Montana Shooting Sports Association
by Gary Marbut
Attending public hearings on bills before the Montana Legislature
Speaking for or against a bill at a public hearing on the bill
is the most persuasive thing a citizen may do to affect the
outcome of the bill. It is not difficult to support or
oppose a bill at public hearing, but the interested citizen must
show up at the right time and place to do so. This brief
should give you the information you need to attend and to speak.
Public hearings are held by the committee of the House or Senate
to which a bill is assigned by leadership. Most MSSA bills
tend to be assigned to the Judiciary or Fish and Game committees
of the House and Senate.
Who may attend and speak. Any Montana citizen may attend public hearings,
either to simply listen, or to speak for or against a bill.
Where to go?
The Legislature meets in the State Capitol building in the
southeast quadrant of Helena, near I-15. The Capitol dome
is visible from most of that part of Helena. Each
committee has a room in the Capitol that it normally uses for
business and for public hearings. This room number is
listed on the Legislature's Website for each committee.
This information for the House of Representatives is located at:
(Click
House); and for the Senate at: (Click
Senate)
For example, the House Judiciary Committee meets in Room 137 of
the State Capitol building. In the room number, the first
digit identifies the floor of the Capitol, so Room 137 is on the
first floor. Rarely, for a bill of significant interest a
committee chairman will schedule a public hearing on a bill for
a larger room than the normal committee hearing room.
When to show up.
The official hearing time for a bill is the announced start time
for the committee (also available from the Website). For
example, the House Judiciary Committee meets at 8 AM, Monday
through Friday. Plan to be in the Capitol and in a seat in
the hearing room by at least 10 minutes before the committee
convenes. You may have to wait while the committee conducts
public hearings on bills other than the one you're there for.
Parking.
Finding a parking spot in the Capitol area can be a pain.
Add 20 to 30 minutes to your overall schedule to locate a
parking spot and get into the Capitol building. You may
luck out and find a convenient parking place, but probably
not. Parking is a challenge. Most public parking for
the Capitol is on the South (uphill) side of the Capitol
building.
The bill(s) for which you are present may or may not be the
first bills up on the committee schedule. Just wait,
quietly. It could take as long as two hours for the
hearing to begin on the bill of interest to you, but normally
not that long.
What to do.
Before you enter the committee room, TURN OFF YOUR CELL PHONE or
pager. If your phone rings while the committee is in
session, it is hugely embarrassing for you (everybody stares at
you and smirks) AND you become obligated to buy delivered donuts
for the whole committee. Get into the committee room early
and stake out a seat. You can reserve a seat by putting
your briefcase or coat on it. Minimize conversation inside
the hearing room. After the committee session starts
(committee "comes to order"), there should be NO conversation at
all inside the hearing room above the softest whisper.
This is a respect thing for legislators and others attending the
hearing. If you MUST talk with somebody, leave the hearing
room quietly and have your conversation outside in the
hallway. Even then, keep the volume down. Loud
conversation in the hallway tends to interfere with business in
the committee room.
The process.
The
committee chairman will call the committee to order and announce
the agenda, which will include the order in which bills will be
heard. There may be some brief committee "housekeeping"
business or announcements. Then the chairman will begin
the public hearing process. Here's how that works:
The committee chairman will announce the opening of the public
hearing on a particular bill. The bill sponsor (legislator
carrying the bill) will come to the podium and microphone and
introduce himself or herself, will introduce the bill to the
committee members, will reserve the right to speak last
("close") on the bill, and will surrender the microphone.
The chairman will then call for proponents for the bill, who
will come to the microphone one at a time (more about this
later). Then the chairman will call for opponents of the
bill to speak. Then the chairman will ask for
"informational witnesses" - those with information to provide
but who are not either for or against the bill.
Then the chairman will ask if there are any questions by any
committee members for anyone who has spoken on the bill.
This can be very interesting as committee members attempt to
skewer those witnesses who disagree with the member with hostile
questions. And, others on the committee will ask questions
of witnesses they agree with, trying to underscore arguments
favorable to their position. Although hostile questions
are hostile in nature, decorum is maintained throughout.
If you have spoken on the bill, you incur an obligation to stay
in the room for questions, in case any legislator has a question
for you. Stay in the hearing room until the hearing on
your bill is done.
Finally, after all witnesses have spoken and all questions have
been asked and answered, the chairman will invite the bill
sponsor to "close" on the bill. The sponsor will have been
taking notes of opponent testimony and will attempt to refute
claims and arguments made by opponents, and will hit again on
major points in support of the bill. Then the chairman
will close the public hearing on the bill. The committee
will then proceed to other business, including public hearing on
other bills.
The committee will usually not take action (called "executive
action") on a bill that day. On a subsequent day (usually)
during executive action, committee members will debate the
merits of the bill, may offer and vote on amendments, and will
vote whether or not to pass the bill.
How to dress for a hearing. Dress neat and clean. You want to be a
good representative of your position. Common dress is
business or business casual. Guys should wear some sort of
neckwear. Standard ties are most common, but bolo ties,
Apache ties, and neckerchiefs are not uncommon.
Decorum/demeanor.
Always
be polite, both to legislators and to opponents. If you
feel strongly, it is perfectly appropriate to say, "I feel very
strongly about this." But, do not raise your voice,
interrupt, or use bad language. Remember that all people
have good intentions. People on both sides of a
controversy believe they are the ones wearing the white
hats. Never challenge the intentions of others.
