Testifying in front of a legislative committee can feel intimidating but it’s one of the most impactful actions you can take when advocating for animals. We hope the information on this page will give you a sense of what to expect and help you feel more prepared and comfortable. Always feel free to contact us at advocacy@mspca.org. We’re happy to answer any and all questions, and to help you prepare your testimony if helpful.
Read on for more detailed advice, including how to structure your testimony and what to expect, but here are a few key things to keep in mind:
- The most important element of your testimony will be what makes it unique to you, e.g., why you care about the issue, any experiences you’ve had, and so on. (Also, avoid spending a lot of time on points that have already been thoroughly covered; read on for tips on how to do this.)
- You’re not expected—nor should you try—to cover all of an issue’s talking points.
- Legislators enjoy hearing from members of the public. It is exactly what public hearings are designed for. They want to hear from you.
- They appreciate and understand that you’ve taken time out of your busy life to speak about an issue you care about.
- It is extremely unlikely that they’ll grill you or try to “gotcha” you. They do not expect you to be a subject matter expert!
The Process
The State House website maintains a calendar of hearings and events. You can also find hearing information on our state legislation webpage. Animal Action Team members will also receive notifications from us when an important hearing is coming up. Please join the team if you haven’t already.
Every bill in the Massachusetts legislature is assigned a hearing, where any and all citizens are welcome to express their opinion on legislation.
Signing up
All hearings are hybrid, so you can testify remotely or in person at the State House. Testimony sign up is online. Typically you must sign up a couple days in advance of the hearing. Time and location details will be available on the page where you sign up and also in an email you will receive. Whether you sign up for in person or remote testimony, any confirmation and reminder emails you receive will contain both in person location details and the remote testimony link.
How do I get there if I’m testifying in person?
If you are coming to the hearing in person, please allow time for traffic, parking, and going through security. See here for a map and directions to the State House. The least expensive parking option is the garage underneath Boston Common (see map and rates). Please be aware that parking at the Boston Common requires walking several blocks uphill to the State House.
Enter the State House either through the Ashburton Entrance on Bowdoin Street (this entrance is accessible) or the General Hooker Entrance on Beacon Street. You will need to pass through a metal detector. There are always several park rangers inside the entrance who can help direct you within the building.
Plan to get to the hearing room 15-20 minutes early if you would like to get a seat. (Sometimes you have to wait a little while for your turn.) You should also factor in 10-15 minutes for getting through security.
During the hearing
Hearings generally start with testimony from legislators, likely the bill sponsors and/or co-sponsors. (Legislators will be taken out of turn during the hearing, too.) The Committee Chairs will then call the names of people who have signed up. There’s unfortunately no way to know when you will be called upon to give your testimony, so you need to remain present while waiting for your turn.
During most hearings more than one bill is typically heard, so you should be prepared to potentially wait for discussions of other legislation to take place first. Committee members will try to group testimony by bill and, within a given bill, they will try to group pro and con testimonies.
Your Testimony
Tip: The two most important things to strive for in your testimony are authenticity and brevity!
What should I say?
When providing testimony, whether oral or written, it’s best to tell your unique story. For example, you could talk about why these bills matter to you and how it affects the animals you care about. This also helps you avoid repeating what others have already said.
Following is a basic outline to follow for oral testimony.
- I. Intro:
- Good morning Chair [name], Chair [name], and members of the committee.
- Thank you for hearing my testimony.
- My name is _______ and I live in __________.
- I’m testifying in support of [bill number(s) and title].
- II. Body:
- A. One or two “talking points.” E.g., the number of animals affected, public health risks, connections to other issues like the housing crisis, etc.
- B. This part of your testimony is the most important. It’s what most makes it unique to you. When crafting this part, it can be helpful to reflect on what it is about this legislation or this issue that is motivating you to testify; it’s no small thing to take time out of your busy life to speak to legislators—what drove you to take the time to do this? Overall, try to focus your testimony on the aspect(s) of the issue that matter the most to you and/or how you came to care about this.
- Conclusion: “Thank you for hearing my testimony and for your time and consideration.”
Important tips
- You can expect to have TWO (2) minutes to speak. It’s very important to keep your testimony to that amount of time or less. Do not go over time. Run through your testimony a couple times to be sure it does not exceed two minutes.
- As part of your preparation, check to see if your legislator(s) are on the committee. If they are, that means your voice is all the more important! Be sure to let them know that you are a constituent at the start of your testimony.
- It is okay to not know everything. The committee does not expect you to be an issue expert!! If they ask you a question and you don’t know the answer, it’s fine to simply say so and that you’ll find out and get back to them. Let us know and we can help with follow up.
- Always remain calm and professional. It can be difficult sometimes, but do not get heated, no matter what the “other side” says or does.
- Avoid repetition! If possible, try not to repeat what other advocates have already thoroughly covered. Sometimes this means you’ll have to adjust your testimony during the actual hearing. That can be tricky, but these tips can help:
- Legislators really appreciate it when you explicitly acknowledge that something has already been talked about because it shows that you’ve been paying attention. So instead of repeating something that’s already been said, you can say: “I want to be mindful of the committee’s time so I won’t go into detail on [xxx] as that’s already been well-covered but I do want to just emphasize that those [dangers/abuses/etc.] are very alarming to me too.” And/or something like, “Learning about [such-and-such], as another advocate has discussed, also had the same sort of impact on me.” Another option is: “I’d like to emphasize so-and-so’s testimony and ask the committee to support/oppose the bill.”
- The unique part of your testimony of course will always be worth saying!
- If you plan to drill down into a point more than has already been done, that’s totally fine since that’s bringing in new information.
- Do not worry about your testimony being too short. Toward the end of a long hearing, brief testimonies are quite well-received by the committee. Even if you end up shortening your testimony to 15 seconds in order to avoid repeating what others have already said (especially at the end of a long hearing!) it still has JUST as much of an impact. Simply your presence and your having taken the time to testify before them is impactful.
- Even if you give oral testimony, if possible, please submit written testimony as well, which can be submitted up to two weeks after the hearing. Your written testimony can simply be your oral testimony, or you can add more detail if you’d like. In terms of where to email it, you can ask us or the committee contact person. (This information will probably also be on the hearing sign up page and in a confirmation/reminder email you will receive from the committee.)
To sum up, two things that always strengthen your testimony are authenticity and brevity. Speak to what you feel most comfortable and most passionate about and why you think this issue matters. And keep it short!
What else can I do to prepare?
