How Washington residents can weigh in during the mostly remote legislative session
When Washington state’s part-time lawmakers kick off the 105-day 2021 legislative session in a mostly remote environment, it’ll be amid a storm of challenges.
Some, such as the ongoing pandemic, are unique to the moment. Others — systemic inequity, overwhelming calls for police accountability, climate change — have long existed. All this, while under a shadow cast by recent events that pose unprecedented security risks.
But many see the opportunity for people all over the state to testify remotely as a silver lining to the challenge of conducting most business virtually.
“I encourage people to get used to going to the legislative website and looking at the bills as they get scheduled,” Sen. Jamie Pedersen, D-Seattle, said at a livestreamed conversation hosted by the Washington Black Lives Matter Alliance this week.
Pedersen, who chairs the Senate Law and Justice Committee, predicted there will be a “quantum leap in terms of engagement” from citizens this session.
For those observing, floor action and committee meetings will be broadcast by TVW, with some airing on TV and all available at tvw.org. Those who want to testify and actively engage can sign up to do so from wherever they are.
First: Find a hearing for a bill you care about
To testify, you’ll need to know when a bill you care about is scheduled for a public hearing. The schedule of committee meetings and links to agendas and documents are available online at leg.wa.gov in the “Agendas, Schedules, and Calendars” section.
There, it’s possible to search by date range, committee, and bill number.
Clicking on a committee meeting agenda allows users to see what bills are scheduled for a hearing with a brief description of each bill, and bill numbers are linked to pages with more information — including the bill itself. The schedule also features a link to access video of each meeting.
There’s an array of ways to sort through bills to find what you care about in the first place. On the “Bill Information” section of the website, users have the ability to search by topic or the legislator who’s sponsoring it.
Sign up or submit testimony
Portals for remote testimony are available online for the state House and Senate.
Senate portal: https://app.leg.wa.gov/CSIRemote/Senate
House portal: https://app.leg.wa.gov/csiremote/house
After a bill appears on an agenda for a hearing and until one hour before the hearing begins, the public can sign up to testify live.
Submitting written testimony is an option until 24 hours after a hearing’s start time. That testimony will be sent to legislators and committee staff, and is included in a bill’s legislative record but not on public-facing bill reports, according to the portals.
Visitors to those portals can find their bill of interest by choosing the committee and meeting time when it’s scheduled for a hearing. After selecting a bill, three options are available: to submit written testimony, testify live, or simply note your position for the legislative record.
There’s a page of information online for people who seek accommodations to testify, such as sign-language interpreter or reader, linked from the portal.
Pages with bill information already featured buttons allowing people to “comment on this bill,” but comments submitted there are treated differently than written testimony. Bill comments are routed to a constituent’s legislators, while the new system saves written testimony in a database where committee members and staff can read them. Staff will later place those comments in the committee file and archive them. This is the same way written statements given to committee staff during in-person hearings were treated.
Be there, remotely
People who want to testify live will be sent a unique Zoom link they can use to participate via video or just audio. Committee chairs will decide the order and length of public testimony, according to plans.
In bold-face on the portals is a message: Registering isn’t a guarantee that a person will be able to testify or speak at specific times.
“Time constraints, technical issues, changes to committee schedules, etc. could affect your ability to testify,” the Senate portal reads.
This story was originally published January 9, 2021 at 10:58 AM.
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