States becoming inquorate during a meeting: revised procedures.

STATES OF JERSEY

STATES BECOMING INQUORATE DURING A MEETING: REVISED PROCEDURES

Lodged au Greffe on 15th June 2010 by Deputy P.V.F. Le Claire of St. Helier

STATES GREFFE

2010   Price code: A  P.82

PROPOSITION

THE STATES are asked to decide whether they are of opinion

1. to  agree  that  the  current procedures  in  Standing Order  56  States inquorate during meeting' should be amended, and that under the revised procedures –

1. if  the  States  become  inquorate  during  a  meeting  and  the presiding officer, having directed that elected  members be summoned and allowed sufficient time for them to return, believes that the States remain inquorate, he or she shall ask the Greffier to initiate an immediate roll call with members being required to indicate their presence using the electronic voting system;
2. if  the  electronic  roll  call  indicates  that  the  States  remain inquorate the presiding officer shall then ask the Greffier to call the roll orally;
3. if at the conclusion of this second roll call the States remain inquorate,  the  procedures  that  currently  apply  in  Standing Order 55(1) when the States are inquorate at the start of a meeting shall be applied, namely the presiding officer shall –

1. suspend the meeting to a specified time (which may be a time on a continuation day), or
2. close the meeting;

4. if the meeting is suspended the Greffier shall, at the specified time, call the roll again and, if when the roll has been called again the States remain inquorate, the presiding officer shall close the meeting;

2. to request the Privileges and Procedures Committee to bring forward for approval the necessary amendments to Standing Orders to give effect to the decision.

DEPUTY P.V.F. LE CLAIRE OF ST. HELIER

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REPORT

Standing Order 56 current reads as follows –

"56  States inquorate during meeting

1. If at any time it appears to the presiding officer that the States are inquorate, he or she shall direct that elected members be summoned.
2. If  the  presiding  officer,  having  allowed  such  time  as  he  or  she considers reasonable for elected members to return to the Chamber, believes  that  the  States  remain  inquorate,  he  or  she  shall  ask  the Greffier to call the roll.
3. If, the roll having been called, the States are inquorate, the presiding officer shall close the meeting.".

There have been many times that States have been inquorate of late and at times I must confess I was amongst the missing members on at least one occasion, having been caught off guard by using the States facilities at a time I believed that the other members would have kept the numbers up to the required level of 27.

However it has transpired, that the roll is called when several members have been registered as present who entered the Chamber some minutes after people, who had arrived to find their names had been called. Ironically some are registered as present when they were 3-5 minutes late and some are registered as absent when they were 5- 10 seconds late.

This small change will ensure that the ones that make up the numbers at the outset are recorded as present.

It will also add a further safeguard to our proceedings to ensure that there is ample opportunity to continue the States business.

I find it odd upon reflection that there is not the safeguard of a second determined start time for the States after business has begun especially when we have a shortened lunch break, an increased workload and the pressures that we are all familiar with in finding time for a lunch at all now. (not that it will hurt me to miss my lunch a few times given my current state of fitness!)

No doubt, I will, if given enough time, fall foul of these Standing Orders myself but it is better that we have a fairer system and I believe this will be fairer than we have at present.

Financial and manpower implications

There are no financial or manpower implications for the States arising from this proposition.

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