Motions Procedures
All motions to amend a draft that members intend to make at the Meeting must be submitted in writing before the Meeting.
Members must submit written motions by no later than 5:00 p.m. (Eastern) on Friday, May 12. This will give the Reporters and members an opportunity to consider the motions carefully. Members should review the Submission Instructions and Deadlines.
Motions to amend a motion may be made from the floor; however, the chair has discretion to rule a motion to amend a motion out of order if the proposed amendment should have been submitted as a motion to amend the draft before the Meeting in order to provide an opportunity for careful consideration.
Motions to amend a draft must state the specific language to be changed and what the new language would be, in comparison format. Vague motions or general descriptions of proposed changes are not permitted. For complete instructions, see the Submission Instructions and Deadlines.
Motions may be made only on the portions of a draft that are subject to membership approval; those portions are primarily black letter and Comments. Reporters’ Notes, front matter, and appendices or annexes to drafts are not for membership approval. Sections marked as “for discussion only” or “for reference only” are not for membership approval at the current Meeting.
Under paragraph B of Bylaw 4.01, only the Council has the authority to begin a project, determine the form of a project, including whether a project is a Restatement or Principles of the Law, and terminate a project. The following motions by members will be out of order and will not be considered: motions to change the form of a project, terminate a project, postpone indefinitely the consideration of a draft, or take any other action that has the effect of preventing substantive discussion of a draft. Members may express their views about the form and substance of a project at meetings of the project’s Members Consultative Group, by submitting written comments for posting on the project’s page on the ALI website, and by voting on the Boskey motions to approve drafts submitted at Annual Meetings. Comments posted on a project’s page on the ALI website that call for a change in the form of the project or the termination of the project will be circulated by ALI to Council members.
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
If there are five or fewer written motions to amend the draft for the project:
- Motions to amend black letter or comments will be considered section by section, starting with the first section in the draft. The chair has discretion to announce a different order.
- A movant of a motion to amend the draft may speak for up to four minutes and the Reporters may respond for up to four minutes. The chair will allow members to make an equal number of comments in favor of and comments opposed to the motion (two minutes per person and alternating between pro and con). The chair has discretion regarding how many comments to allow on a motion. The movant and the Reporters each may speak for one minute in closing. The chair then will call for a vote on the motion.
- A vote on any motion to amend a motion will be taken before the vote on the motion to amend the draft.
More than five motions
If there are more than five written motions to amend the draft for the project:
- The President, in consultation with the Director and chair, will determine and announce in advance, to the extent possible:
- whether motions to amend black letter or comments will be considered section by section, starting with the first section in the draft, or whether a different order will be followed;
- which motions on a section are essentially the same and which motions will be considered first; and
- whether any motions will be divided into separate parts or issues.
- If a motion is divided prior to the start of the Meeting, the staff will display a revised document showing the division. Otherwise, the chair will read into the record the language resulting from the division.
- The chair will allow the movant to speak for up to three minutes; the Reporters to respond for up to three minutes; and members to make an equal number of comments in favor of and comments opposed to the motion (one minute per person and alternating between pro and con). The chair has discretion regarding how many comments to allow on a motion. The chair then will call for a vote on the motion.
- A vote on any motion to amend a motion will be taken before the vote on the motion to amend the draft.