AUSTIN — Uvalde families showed up at the Capitol early last Tuesday, ready to make their case for stricter gun laws after the mass shooting at Robb...
scheduled to start in the morning often haven’t gotten to public testimony until dinner time — or much later.
Lawmakers said scheduling blockbuster public hearings is difficult because there’s no way to know how many people will show up. Because the Legislature meets for only five months every two years, legislators often split their busy days between committee hearings and floor debate, when they vote to advance legislation.
Many allow for only two or three minutes of testimony from each member of the public. Lawmakers can also push people to the front of the line by deeming them “invited testimony.”Public hearings were first mandated in the 1970s, when the lawmakers passed a number of reforms, said Gary Keith, who worked at the Texas Legislature for two decades and taught politics at the University of the Incarnate Word. Late nights and long hearings are not new, he said.
In order to testify, members of the public must register in person at the Capitol when the committee meeting begins. But they may not be called up to speak for hours later.
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