A committee or commission is a body of one or more persons subordinate to a

deliberative assembly A deliberative assembly is a meeting of members who use parliamentary procedure. Etymology In a speech to the electorate at Bristol in 1774, Edmund Burke described the British Parliament as a "deliberative assembly," and the expression became the ...

. A committee is not itself considered to be a form of assembly. Usually, the assembly sends matters into a committee as a way to explore them more fully than would be possible if the assembly itself were considering them. Committees may have different functions and their types of work differ depending on the type of the organization and its needs. A member of a legislature may be delegated a committee assignment, which gives them the right to serve on a certain committee.

Purpose

may form a committee (or "commission") consisting of one or more persons to assist with the work of the assembly. For larger organizations, much work is done in committees. Committees can be a way to formally draw together people of relevant expertise from different parts of an organization who otherwise would not have a good way to share information and coordinate actions. They may have the advantage of widening viewpoints and sharing out responsibilities. They can also be appointed with experts to recommend actions in matters that require specialized knowledge or technical judgment.

Functions

Committees can serve several different functions: ;Governance: In organizations considered too large for all the members to participate in decisions affecting the organization as a whole, a smaller body, such as a board of directors, is given the power to make decisions, spend money, or take actions. A ''governance committee'' is formed as a separate committee to review the performance of the board and board policy as well as nominate candidates for the board. ; Coordination and administration: A large body may have smaller committees with more specialized functions. Examples are an audit committee, an elections committee, a finance committee, a fundraising committee, and a program committee. Large conventions or

academic conference An academic conference or scientific conference (also congress, symposium, workshop, or meeting) is an event for researchers (not necessarily academics) to present and discuss their scholarly work. Together with academic or scientific journals an ...

s are usually organized by a coordinating committee drawn from the membership of the organization. ; Research and recommendations: Committees may be formed to do research and make recommendations on a potential or planned project or change. For example, an organization considering a major

capital investment Investment is the dedication of money to purchase of an asset to attain an increase in value over a period of time. Investment requires a sacrifice of some present asset, such as time, money, or effort. In finance, the purpose of investing is ...

might create a temporary working committee of several people to review options and make recommendations to upper management or the board of directors. ;Discipline:A committee on discipline may be used to handle disciplinary procedures on members of the organization. ;As a tactic for indecision: As a means of

public relations Public relations (PR) is the practice of managing and disseminating information from an individual or an organization (such as a business, government agency, or a nonprofit organization) to the public in order to influence their perception. P ...

by sending sensitive, inconvenient, or irrelevant matters to committees, organizations may bypass, stall, or disacknowledge matters without declaring a formal policy of inaction or indifference. However, this could be considered a

dilatory tactic A delaying tactic or delay tactic is a strategic device sometimes used during business, diplomatic or interpersonal negotiations, in which one party to the negotiation seeks to gain an advantage by postponing a decision. Someone uses a delaying ...

Power and authority

Generally, committees are required to report to their parent body. Committees do not usually have the power to act independently unless the body that created it gives it such power.

Procedures

When a committee is formed, a chairman (or "chair" or "chairperson") is designated for the committee. Sometimes a vice-chairman (or similar name) is also appointed. It is common for the committee chairman to organize its meetings. Sometimes these meetings are held through

videoconferencing Videotelephony, also known as videoconferencing and video teleconferencing, is the two-way or multipoint reception and transmission of audio signal, audio and video signals by people in different locations for Real-time, real time communication. ...

or other means if committee members are not able to attend in person, as may be the case if they are in different parts of the country or the world. The chairman is responsible for running meetings. Duties include keeping the discussion on the appropriate subject, recognizing members to speak, and confirming what the committee has decided (through voting or by

unanimous consent In parliamentary procedure, unanimous consent, also known as general consent, or in the case of the parliaments under the Westminster system, leave of the house (or leave of the senate), is a situation in which no member present objects to a prop ...

