(2) Reports of Boards and Standing Committees.
(3) Reports of Special (Select) Committees.
(4) Special Orders.
(5) Unfinished Business and General Orders
(6) New Business.
The secretary should always have at every meeting a memorandum of the order of business for the use of the presiding officer, showing everything that is to come before the meeting. The chairman, as soon as one thing is disposed of, should announce the next business in order. When reports are in order he should call for the different reports in their order, and when unfinished business is in order he should announce the different questions in their proper order, as stated above, and thus always keep the control of the business.
If it is desired to transact business out of its order, it is necessary to suspend the rules [22], which can be done by a two-thirds vote But, as each resolution or report comes up, a majority can at once lay it on the table, and thus reach any question which it desires first to dispose of. It is improper to lay on the table or to postpone a class of questions like reports of committees, or in fact anything but the question before the assembly.
General Henry M. Robert // 4th Edition //


