An ex officio member is a member of a body (a board, committee, council, etc.) who is part of it by virtue of holding another office. The term is Latin, meaning literally "from the office", and the sense intended is "by right of office"; its use dates back to the Roman Republic.
A common misconception is that the participatory rights of ex officio members are limited by their status. This is incorrect, although their rights may be indeed limited by the by-laws of a particular body. Robert's Rules of Order, Newly Revised (10th ed.), clarifies that the term denotes only how one becomes a member of a group, not what one's rights are. It is a method of sitting on a committee, not a class of membership (466-67).[1] Frequently, ex officio members will abstain from voting, but unless by-laws constrain their rights, they are afforded the same rights as other members, including debate, making formal motions, and voting (466-67; 480).[2]
Contents |
For Profit and Non-Profit use
The power of a person's right to use the title ex officio, in Boards of Directors (Corporations, both for profit and non-profit), and Boards of Trustees (Charitable Organizations, Membership based, Society, etc.) is usually established in the Articles of Incorporation, or in some other foundation governance document.
In some organizations, the term is limited to those who are past Board Presidents, or retired Board Chairs (or Chairwoman, or Chairman) as a reward for serving in a leadership position. An organization may have one ex officio member (the most current past president), or may consider all past leaders as ex officio; again, this is usually detailed in the Articles of Incorporation.
Governmental Examples
Hong Kong
As of 2007[update], the Executive Council of Hong Kong is still composed of ex officio members (official members since 1997) and unofficial members (non-official members since 1997). By practice the ex officio members include the secretaries of departments, i.e. the Chief Secretary, the Financial Secretary and the Secretary for Justice. Since 2002 all secretaries of bureaux are also appointed by the Chief Executive to be official members of the Executive Council. But since 2005 the secretaries of bureaux attend only when items on the agenda concern their portfolios.
New York City
The Speaker of the Council, and its Majority and Minority Leaders are all ex officio members of each of its committees .
Italy
The Italian Senate has former presidents of the Republic, and some appointees by the President, as ex officio members.
Ex officio members who never may vote
Each member of the city council of New York City is a non-voting ex officio member of each Community Board whose boundaries include some of the council member's constituents.
Ex officio members who sometimes may vote
The U.S. Vice-President--who also serves as President of the Senate--may vote in the Senate on matters decided by a simple majority, if the votes for passage and rejection are equal.
References
 |
This government-related article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. |
This entry is from Wikipedia, the leading user-contributed encyclopedia. It may not have been reviewed by professional editors (see full disclaimer)
