How to Testify
Senate committees and subcommittees are established by the Senate Majority Leader, who also assigns membership to each committee.
When a bill, joint resolution, resolution, or concurrent resolution is introduced in the Senate, it may be referred to a standing committee. Once referred, committee members can review the legislative item. The chair will determine whether to hold a public hearing on a legislative item and has the option to schedule multiple hearings on that item. If there a public hearing is held, the sponsor, interested parties, and the public will have the opportunity to testify before the committee including to urge passage, to urge rejection, or to suggest changes.
The list of Senate committees is available on the main committees page, with additional details, including membership, meeting schedules, and legislative activity, found on each committee’s individual subpage.
The Michigan Legislature’s Michigan Citizen’s Guide offers the below advice on how to contribute to the committee process:
Monitoring Bills/Resolutions and Requesting Hearings
If you become aware that a bill or resolution of interest to you has been introduced, you can monitor it on the Legislature’s website (legislature.mi.gov), including the committee to which the bill or resolution has been referred. You may sign up for notice on the Legislature’s website for information about the committee’s schedule and/or the legislative item in question. You may also write to the chair of that committee requesting that the legislative item be scheduled for a hearing. Bills and resolutions do not automatically receive a hearing once they are referred to a committee, so calls, letters, and emails about a particular bill or resolution may increase the chances that it receives a committee hearing. Committee chair information can be found on subpages of the individual committees.
Testifying
When a legislative item is scheduled to receive a hearing and if you feel there are contributions you can make to the committee process, you may decide to testify at the hearing. The purpose of providing testimony is to inform committee members about the bill or resolution and the consequences of its passage. During a committee meeting, the sponsor, experts on the issue, and members of the public will normally be given an opportunity to speak about the legislative item, and committee members may ask questions.
Written testimony can be submitted in advance of the committee meeting to the clerk of the committee. Committee clerk contact information is listed on each individual committee subpage. Committee clerks also accept written testimony at the meeting and make index cards available for those wishing to state their position without providing testimony.
Committees may take testimony at multiple meetings before taking action on a legislative item, especially if the issue is complicated or there are a lot of people wishing to provide testimony.
If you find out about a bill or resolution after it has passed in its house of origin, you still may have the opportunity to be heard before the committee in the other house to which it has been referred.
If you would like more information regarding testifying in a committee meeting or providing written testimony, please reach out to the Committee Clerks team via email at OfcSCC@senate.michigan.gov. If you require special accommodations to participate in a committee meeting, please contact the clerk of that particular committee in advance so we can ensure the necessary arrangements are made. Clerk contact information can be found on each committee page.