Rationale   The purpose of allowing Floor Motions at Area Assemblies is to allow individuals, Groups and Districts the opportunity to present ideas that the Area Committee decided not to include in an Assembly's agenda.(see Current Practice below) Further, the essence of this motion seems to already embraced at Assemblies, since it is often stated that Floor Motions presented at Assemblies almost never pass. Nevertheless, 9 Floor Motions (c.f. 5 Motions on the Agenda) were presented at the 1998 Area 92 Assembly in Ellensburg:

• two (2) motions were withdrawn,
• four (4) motions failed, and
• three (3) motions were passed.

This Motion is therefore presented for consideration by Groups in Area 92, to see if they agree with the practice of (not) passing Floor Motions at Area Assemblies.

Current Practice   The following are excerpts from Area Handbook, Washington State East Area: The District Committee Member and the Washington Sate East Area 92 Committee, circa 1998.

In The Washington State East Area 92, our DCM's traditionally meet with the other members of the Area Committee in January, April and July. The fourth meeting of the year is in October at the Washington State East Area 92 Assembly. Some of the functions of the Area Committee members have been:

   …

3. Presenting, reviewing and/or clarifying motions concerning Area policy, procedure and organization.

1. The idea for a motion can come from an individual, a group, a district or from the floor of the committee meeting or Assembly.

3. It would seem that some motions, such as non controversial housekeeping actions which would ensure the orderly functioning of the Area, would be best handled and voted on at the committee level. The Concepts clarify the advantages for the groups in being able to delegate such responsibilities to particular bodies within the service structure.
4. Some situations may dictate that the Committee might need to take action at a quarterly committee meeting on an issue normally handled at [an] Assembly. In such a case, polling groups through their GSRs has proven an effective procedure.
5. Some ideas or changes by their very nature or scope need to be put on the Assembly agenda for approval by the GSRs.
6. Ideally, motions to go before the Assembly will be presented to the Committee, discussed, clarified and rewritten for inclusion on the Agenda. One role of the Committee it seems is to clarify the language and structure of all motions to insure that their intent is clear to the individual member or group in our Areas.
7. Should the Committee choose to not include a proposed motion on the agenda, the makers of the motion could still present it as new business at the Assembly.

If Passed   Aside from changing the way in which Floor Motions are handled at the Assembly, the above description for the current practice in the Area 92 Handbook would need to be modified … especially Item 7.

Note:

Ideally the "thoughts and information for the use of future DCM's" given in the front of the Area Handbook should be formalized and included in the body of the reference guide. This could be accomplished by creating a new Motions (sub)section, e.g. 2.1 Motions, or by including the information in the current 2.0 Area Assembly section of the Handbook. These thoughts however are outside the scope of the current motion.

Pros   This motion observes Tradition 2, which states "For our group purpose there is but one ultimate authority - a loving God as He may express Himself in our group conscience. Our leaders are but trusted servants, they do not govern." By not giving ample opportunity for consideration of Assembly Floor Motions by Groups in Area 92, the Area is essentially establishing itself as a Groups' Higher Power.

Cons  

1.

Floor Motions presented at Assemblies almost never pass, hence this motion doesn't need to be considered. Counterpoint: This was not the case in the 1998 Assembly, where 3 Floor Motions were passed, equaling the number of Agenda Motions that also passed. And while this circumstance may be an anomaly, steps should be taken to mitigate recurrence of this situation.

2.

Not being able to pass Floor Motions at Assemblies means that at least one (1) year will pass before a decision concerning it can be made. Counterpoint: Is this a bad thing? Also, the motion is worded so as to discourage and not prevent passing or failure of Floor Motions. If the motion is urgent and extremely important there is nothing in the motion that prevents voting on whether to pass/fail the motion.

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