Motions Procedures | American Law Institute

96th Annual Meeting

Motions Procedures

Members should submit any motions to amend a draft well in advance of the Annual Meeting. This will give the Reporters and other members an opportunity to consider the motions carefully.

See the Submission Procedures and Deadlines for instructions.

The manner in which motions to amend black letter or comments will be handled depends on the number of motions submitted.

Five or fewer motions

At the time the project session starts, if there are five or fewer written motions to amend the draft, motions will be handled in the traditional way:

Motions to amend black letter or comments will be taken section by section, starting with the first section in the draft.
Motions to amend that are submitted to staff before the project session ordinarily will be given priority over motions to amend made from the floor.
A maker of a main motion to amend the draft may speak for up to five minutes and the Reporters may respond for up to five minutes. The maker of the main motion and the Reporters each may speak for one minute in closing.
Notwithstanding these time limits, the chair has discretion to allow more or less time.
A motion to amend a main motion will be voted on before taking the vote on the main motion.

More than five motions

At the time the project session starts, if there are more than five written motions to amend the draft:

The Director, staff, and chair will determine and announce in advance, to the extent possible, whether motions to amend black letter or comments will be taken section by section, starting with the first section in the draft, or whether a different order will be followed.
The Director, staff, and chair will determine and announce in advance, to the extent possible, which motions are essentially the same and which motions will be considered first.
The chair, in consultation with the Reporters and parliamentarian, will decide whether any motion should be divided (into separate parts/issues), with or without a motion to divide.
The chair will try to ensure that the transcript will be clear as to the language members are voting on by reading into the record the language resulting from the division.
Motions to amend the draft submitted at least three days before the opening session (by 5:00 p.m. Eastern on Thursday, May 16) will be considered before motions submitted later. The chair will allow the movant three minutes to speak; the Reporters three minutes to respond; and members to make an equal number of comments in favor of and comments opposed (one minute per person and preferably alternating between pro and con). The chair then will call for a vote on the motion.
If another member has submitted a motion that is similar to the one on the floor, the chair will allow that member to speak for two minutes to explain any significant difference. The member may move to amend the motion to amend the draft. Other motions to amend may be considered at the chair’s discretion. A vote on a motion to amend a motion is taken before the vote on the motion to amend the draft.
Motions to amend the draft submitted fewer than three days before the opening session (after 5:00 p.m. Eastern on Thursday, May 16) will be considered. The chair will allow the movant one minute to speak; the Reporters one minute to respond; and up to two comments in favor and two comments against the motion (one minute per person and preferably alternating between pro and con). The chair then will call for a vote on the motion.
Substantive motions from the floor will be considered only after all movants who have submitted written motions have had an opportunity to make those motions.