). Using ''

Roberts Rules of Order ''Robert's Rules of Order'', often simply referred to as ''Robert's Rules'', is a manual of parliamentary procedure by U.S. Army officer Henry Martyn Robert. "The object of Rules of Order is to assist an assembly to accomplish the work for which ...

Newly Revised'' (RONR), committees may follow informal procedures (such as not requiring

motions In physics, motion is the phenomenon in which an object changes its position with respect to time. Motion is mathematically described in terms of displacement, distance, velocity, acceleration, speed and frame of reference to an observer and me ...

if it's clear what is being discussed). The level of formality depends on the size and type of committee, in which sometimes larger committees considering crucial issues may require more formal processes. Minutes are a record of the decisions at meetings. They can be taken by a person designated as the secretary. For most organizations, committees are not required to keep formal minutes. However, some bodies require that committees take minutes, especially if the committees are public ones subject to

open meeting laws Freedom of information laws allow access by the general public to data held by national governments and, where applicable, by state and local governments. The emergence of freedom of information legislation was a response to increasing dissatisfa ...

. Committees may meet on a regular basis, such as weekly or more often, or meetings may be called irregularly as the need arises. The frequency of the meetings depends on the work of the committee and the needs of the parent body. When the committee completes its work, it provides the results in a report to its parent body. The report may include the methods used, the facts uncovered, the conclusions reached, and any recommendations. If the committee is not ready to report, it may provide a partial report or the assembly may discharge the committee of the matter so that the assembly can handle it. Also, if members of the committee are not performing their duties, they may be removed or replaced by the appointing power. Whether the committee continues to exist after presenting its report depends on the type of committee. Generally, committees established by the

bylaws A by-law (bye-law, by(e)law, by(e) law), or as it is most commonly known in the United States bylaws, is a set of rules or law established by an organization or community so as to regulate itself, as allowed or provided for by some higher authorit ...

or the organization's rules continue to exist, while committees formed for a particular purpose go out of existence after the final report.

Commit (motion)

parliamentary procedure Parliamentary procedure is the accepted rules, ethics, and customs governing meetings of an assembly or organization. Its object is to allow orderly deliberation upon questions of interest to the organization and thus to arrive at the sense or t ...

, the motion to commit (or refer) is used to refer another motion—usually a main motion—to a committee. A motion to commit should specify to which committee the matter is to be referred, and if the committee is a special committee appointed specifically for purposes of the referred motion, it should also specify the number of committee members and the method of their selection, unless that is specified in the bylaws. Any proposed amendments to the main motion that are pending at the time the motion is referred to a committee go to the committee as well. Once referred, but before the committee reports its recommendations back to the assembly, the referred motion may be removed from the committee's consideration by the motion to discharge a committee.

Recommit

In the

United States House of Representatives The United States House of Representatives, often referred to as the House of Representatives, the U.S. House, or simply the House, is the Lower house, lower chamber of the United States Congress, with the United States Senate, Senate being ...

, a motion to recommit can be made with or without instructions. If the motion is made without instructions, the bill or resolution is simply sent back to the committee. If the motion is made with instructions and the motion is agreed to, the chairman of the committee in question will immediately report the bill or resolution back to the whole House with the new language. In this sense, a motion to recommit with instructions is effectively an amendment.

Variations for full assembly consideration

In ''Robert's Rules of Order Newly Revised'' (''RONR''), the motion to commit has three variations which do not turn a question over to a smaller group, but simply permit the assembly's full meeting body to consider it with the greater freedom of debate that is allowed to committees. These forms are to go into a

committee of the whole A committee of the whole is a meeting of a legislative or deliberative assembly using procedural rules that are based on those of a committee, except that in this case the committee includes all members of the assembly. As with other (standing) c ...

, to go into a quasi-committee of the whole, and to consider informally. Passing any of these motions removes the limitations on the number of times a member can speak. ''

The Standard Code of Parliamentary Procedure ''The Standard Code of Parliamentary Procedure'' (formerly the ''Sturgis Standard Code of Parliamentary Procedure'' by Alice Sturgis) is a book of rules of order. It is the second most popular parliamentary authority in the United States after ' ...

