Felt’s Parliamentary Procedure/Orders of the Day

by Orson B. Felt

Layout 2

ORDERS OF THE DAY.

89. Orders of the day are questions that have been by vote of the assembly assigned to a certain day or hour, and are thereby made privileged questions for that day, or hour; therefore, when that time arrives they take precedence of all other questions except questions of privilege and adjournment, and of all other business except reading and approval of the minutes, together with all subsidiary and incidental questions connected with them. But the orders for the day cannot be taken up before the assigned time, except under “suspension of the rules (130)” for that purpose.

90. Orders of the day are of two kinds, General and Special. General orders are made by a majority vote; they cannot interfere with the established rules of the assembly and if no time is fixed for their consideration they should be considered as for the entire day, or any part of it. If they are not called up or disposed of at the time assigned they fall, but may be renewed in the usual way. If, however, any order is under consideration at the time of adjournment, it comes up at the next meeting under unfinished business.

Special orders are made by a two-thirds vote. They take precedence of general orders and suspend all rules of the assembly that interfere with their consideration at the time specified.

91. It is the duty of the chairman to call up the orders at the time assigned to them, or when the time arrives anyone may call for them even though another member has the floor. If no objection is made they are taken up at once, but if an objection is made the chair says: “Shall the orders be now taken up?” and a vote is then taken. If the vote is in the affirmative the orders will be taken up in the order of their assignment—i e., the first one assigned should be the first one considered, and the question then under consideration, if any, would be suspended until the orders are disposed of. If any particular order has been made for a certain hour, when that hour arrives it may be taken up and assigned to another time; if the particular order is acted upon the order under consideration at the time of interruption would be suspended until the business for that hour is disposed of. If the vote on taking up the orders is in the negative the orders are postponed only until the business then before the assembly is transacted, when they are next in order.

92. A motion to take up the orders does not require to be seconded, is not debatable or amendable, and a member speaking may be interrupted for the purpose of making that motion, or when the time arrives, if there is no objection, the chair may lay the orders before the assembly without the formality of a motion, but when called up they need not be then considered, as they may be assigned to some future time. A majority vote is competent to postpone even a special order. A motion to take up any particular order would not be a privileged motion; it must be for the orders generally if the be more than one. But when orders in general are taken up, each order in its turn may be disposed of temporarily by postponement until the desired order is reached; or if it is desired to consider any particular order not yet reached it may be done by a motion to “take up the question out of order,” which is virtually a suspension of the rules (130) and requires a two-thirds vote.