Operational Guidelines
To ensure that the proceedings of the Representative Assembly of the Florida High School Activities Association are conducted in a professional manner, the following guidelines shall apply:

A. AUTHORITY

FHSAA Bylaw 5.3.1 and Florida Statutes both state: “The authority of the Representative Assembly is limited to its sole duty, which is to consider, adopt or reject any proposed amendment to the FHSAA Bylaws. The Representative Assembly, while empowered to adopt, reject or revise proposed amendments, may not, in and of itself, as a body, be allowed to propose any amendment for its own consideration.”

B. RULES OF ORDER

1. Robert’s Rules of Order. Unless otherwise specifically stated in FHSAA Bylaws or Policy, the proceedings of the Representative Assembly shall be governed by Robert’s Rules of Order Newly Revised Ninth Edition.

2. Presiding Officer. The Chairperson will preside over the meeting of the Representative Assembly. The Vice Chairperson will preside over the meeting in the Chairperson’s absence. Jim Rigby, school board member from Santa Rosa County, currently is the Chairperson and James McDonald, principal of Middleburg High School, currently is the Vice Chairperson. Both are eligible for reelection.

3. Roll Call of Delegates. Both sessions will begin with a roll call of delegates. This will be used by the Chair to ascertain the presence of a quorum, which is one more than half the total number of delegates.

4. Voting Paddles. Each delegate will be issued a voting paddle at the beginning of the first session. This paddle must be raised above the delegate’s head when he/she votes on any matter. The paddle will also be raised by the delegate when he/she stands and requests recognition by the Chair.

5. First Reading, Monday Session. During the Monday session, the Chair will instruct the Clerk to read the summary sentence of each proposal a first time. Following the first reading of a proposal, the Chair will then recognize those individuals who have registered their desire to speak for or against the proposal. The Clerk will place sign-in sheets either in the back of the meeting hall or just outside the doors where individuals will register to address the Assembly. There will be a sign-in sheet for each of the proposals, consisting of two columns –one column for those wishing to speak for the proposal and one column for those wishing to speak against the proposal. Unless a delegate is a sponsor of the proposal, it is not appropriate for him/her to address the Assembly at this time. The Chair will recognize only those individuals who have signed in to address the Assembly in the order they are listed on the sign-in sheets. Questions or comments from the gallery will not be in order. Each individual will be allotted a maximum of three (3) minutes to address the Assembly. At the conclusion of his/her presentation, the Chair will ask if any delegate has a question for the individual. If no questions are forthcoming, the Chair will thank the individual and recognize the next individual. If there are questions, the Chair will determine how long he/she wishes to allow the period of questioning to continue before he/she ends it. Delegates will not be permitted to enter into a debate with each other on any proposal at this time. Once all individuals who wish to speak to a proposal have been recognized, the Chair will instruct the Clerk to read the next proposal and the process will be repeated.

6. Second Reading, Tuesday Session. During the Tuesday session, the Chair will instruct the Clerk to read the summary sentence of each proposal a second time. Following the reading of a proposal, the Chair will then open the floor to debate on that proposal only. Debate will be limited to delegates only. At this time, the Assembly will entertain proposals to amend or revise the original proposal and vote to adopt or reject the proposal.

(a) Debate. When a question is put forward for debate, the Chair will ask all delegates wishing to speak for or against the question to stand. Based on the number of delegates who do stand, the Chair will then determine the amount of time he/she wishes to allot for debate on the question. Debate must be limited
Representative Assembly Guidelines to the merits of the pending question. A delegate must first obtain the floor by being recognized by the Chair before he/she can engage in the debate. To do this, the delegate must stand and raise his/her voting paddle. When the Chair turns to him/her, the delegate should identify himself/herself and await the Chair to verbally recognize him/her. A delegate cannot exercise prior claim to the floor by rising before it has been yielded. A delegate is out of order if he/she rises or stands while another delegate has the floor. If two or more delegates stand to obtain the floor at the same time, the delegate who rose and addressed the chair first after the floor was yielded is entitled to be recognized unless: (a) one of the delegates is the delegate who put forth the motion in question and has not spoken to it; (b) one of the delegates has not spoken to the question and all others seeking recognition has; or (c) the Chair knows whether the delegates seeking recognition intend to speak for or against the question, in which case he/she should attempt to let the floor alternate, as far as possible, between those favoring and those opposing the measure. A delegate who speaks twice on a particular question exhausts his/her right to debate that question and cannot be recognized on that question again. The Chair cannot close debate so long as any delegate who has not exhausted his/her right to debate desires the floor, except by order of the Assembly which requires a two-thirds vote. When debate appears to have closed, the Chair will call for the question. If no one rises to claim the floor, the Chair will then put the question to a vote.

(b) Procedure for Amending/Revising a Proposal. Any delegate who wishes to propose an amendment or revision to the original proposal may state his/her motion to do so following the second reading of a proposal provided he/she has filed with the Clerk at the beginning of the second session a properly completed “Proposal to Amend/Revise Original Proposal” form (enclosed) which is signed by both the sponsor of the amendment as well as the sponsor of the original proposal. It will be incumbent upon any delegate wishing to amend a proposal to secure the permission of the sponsor of the original proposal before doing so. A delegate who intends to introduce a proposal to amend or revise an original proposal may complete the form and obtain the approval of the original sponsor in advance of the meeting. However, he/she may not file the proposal to amend or revise until the appropriate time. A delegate may fax the completed form from the Best Western Gateway to the sponsor of the original proposal for his/her permission at his/her own expense. When a motion to amend is moved and seconded, the Chair will instruct the Clerk to read the amendment as proposed. Debate on the amendment will then ensue. A motion to amend or revise a proposal must be seconded and must carry by a majority vote in the affirmative. A vote to amend or revise a proposal will be by voice with a show of voting paddles.

(c) Vote to Adopt a Proposal. A vote to adopt a proposal to amend the FHSAA Bylaws must be a two-thirds majority vote in the affirmative of those delegates casting votes on the proposal. This vote will be taken by written ballot. Once the Chair calls for the ballot, no further debate on the proposal may take place. Each delegate will mark and sign their ballot with regard to their preference only on the proposal in question. The delegate must mark either “yes” or “no” and must sign his/her ballot for it to be counted. Each delegate will receive a set of ballots with his/her name preprinted on them. Since the rules require a two-thirds majority vote in the affirmative of the votes cast to adopt a proposal, the number of votes needed to obtain a two-thirds majority will decrease dependent upon the number of delegates whose ballots cannot be counted because they are not signed. Once ballots have been marked on a proposal, the delegates will be asked to pass their ballots to the end of the row on which they are sitting. The Chair then will instruct the Clerk to read the next proposal and the process will repeat itself as the ballots on the previous proposal are tabulated by staff. Once balloting is completed on all proposals, the Chair will instruct the Clerk to announce the results of the balloting on each proposal. It may be necessary for the Chair to declare a brief recess if staff has not yet completed the tabulation process.

7. Accountability. The voting record of each delegate to the Assembly will be recorded by the Clerk and published on the FHSAA web site (www.fhsaa.org). Each delegate is encouraged to vote on each and every proposal.