'' has informal consideration, but does not have "committee of the whole" and "quasi committee of the whole".

Discharge a committee

In ''Robert's Rules of Order Newly Revised'', the motion to discharge a committee is used to take a matter out of a committee's hands before the committee has made a final report on it. A committee can use this motion to discharge a subcommittee. The vote required is a

majority vote A majority, also called a simple majority or absolute majority to distinguish it from related terms, is more than half of the total.Dictionary definitions of ''majority'' aMerriam-Webster Otherwise, it requires a majority vote with

previous notice In parliamentary procedure, a motion is a formal proposal by a member of a deliberative assembly that the assembly take certain action. Such motions, and the form they take are specified by the deliberate assembly and/or a pre-agreed volume detaili ...

; or a

two-thirds vote A supermajority, supra-majority, qualified majority, or special majority is a requirement for a proposal to gain a specified level of support which is greater than the threshold of more than one-half used for a simple majority. Supermajority r ...

; or a

majority of the entire membership A supermajority, supra-majority, qualified majority, or special majority is a requirement for a proposal to gain a specified level of support which is greater than the threshold of more than one-half used for a simple majority. Supermajority r ...

. Under ''The Standard Code of Parliamentary Procedure'', the assembly that has referred a motion or a matter to a committee may, by a majority vote, withdraw it at any time from the committee, refer it to another committee, or decide the question itself.

Types

Executive committee

Organizations with a large board of directors (such as international labor unions, large corporations with thousands of stock holders or national and international organizations) may have a smaller body of the board, called an ''executive committee'', handle its business. The executive committee may function more like a board than an actual committee. In any case, an executive committee can only be established through a specific provision in the charter or

of the entity (i.e. a board cannot appoint an executive committee without authorization to do so). Members of the executive committee may be elected by the overall franchised membership or by the board, depending on the rules of the organization, and usually consist of the CEO and the

Vice Presidents A vice president, also director in British English, is an officer in government or business who is below the president (chief executive officer) in rank. It can also refer to executive vice presidents, signifying that the vice president is on t ...

in charge of respective directorates within the organization. However formed, an executive committee only has such powers and authority that the governing documents of the organization give it. In some cases, it may be empowered to act on behalf of the board or organization, while in others, it may only be able to make recommendations.

Conference committee

Governments at the national level may have a ''conference committee''. A conference committee in a

bicameral Bicameralism is a type of legislature, one divided into two separate assemblies, chambers, or houses, known as a bicameral legislature. Bicameralism is distinguished from unicameralism, in which all members deliberate and vote as a single grou ...

legislature is responsible for creating a compromise version of a particular

bill Bill(s) may refer to: Common meanings * Banknote, paper cash (especially in the United States) * Bill (law), a proposed law put before a legislature * Invoice, commercial document issued by a seller to a buyer * Bill, a bird or animal's beak Plac ...

when each house has passed a different version. A conference committee in the United States Congress is a temporary panel of negotiators from the

House of Representatives House of Representatives is the name of legislative bodies in many countries and sub-national entitles. In many countries, the House of Representatives is the lower house of a bicameral legislature, with the corresponding upper house often c ...

and the

Senate A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or chamber of a bicameral legislature. The name comes from the ancient Roman Senate (Latin: ''Senatus''), so-called as an assembly of the senior (Latin: ''senex'' meaning "the el ...

. Unless one chamber decides to accept the other's original bill, the compromise version must pass both chambers after leaving the conference committee. The committee is usually composed of the senior members of the standing committees that originally considered the legislation in each chamber. Other countries that use conference committees include France, Germany, Japan, and Switzerland. In Canada, conference committees have been unused since 1947. In the

European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational political and economic union of member states that are located primarily in Europe. The union has a total area of and an estimated total population of about 447million. The EU has often been des ...

