During meetings, the body may temporarily act as a committee to discuss an issue in informal terms while the chair remains in control; what is this called?

• A. Raise a Question of Privilege
• B. Receive a report
• C. Quasi committee of the whole
• D. Recess

Answer: (C)

When a meeting wants to discuss a matter in more informal, detailed terms while keeping the chair in control, the body can operate as a quasi committee of the whole. This setup lets members debate and refine the issue with looser debate rules, similar to a committee meeting, but it isn’t a formal committee of the whole—the chair still presides over the proceedings and the overall meeting structure remains in place. It’s a middle ground that speeds and eases discussion on complex topics, and when the discussion wraps up, the assembly resumes its normal rules and proceeds to voting as usual. This differs from a true committee of the whole, which is a formal transformation of the body into a committee with its own procedural posture, and from simple actions like recess or raising a privilege, which don’t create that informal, committee-like discussion within the main meeting.