(c) Recess.—The motion to take a recess outranks all motions already enumerated. It cannot be amended or debated.
(d) Adjournment.—A motion to adjourn outranks all others, and may be made at any time except while a member is speaking, while voting is going on, or while the chair is stating a question. It is not debatable, and may be renewed if lost. But if repeated motions to adjourn are made simply to obstruct business, the chair may finally refuse to entertain them. A special form of this motion of still greater privilege is that fixing the time and place of adjournment.
When adjournment has been carried in a body that is meeting in continuous session, day after day, the business left unfinished comes up at once on reassembling, unless displaced by the order of the day. When a body has only a weekly or a monthly meeting, such business would be considered when unfinished business was reached in the regular order.
D. There are a few other motions which do not fall under any of the heads named. For example:
(a) A motion may be made to limit the length of time which each speaker may occupy, or which the entire debate may occupy, or to extend the time already decided upon, or to fix the hour when the debate shall close and a vote be taken. These are undebatable, but may be amended, and require a two-thirds vote to pass.
(b) After a motion has been adopted or defeated, a motion to “reconsider” is in order, either during that meeting or the next one. It must be made by one who voted on the prevailing side, whether affirmative or negative. If it is carried, the question is again before the house for debate and amendment, just as it stood when the vote passing or defeating it was taken. The motion to reconsider is in order at any time, even while other business is under consideration. When so made, however, the fact is entered on the minutes, and the motion waits until the pending business is disposed of.
(c) When the time has expired during which reconsideration may be moved, a motion to rescind action already taken may be made. This may be made when no other matter is pending, and is fully debatable.
(d) Although it is a general rule that a motion once voted down can be taken up only through a motion to reconsider, most motions, except main motions and amendments, may be renewed if the status of the business before the house has been changed in the meantime. For example, a motion to lay a question on the table is made and voted down. Then a motion to postpone it to a certain time is made. The motion to lay on the table may now be renewed, although it could not be renewed after the motion to postpone was defeated, since in that case the status of the question would again be what it was when the first motion to lay on the table was defeated.
(e) Parliamentary inquiries are allowable at any time, when a member is not speaking. They are questions addressed to the chair concerning the propriety of motions that the questioner wishes to offer if they would be in order, the meaning of rules or decisions, and the like.