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Brainteaser Archive 2005 |
January 19, 2005 (Difficulty level = 5)
Question: Demeter's Manual of Parliamentary Law states that the business part of the order of business can be remembered by the initial letters: R, R, R, S, U, N, G. What do these letters stand for?
Answer: Reading of the minutes of the last meeting; Reports of (1) officers, (2) boards, and (3) standing committees; Reports of special (temporary) committees; Special orders (specially scheduled business); Unfinished business; New business; Good of the order. Demeter's Manual of Parliamentary Law, p. 14.
January 26, 2005 (Difficulty level = 3)
Question: If your parliamentary authority is Robert's Rules of Order Newly Revised (10th Edition), what motion requires a two-thirds vote against to be sustained?
Answer: Objection to the Consideration of a Question. "A two-thirds vote against consideration is required to sustain the objection." RONR (10th Ed.) § 26.
February 2, 2005 (Difficulty level = 3)
Question: According to
Robert's Rules of Order Newly
Revised (10th Edition), which
of the following does not meet the definition of a "deliberative
assembly":
convention, mass meeting, committee, legislative body, board, assembly of an
organized society?
Answer: Committee. RONR (10th Ed.) § 1 (p. 5).
March 2, 2005 (Difficulty level = 4)
Question: In cases where a board is constituted so that a specified portion of its membership is chose periodically, what happens to unfinished business when the outgoing portion of the board vacates membership, according to Robert's Rules of Order Newly Revised (10th Edition).
Answer: In such instances, "all unfinished business existing when the outgoing portion of the board vacates membership falls to the ground under provision (c) on page 229 . . . ." RONR (10th Ed.) § 49 (p. 471).
March 15, 2005 (Difficulty level = 3)
Question: If your parliamentary authority is Robert's Rules of Order Newly Revised (10th Edition), is a second required for nominations?
Answer: “No second is required, but sometimes one or more members will second a nomination to indicate endorsement.” RONR (10th Ed.) § 46 (p. 418).
April 15, 2005 (Difficulty level = 4)
Question: In Robert's Rules of Order Newly Revised (10th Edition), what is described as a "board within a board"?
Answer: An executive committee. RONR (10th Ed.) § 49 (p. 468).
June 15, 2005 (Difficulty level = 3)
Question: According to Robert's Rules of Order Newly Revised (10th Edition), what is the term for a motion that "seeks to obstruct or thwart the will of the assembly as clearly indicated by the existing parliamentary situation"?
Answer: Dilatory. RONR (10th Ed.) § 39 (p. 331).
July 15, 2005 (Difficulty level = 4)
Question: According to Robert's Rules of Order Newly Revised (10th Edition), there are three situations in which the motion Appeal is NOT debatable. What are they?
Answer: If the appeal "(a) relates to indecorum or a transgression of the rules of speaking; (b) relates to the priority of business; or (c) is made while the immediately pending question is undebatable. RONR (10th Ed.) § 24 (p. 249).
August 1, 2005 (Difficulty level = 3)
Question: Your parliamentary authority is Robert's Rules of Order Newly Revised (10th Edition). If a motion is made while no question is pending that proposes to change the regular limits of debate, is it debatable?
Answer: Yes. Such a motion is not the subsidiary motion to Limit or Extend Limits of Debate, but is an incidental main motion (although it requires a two-thirds vote for its adoption, just as the subsidiary motion does). RONR (10th Ed.) § 15 (p. 184).
August 15, 2005 (Difficulty level = 5)
Question: A trial of a member is being handled using the disciplinary procedures outlined in Robert's Rules of Order Newly Revised (10th Edition). The accused member has notified the organization that she will appear at trial with a non-member attorney representing her. Must the organization allow the attorney to appear under RONR?
Answer: No. "Defense counsel can be attorney(s) or not, but must be member(s) of the society unless the trial body (that is, the assembly or the trial committee as the case may be) by vote agrees to permit attorney(s) who are not member(s) to act in this capacity." RONR (10th Ed.) § 60 (p. 638).
September 1, 2005 (Difficulty level = 3)
Question: Your parliamentary authority is Robert's Rules of Order Newly Revised (10th Edition). A committee makes a report to a board, and the report only contains information. Following the report, what parliamentary action should be taken?
Answer: Likely none. "If the report contains only an account of work done or a statement of fact or opinion for the assembly's information, it should generally be in writing, and always so if there is any possibility of its adoption by the assembly. Apart from filing such a report, however, no action on it is necessary and usually none should be taken." RONR (10th Ed.) § 51 (p. 507).
November 15, 2005 (Difficulty level = 3)
Question: If your parliamentary authority is Robert's Rules of Order Newly Revised (10th Edition), once a convention program is adopted, what vote is required to change the program?
Answer: "To change the program after its adoption requires a two-thirds vote or the vote of a majority of all the delegates or other 'voting members' of the convention who have been registered--or unanimous consent, which can usually be obtained with no difficulty in cases where a departure from the program is justified." RONR (10th Ed.) § 59 (p. 611).
December 1, 2005 (Difficulty level = 5)
Question: In Robert's Rules of Order Newly Revised (10th Edition), does the motion Request to Be Excused from a Duty require a second?
Answer: "Does not require a second except when moved formally by the maker of the request. A motion to grant the request of another member does not require a second since the maker of the request and the maker of the motion--two members--wish the question to be considered." RONR (10th Ed.) § 32 (p. 278).
December 15, 2005 (Difficulty level = 1)
Question: According to Robert's Rules of Order Newly Revised (10th Edition), what is the name of a motion that "seeks to obstruct or thwart the will of the assembly as clearly indicated by the existing parliamentary situation"?
Answer: A dilatory motion. RONR (10th Ed.) § 39 (p. 331).