(EU) legislative process, a similar committee is called a '

Conciliation Committee A formal trilogue meeting, more commonly known as a trilogue, is a type of meeting used in the European Union (EU) legislative process. It takes its name from a literary form, the trilogue, which means a conversation with three parties. Trilogue ...

', which carries out the

Trilogue A trilogue is a literary form in which an imagined conversation between three participants is recorded. Extant examples suggest that it is used especially to treat scientific, especially chemical and philosophical, topics. References Dialogues ...

negotiations in case the

Council A council is a group of people who come together to consult, deliberate, or make decisions. A council may function as a legislature, especially at a town, city or county/shire level, but most legislative bodies at the state/provincial or natio ...

does not agree with a text amended and adopted by the

European Parliament The European Parliament (EP) is one of the legislative bodies of the European Union and one of its seven institutions. Together with the Council of the European Union (known as the Council and informally as the Council of Ministers), it adopts ...

at a second reading. Although the practice has fallen out of favour in other Australian Parliaments, the

Parliament of South Australia The Parliament of South Australia is the bicameral legislature of the Australian state of South Australia. It consists of the 47-seat House of Assembly ( lower house) and the 22-seat Legislative Council (upper house). General elections are ...

still regularly appoints a "Conference of Managers" from each House to negotiate compromises on disputed bills in private.

Different use of term

In organizations, the term "conference committee" may have a different meaning. This meaning may be associated with the conferences, or conventions, that the organization puts together. The committees that are responsible for organizing such events may be called "conference committees".

Standing committee

A standing committee is a subunit of a political or deliberative body established in a permanent fashion to aid the parent assembly in accomplishing its duties, for example by meeting on a specific, permanent policy domain (e.g. defence, health, or trade and industry). A standing committee is granted its scope and powers over a particular area of business by the governing documents. Standing committees meet on a regular or irregular basis depending on their function, and retain any power or oversight originally given them until subsequent official actions of the governing body (through changes to law or by-laws) disbands the committee.

Legislatures

Most governmental legislative committees are standing committees. The phrase is used in the legislatures of the following countries: * Australia **

Australian House of Representatives committees Parliamentary committees of the Australian House of Representatives are groups of Members of Parliament, appointed by the House of Representatives, to undertake certain specified tasks. They comprise government and non-government Members and have ...

Australian Senate committees The committees of the Australian Senate are committees of Senators, established by the Australian Senate, for purposes determined by that body. Senate committees are part of the operation of the Australian parliament, and have for some decade ...

* Canada **

List of committees of the Canadian House of Commons The House of Commons of Canada (french: Chambre des communes du Canada) is the lower house of the Parliament of Canada. Together with the Crown and the Senate of Canada, they comprise the bicameral legislature of Canada. The House of Commons is ...

** Standing committee (Canada) * China **

Standing Committee of the National People's Congress The Standing Committee of the National People's Congress of the People's Republic of China (NPCSC) is the permanent body of the National People's Congress (NPC) of the People's Republic of China (PRC), which is the highest organ of state po ...

Politburo Standing Committee of the Chinese Communist Party The Politburo Standing Committee (PSC), officially the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China Central Committee, is a committee consisting of the top leadership of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). Histori ...

Iceland Iceland ( is, Ísland; ) is a Nordic island country in the North Atlantic Ocean and in the Arctic Ocean. Iceland is the most sparsely populated country in Europe. Iceland's capital and largest city is Reykjavík, which (along with its s ...

List of standing committees of the Icelandic parliament The following is a list of standing committee A committee or commission is a body of one or more persons subordinate to a deliberative assembly. A committee is not itself considered to be a form of assembly. Usually, the assembly sends matte ...

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...

Committees of the Oireachtas Committees and Sub-Committees and Select Committees of Dáil Éireann and Joint Committees of Dáil Éireann and Seanad Éireann are small groups of Deputies of the lower and Senators of the upper houses of the Oireachtas, the parliament of th ...

