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How to testify at a hearing

Public hearings are where one person's voice carries the most weight in the Legislature. Committees hear from anyone who shows up, in the order they signed in. Here's how it works, start to finish.

For the Legislature's own description of the process, see its official overview.

  1. Step 1: Find a hearing

    Committees announce public hearings a few days ahead. Watch the calendar here, or follow a bill to see its hearings. Every hearing links to the official notice with the room, the time and the agenda.

  2. Step 2: Read the official notice

    The notice lists every bill on the agenda in order. Committees usually take bills in agenda order, but the chair can rearrange them. Arriving early is the only way to be sure you're there when your bill comes up.

  3. Step 3: Fill out a hearing slip when you arrive

    Outside the hearing room you'll find appearance slips. Fill one out with your name, who you represent (yourself counts), the bill number, and whether you're for it, against it or providing information only. You can register your position without speaking; registrations are read into the record.

  4. Step 4: Speak to the committee

    The chair calls speakers from the slips. Keep your remarks short, since chairs often set limits when the room is full. Say how the bill affects you, and expect questions from members: it's a conversation, not a speech. Printed copies of longer testimony for the members are welcome.

  5. Step 5: Can't attend? Write instead

    Committee pages list every member. You can email your testimony to the committee chair and members before the hearing and ask that it be included in the record. Your own lawmakers want to hear from you whether or not they sit on the committee.

  6. Step 6: Afterward

    A public hearing doesn't mean a vote. The committee may later hold an executive session to vote the bill forward. Follow the bill here to see every step, or check whether a bill ever got a hearing at all.

Practical details (rooms, slips, the chair's discretion) reflect standing practice at the State Capitol. The notice for your hearing is always the authority on the time and place.