Senate Judiciary chair announces written testimony mailbox, timed hearings and new speaker rules

The chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee on Tuesday introduced a formal set of hearing procedures meant to focus committee time on substantive legal analysis and reduce repetitive public testimony.

The chair said the committee will require people who wish to comment on bills to submit comments to a public mailbox and encouraged members to review those messages before hearings. ‘‘So as opposed to the past when we would go to the room and allow anybody who came in to offer public comment, we don't do that anymore in this committee. We have established a mailbox where we encourage anyone from the public who wishes to speak on a particular bill to send email comments to that public mailbox and encourage members to review that mailbox,’’ the chair said.

The new procedures give sponsors 15 minutes to present a bill and allow sponsors to reserve part of that time for rebuttal. Opponents who coordinate a single spokesperson will also have 15 minutes; otherwise opposition will be limited to 10 minutes total and one minute per individual speaker. The chair said organizers should sign in at least one hour before the meeting to indicate whether opposition is coordinated. ‘‘If the opposition coordinates behind an individual or group who's gonna take the lead in opposition, they'll have 15 minutes to oppose,’’ the chair said.

The chair said the intent is to reduce repetition and allow deeper engagement with experts: organizers should choose speakers and allocate the sponsor’s 15 minutes to avoid many brief, duplicative statements. If groups do not coordinate a spokesperson, the committee will fall back to shorter individual time slots. The chair added that members will receive written procedures in advance of hearings and that routine housekeeping—such as reading lists of supporting or opposing organizations—will be handled from sign-in forms rather than long on-the-record statements.

Committee staff staff member Philip Latagueta described the committee’s analysis framework and cited constitutional review as a starting point for bill analysis: ‘‘The touchstone of our analysis in this committee is the constitution. This is where we start,’’ he said, explaining staff review of titles, separation of powers concerns, duplication with existing law and other technical issues.

The chair told members a visible digital clock will be used to track speaking time and said the chair will curtail tactics the committee considers stall tactics or repetitive delay: ‘‘If the conversation is dragging, if it's intended for stalling, or delay without a real purpose, I'm gonna interject myself as the chair to do that.’’ The chair also said the committee will respect scheduling constraints—such as out-of-state witnesses—and announced that some hearings will be used as informational briefings rather than immediate bill votes.

Several senators welcomed the move toward more structured hearings. Senator Amy Stewart said informational hearings are useful to nonlawyers on the committee, while Senator Antonio Maestas and others said they welcome the chance to vet and improve statutes before passage. Members and staff emphasized sponsors should know the content of bills they present and should work with bill drafters early to avoid technical or statutory conflicts.

The committee printed the written rules and procedures for members to take with them after the meeting and said the rules may be adjusted as needed for specific bills or circumstances.

Ending: The committee will use the new procedures in upcoming hearings and the chair invited members to suggest topics for educational hearings; the rules packet was distributed at the meeting.