* Hong Kong ** Legislative Council (Hong Kong) § Committee system * India ** Standing committee (India) *

Malaysia Malaysia ( ; ) is a country in Southeast Asia. The federation, federal constitutional monarchy consists of States and federal territories of Malaysia, thirteen states and three federal territories, separated by the South China Sea into two r ...

Dewan Rakyat committees The following is the list of members of Dewan Rakyat committees, which comprise Committee of Selection, House Committee, Standing Orders Committee, Committee of Privileges The Commons Select Committee of Privileges is appointed by the House of ...

** Dewan Negara committees * New Zealand **

New Zealand House of Representatives committees Parliamentary committees of the New Zealand House of Representatives are groups of MPs appointed by the House of Representatives and tasked with overseeing bills and government policy in detail. Committees for the 53rd Parliament are established ...

* United Kingdom **

Parliamentary committees of the United Kingdom The parliamentary committees of the United Kingdom are committees of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Each consists of a small number of Members of Parliament from the House of Commons, or peers from the House of Lords, or a mix of both, app ...

Public bill committee In the British House of Commons, public bill committees (known as standing committees before 2006) consider Bills – proposed Acts of Parliament. The House of Lords does not have such committees, as Bills are usually considered by the House as a ...

* United States **

Standing committee (United States Congress) In the United States Congress, standing committees are permanent legislative panels established by the United States House of Representatives and United States Senate rules. (House Rule X, Senate Rule XXV.) Because they have legislative jurisd ...

Under the laws of the United States of America, a standing committee is a

Congressional committee A congressional committee is a legislative sub-organization in the United States Congress that handles a specific duty (rather than the general duties of Congress). Committee membership enables members to develop specialized knowledge of the ...

permanently authorized by

and

United States Senate The United States Senate is the upper chamber of the United States Congress, with the House of Representatives being the lower chamber. Together they compose the national bicameral legislature of the United States. The composition and pow ...

rules. The

Legislative Reorganization Act of 1946 The Legislative Reorganization Act of 1946 (also known as the Congressional Reorganization Act, ch. 753, , enacted August 2, 1946) was the most comprehensive reorganization of the United States Congress in history to that date. Background The n ...

greatly reduced the number of committees, and set up the legislative committee structure still in use today, as modified by authorized changes via the orderly mechanism of rules changes.

Examples in organizations

Examples of standing committees in organizations are an audit committee, an elections committee, a finance committee, a fundraising committee, a governance committee, and a program committee. Typically, the standing committees perform their work throughout the year and present their reports at an annual meeting of the organization. These committees continue to exist after presenting their reports, although the membership in the committees may change.

Nominating committee

A nominating committee (or nominations committee) is a group formed for the purpose of nominating candidates for office or the board in an organization. It may consist of members from inside the organization. Sometimes a governance committee takes the role of a nominating committee. Depending on the organization, this committee may be empowered to actively seek out candidates or may only have the power to receive nominations from members and verify that the candidates are eligible. A nominating committee works similarly to an electoral college, the main difference being that the available candidates, either nominated or "written in" outside of the committee's choices, are then voted into office by the membership. It is a part of governance methods often employed by corporate bodies, business entities, and social and sporting groups, especially clubs. The intention is that they be made up of qualified and knowledgeable people representing the best interests of the membership. In the case of business entities, their directors will often be brought in from outside, and receive a benefit for their expertise. In the context of nominations for awards, a nominating committee can also be formed for the purpose of nominating persons or things held up for judgment by others as to their comparative quality or value, especially for the purpose of bestowing awards in the arts, or in application to industry's products and services. The objective being to update, set, and maintain high and possibly new standards.

