No	No	Decision of Chair	No
Suspend the Rules	To temporarily ignore a RONR or bylaws, standing rules to accomplish some task	No	Yes	No	No	2/3s vote	Yes

Frequently Used Parliamentary Motions

This is taken from the National Association of Parliamentarians.

MOTION

PURPOSE

CONSIDERATIONS