Challenge their facts, challenge their opinions, challenge their
conclusions, but not their intentions.
On bills where you appear as a proponent, since proponents go
first in hearings, you will have NO opportunity during the
hearing to challenge arguments made by bill opponents.
That's just the breaks and how the process works. But, do
feel free to make notes about opponent testimony. You CAN
contact committee members later, when they adjourn the
committee, by phone, by email, or by mail, to refute any
refutable claims by opponents. If you're clever and can predict
arguments opponents are likely to make, you can always raise
those during proponent testimony by saying something like,
“Opponents will probably argue that [then state probable
opponent argument]. I want to inform you that [counter the
imagined argument].”
Order of appearance. Among bill proponents, there will usually be a
"lead proponent," someone especially familiar with the bill,
like myself for MSSA bills and the representative for the
NRA. Give the lead proponent a chance to go first.
Then be prepared to go promptly to the microphone when the
chairman calls for "further proponents."
How to speak to the committee. Be brief! BE BRIEF!! Committee members
spend hours sitting through such testimony. It is said
that you can "talk a bill to death" by talking too long.
It is not uncommon for a committee chairman to announce a fixed
time for proponents and for opponents at the beginning of a
public hearing on a bill. Don't hog the available time so
others can't speak. If you agree with testimony offered by
others, just say, "I agree with all the points mentioned by
other proponents." Then say, "I'd like to raise one (or
two) additional point(s). Plan
to spend no more than two minutes at the microphone - one
minute is better.
What you say.
All comments are made to and through the chairman. When
you go to the microphone, the first thing you say should be,
"Mr. Chairman and members of the committee." Or, "Madam
chair and members of the committee," if a woman chairs the
committee. Then, introduce yourself. "I am Joe Blow
from Roundup." Spell your name, for the record.
After that, give just a bit more information to qualify
yourself, such as "I am a lifetime gun owner and hunter."
Be sure to include in your introduction any positions you hold
that may be applicable, such as "I am the president of the
Liberty County Sportsmen with 400 members in Liberty County, and
I speak for them."
After introducing yourself, say "I rise in support of (or
opposition to) (name of bill, i.e. House Bill 100)." Then
speak of your reasons for support or opposition. Then,
when you are finished, ask committee members to support (or
oppose) the bill. Say, "Mr. Chairman and members of the
committee, please support (bill name - i.e., House Bill
100). Thank you for that support. I'd be glad to
answer any questions." Return to your seat. Any
questions will come later.
Personal testimony is
more persuasive than generic comment. For example, you might
say, “This bill is important to me because ...” and cite some
personal experience.
Again, keep this under two minutes, or
even under one minute.
Nervous?
Of course. It is impossible to not be somewhat
nervous. Just forget that, it comes with the turf.
But, try to appear relaxed and confident. One beauty of
the Montana Legislature is that the people you are speaking to
are just ordinary people, come to Helena every two years to do
the peoples' business. Speak slowly to them, because you
don't want them to miss what you have to say. Use short
sentences. Speak colloquially and casually - speak "from
the heart"-, as you would speak to a gathering of friends.
If you have personal experiences to relate that underscores your
position, those personal experiences are VERY helpful and
persuasive, BUT KEEP THEM SHORT!
Written testimony. NEVER!!! read to a committee from written
testimony. This is offensive to committee members.
If you have anything in writing, you can state during your
testimony that you have written testimony to present to the
committee, then give a copy to the committee secretary at the
conclusion of your testimony. Or, you can come equipped
with enough copies to pass out to committee members plus the
committee secretary. Ask the Chairman for permission to
pass out material to committee members. Do this after you speak, so
committee members will be listening to you, not reading your
material, while you speak. However, legislators have SO
much stuff to read that it is unlikely that they will be able to
attend to written testimony, especially if it is long (multiple
pages). So, don't count on written testimony to make your
point.
Questions from committee members. If you should be called back to the podium for
a question from a committee member, remember that all
conversation goes through the chairman. So, when you
respond, you should say, "Mr. Chairman, Representative X
(whoever asked you the question - last name - they all have name
placards on the table in front of them), …." (Or "Senator"
if it is a Senate committee.) If you aren't up to speed on
the last name of the legislator asking the question, it is OK to
refer to them as just "Representative" or "Senator" without the
last name, but "Mr. Chairman" should always come first.
Better to focus on giving a lucid answer to the question rather
than devoting distracting effort to figuring out the name of the
question asker.
Also, if you don't feel you can give a good answer (especially
for what may be a hostile question), you can always defer the
question to somebody else. Just say, "Mr. Chairman,
Representative (last name if you know it), I don't have the
information to give you an answer and I'd like to defer that
question to (whomever you think can answer it well, such as the
representative from the NRA or MSSA)."
After the conclusion of a hearing on a bill, there will be a
pause in proceedings before the next committee business while
people there for that bill file out of the room. DO NOT
talk in the hearing room or get into loud conversations in the
hallway immediately outside of the hearing room. If you
wish to have conversations with others, walk away from the door
to the hearing room. The committee probably has other
business to conduct and will appreciate the quiet.
Follow-up.
If
you wish to stress any points raised in the hearing, or to cover
any points not covered there, you can probably find the
legislator you wish to address in a hallway somewhere for a
short conversation, or follow-up by email, mail, fax, or
phone. Follow-up is always a good idea. You can use that
to refute points raised by the other side, or to offer a more
considered answer to a question raised by a committee member.
End