Steering committee

A steering committee is a committee that provides guidance, direction and control to a project within an organization. The term is derived from the

steering Steering is a system of components, linkages, and other parts that allows a driver to control the direction of the vehicle. Introduction The most conventional steering arrangement allows a driver to turn the front wheels of a vehicle using ...

mechanism that changes the steering angle of a vehicle's wheels. Project steering committees are frequently used for guiding and monitoring IT projects in large organizations, as part of

project governance Project governance is the management framework within which project decisions are made. Project governance is a critical element of any project, since the accountabilities and responsibilities associated with an organization's business as usual ...

. The functions of the committee might include building a business case for the project, planning, providing assistance and guidance, monitoring the progress, controlling the project scope and resolving conflicts. As with other committees, the specific duties and role of the steering committee vary among organizations.

Special committee

A special committee (also working, select, or ad hoc committee) is established to accomplish a particular task or to oversee a specific area in need of control or oversight. Many are research or coordination committees in type or purpose, and are temporary. Some are a sub-group of a larger society with a particular area of interest which are organized to meet and discuss matters pertaining to their interests. For example, a group of astronomers might be organized to discuss how to get the larger society to address

near Earth object A near-Earth object (NEO) is any small Solar System body whose orbit brings it into proximity with Earth. By convention, a Solar System body is a NEO if its closest approach to the Sun (perihelion) is less than 1.3 astronomical units (AU). ...

s. A subgroup of engineers and scientists of a large project's development team could be organized to solve some particular issue with offsetting considerations and trade-offs. Once the committee makes its final report to its parent body, the special committee ceases to exist.

Subcommittee

A committee that is a

subset In mathematics, Set (mathematics), set ''A'' is a subset of a set ''B'' if all Element (mathematics), elements of ''A'' are also elements of ''B''; ''B'' is then a superset of ''A''. It is possible for ''A'' and ''B'' to be equal; if they are ...

of a larger committee is called a ''subcommittee''. Committees that have a large workload may form subcommittees to further divide the work. Subcommittees report to the parent committee and not to the general assembly.

Committee of the whole

When the entire assembly meets as a committee to discuss or debate, this is called a "

". This is not an actual committee but a procedural device that is more commonly used in legislative bodies.

Central Committee

Central Committee Central committee is the common designation of a standing administrative body of Communist party, communist parties, analogous to a board of directors, of both ruling and nonruling parties of former and existing socialist states. In such party org ...

" was the common designation of a standing administrative body of

communist parties A communist party is a political party that seeks to realize the socio-economic goals of communism. The term ''communist party'' was popularized by the title of ''The Manifesto of the Communist Party'' (1848) by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels. A ...

, analogous to a

board of directors A board of directors (commonly referred simply as the board) is an executive committee that jointly supervises the activities of an organization, which can be either a for-profit or a nonprofit organization such as a business, nonprofit organiz ...

, whether ruling or non-ruling in the 20th century and of surviving communist states in the 21st century. In such party organizations the committee would typically be made up of delegates elected at a

party congress The terms party conference (UK English), political convention ( US and Canadian English), and party congress usually refer to a general meeting of a political party. The conference is attended by certain delegates who represent the party membe ...

. In those states where it constituted the state power, the Central Committee made decisions for the party between congresses, and usually was (at least nominally) responsible for electing the

Politburo A politburo () or political bureau is the executive committee for communist parties. It is present in most former and existing communist states. Names The term "politburo" in English comes from the Russian ''Politbyuro'' (), itself a contraction ...

. In non-ruling Communist parties, the Central Committee is usually understood by the party membership to be the ultimate decision-making

authority In the fields of sociology and political science, authority is the legitimate power of a person or group over other people. In a civil state, ''authority'' is practiced in ways such a judicial branch or an executive branch of government.''The N ...

between Congresses once the process of

democratic centralism Democratic centralism is a practice in which political decisions reached by voting processes are binding upon all members of the political party. It is mainly associated with Leninism, wherein the party's political vanguard of professional revo ...

has led to an agreed-upon position.

References

{{Authority control Human communication Legislatures Meetings Parliamentary procedure Political communication