ASSU Documentation

To claim the floor, a member raises her/his hand when no one else has the floor. A member cannot establish prior claim to the floor by raising her/his hand while another member has the floor.

Author(s) of the action item currently being considered, and the representative of the body which reported that item to the Association legislative bodies (if any), shall be accorded priority for the purposes of accepting friendly amendments, answering questions, clarifying matters of fact, and making procedural motions (other than the motion of the previous question) intended either to maintain orderly debate or to expedite the consideration of the action item.

No member of an Association legislative body shall speak for longer than 2 minutes, including periods during which the floor is yielded to another member, before relinquishing the floor to another member. However, author(s) of an action item and the representative of the body reporting an action item to the Association legislative bodies (if any) shall be allowed, when introducing the action item to the Association legislative bodies, to speak for longer than 2 minutes, the new time limit to be determined by the Presiding Officer in consultation with the speaker. When so introducing the action item, the speaker shall confine her/his remarks to statements of fact and matters of procedure. After introducing the action item, the speaker may speak for no longer than 2 additional minutes, including periods during which the floor is yielded to another member, before relinquishing the floor to another member.

The Presiding Officer may allow a vote on a call to question any time after 5 members of Association legislative bodies have spoken. If fewer than 5 members of Association legislative bodies have spoken, the question may only be called if no member of an Association legislative body who has not previously spoken wishes to speak.