postpone to a certain time

{{infobox motion

| name = Postpone to a certain time (RONR)

| class = S

| inorder = No

| seconded = Yes

| debatable = Yes

| amendable = Yes

| voterequired = Majority, unless it makes the question a special order, in which case a two-thirds vote is required

| reconsidered = Yes

}}

Using Robert's Rules of Order Newly Revised (RONR), action on a pending question may be postponed to another time. Alternatively, a motion can be postponed until after a specific event has occurred, such as after an officer makes a relevant report. A postponed question becomes an order of the day (a general order or a special order in the order of business) for the time to which it is postponed.{{Cite book|title = Robert's Rules of Order Newly Revised|last = Robert|first = Henry M.|publisher = Da Capo Press|year = 2011|isbn = 978-0-306-82020-5|location = Philadelphia, PA|pages = 186|edition = 11th|display-authors = et al.}} Postponing a motion is permitted so long as:

• There is a meeting on the date the motion is postponed to. For example, a main motion cannot be postponed to a day where there is no regular meeting or where a special meeting has not been planned yet.
• The date to which the main motion is being postponed is not too late for it to be effective. For example, if the main motion proposes that there be a picnic on September 3, the motion cannot be postponed to September 5, because that would be too late for it to be carried out.

Under Demeter's Manual, if a motion to postpone definitely specifies a time that falls after the next regular meeting, or after a certain event which will not occur until after the next regular meeting, then it is treated as a motion to postpone indefinitely, which effectively ends consideration of the pending question.{{cite parl|title=DEM|pages=89}}

A motion to postpone an action or event that was previously scheduled is distinct from the subsidiary motion to postpone to a certain time, and is a type of the motion to amend something previously adopted.{{Harvard citation no brackets|Robert|2011|p = 180}}

Generally, a motion to postpone is applied to a main motion and not to other motions alone.{{Harvard citation no brackets|Robert|2011|p = 181}}

Debate on the motion to postpone to a certain time should be brief and confined only to the reasons for and time of the postponement.{{Harvard citation no brackets|Robert|2011|p = 182}} Amendments to it may only relate to the desired date that the assembly will resume consideration or if the question is to be a special order.

The Standard Code of Parliamentary Procedure (TSC) treats the motion to postpone to a certain time similar to that in RONR. A difference is that TSC does not allow this motion to be reconsidered.{{cite parl|title=TSC|pages=58–62}}

Frequently, a motion is improperly "tabled" until the next meeting. In this case, the proper procedure would have been to postpone the motion to the next meeting.{{Cite web|url = http://www.robertsrules.com/faq.html#12|title = Frequently Asked Questions about RONR (Question 12)|date = 2011|access-date = 2016-02-13|website = The Official Robert's Rules of Order Web Site|publisher = The Robert's Rules Association|last = Robert III|first = Henry M.}}

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{{Parliamentary Procedure}}