Legislative Information

COMMITTEE TESTIMONY

Information may be easily obtained from the Hawaii State Legislature website: www.capitol.hawaii.gov. Find out which committees your bills have been referred to by checking this website or by contacting your district representative's or senator's office, the Chief Clerk's Office of either the House (Ph: 586-6400/Fax: 586-6401) or the Senate (Ph: 586-6720/Fax: 586-6719).

To get on a committee mailing list to receive copies of agendas, public hearing notices, and informational briefing notices, inform the appropriate committee chair of your interest. The most timely and cost-effective method, however, is to be placed on an automatic e-mail list through the Hawaii State Legislature website listed above.

You may have an opportunity to influence the decision of a committee chair to consider a bill and to schedule the bill for a public hearing by contacting the committee chair or committee clerk as soon as the bill has been referred to the committee. At this time, you should provide the committee chair or committee clerk with background information on the bill and answer any questions that they may have. You may also want to send a letter to the committee chair to raise your concerns about the bill or express your support or opposition to the bill, either as an individual or on behalf of your group or organization.

For the most part, committee chairs control their committee's agenda and schedule the bills that they feel should move through the legislative process. However, you may want to consider communicating your views to the individual members of each committee who may then voice your concerns to the committee chair.

If your bill is scheduled for a public hearing, keep these guidelines in mind:

• When submitting testimony on a bill, the committee may require you to present a minimum number of copies of written testimony to be inserted into individual committee folders for distribution to committee members and staff. Written testimony should be submitted to the appropriate office at least 24 hours prior to the hearing. Testimony may also be delivered via email to House Committees using the appropriate committee email address (see pages. 23 - 24 for House Committee email addresses).
• If you are unable to prepare and submit written testimony in time for a hearing, some committee chairs may allow the presentation of oral comments at the public hearing. However, you should be prepared to submit written testimony summarizing your oral comments as soon as possible after the public hearing.
• Generally, each committee chair follows the order of the bills listed on the agenda.
• As a courtesy to departmental and other government officials who must testify before a number of committees each day, most committee chairs allow government representatives to present their testimony before the general public presents its testimony.

Prepare your oral testimony in advance and be brief unless asked to elaborate. Do not read your written testimony. If you are asked to summarize your oral testimony, comply with the committee chair's request. There may be a large number of bills scheduled and many testifiers. When presenting oral testimony, it helps to:

• Be specific and to the point regarding the bill on which you are testifying.
• Be prepared to answer questions from committee members about your testimony or your position on the bill. If you don't know the answer to the question, just say so. You can always get the information to the committee later.

WRITTEN TESTIMONY OUTLINE

• CHAIR OF THE HOUSE OR SENATE COMMITTEE
  NAME OF THE HOUSE OR SENATE COMMITTEE
• Your name
  The group or organization that you represent (if any)
  A contact number or address
• Day and Date of Hearing
• Your position on the measure and the bill or resolution number, and draft number (if any)
• Introduction:
  1. Introduce who you are and/or the group or organization that you represent;
  2. State the measure you are testifying on; and
  3. State your position on the measure (e.g., "I am testifying in favor of/in support of . . . ." or "I am testifying against/in opposition to ..." or "I am testifying against/in opposition to ..." or "I am providing comments on...")
• Content:
  State or list the reasons for taking your position, starting with the most important or compelling reasons. Include any facts, figures, statements, and experiences to support your position.
• Closing:
  1. Include any closing remarks; and
  2. Reiterate your position on the measure (especially if you did not state your position previously within the testimony).

SAMPLE WRITTEN TESTIMONY

Representative Dwight Y. Takamine, Chair
Representative Noboru Yonamine, Vice-chair
Committee on Labor and Public Employment
Hawaii Health Mothers, Healthy Babies Coalition

Tuesday, March 19, 1991

Support of SB 818 S.D. 1, Relating to Family Leave

The Hawaii Healthy Mothers, Healthy Babies Coalition is part of a national cooperative group of private and non-profit organizations and individuals committed to improving maternal and infant health in the State of Hawaii through educational and advocacy efforts. We strongly support S.B. No. 818, S.D. 1, Relating to Family Leave, which would give employees working for employers of fifty or more employees, the right to 3 months of unpaid parental leave for the birth or adoption of a son or daughter of the employee.

People should not be forced to choose between work and family. We have a situation in the U.S. of supporting children and family in our popular culture, but not fully supporting them in our social policies. Compared to other industrialized nations, the U.S. ranks poorly in several key indicators of children's and families' quality of life. We need to develop social and working policies that adequately support new lives, and the mental and physical health of families.

Even though a number of businesses are beginning to provide parental leave options, this act would broaden this protection to more of Hawaii's workforce. Some will argue that such a policy need not be mandated. Child labor laws had to be mandated, and we are all glad they were. Our society decided that in some cases the family needed legal protection. Unpaid parental leave is a modest but vital step toward recognizing the relationship between job security and family security.

In expanding the options for Hawaii's labor force, we are creating a health-promoting atmosphere and a foundation for future generations of healthy people and healthy families. We urge the committee to pass S.B. No. 818, S.D. 1. Thank you for this opportunity to testify.