Legislature 101

Sponsored by Common Cause Hawai'i and Kanu Hawai'i
Nikki Love, James Koshiba, Olin Lagon

Any citizen can participate in the political process, and the Hawai'i Public Access Room has made it easier than ever to submit testimony on-line.

How to submit testimony:
1) Find a bill in the Legislature that relates to your issue by going to the legislature web page.
2) Use the Bill Status & Documents tab to find a bill by number or using the text search function.
3) Subscribe to hearing notices for the bill you want to follow.
4) When notified of a hearing for a particular bill, go back to the Bill Status and Documents page, click on Submit Testimony Online and follow the directions.

Advice on testimony:
Effective testimony = tell a real story.
or,
Show up in person.

Legislators in attendance:
• Maile Shimabukuro
• Les Ihara

According to these two representatives, for the most part they go into hearings on specific bills and the only people there to testify are lobbyists or other special interests. Both stressed that when they receive testimony from constituents or other citizens they definitely read it. Otherwise the only information they have to go on is what their staffs come up with, but there is no way they can research all facets of all the bills in front of the legislature, or what the lobbyists present. (Last year there were over 2,000 bills at the beginning of the session and only slightly over 300 passed, a 5% passage rate). Citizen-provided testimony at the very least provides a check on what is presented by the lobbyists so that legislators can see if the information jibes. If not, they have questions to ask; if so, they have corroboration that allows them to have more confidence in making a better decision for the people of Hawai'i.

Experts in Attendance:
• Kapua Sproat, Associate Professor, UH Law School
Engaged Citizenship is about the Power of Community vs. the Power of Lobbyists

Kapua Sproat's Top 10 Legislative Practices:
1. familiarize yourself with capitol website (capitol.hawaii.gov)
— bill numbers, companion bills, who is on the committees
2. learn legislative process (sometimes more effective than substance)
— what are referrals? timetables? when is cross-over?
3. do your homework = credibility
4. build on informed base of support (technology, network)
5. make it easy to help people support you
— headers, footers, bill #'s attached to e-mails
6. keep it pithy (concise, sweet— 1 page max. of testimony)
7. start early (start in the fall if possible)
8. keep your friends close and your enemies closer
9. make personal connections (meet your legislators, find how you can help them)
10. respect, give and receive respect

Jeff Mikulina, Blue Planet Foundation
— "policy matters"
— bottle bill
— solar panels on all new houses constructed after Jan. 1, 2010
— "lawmakers work for us", don't be intimidated
— they sometimes do things for their own reasons (values, motivations), not yours
— "if you're explaining, you're losing"
— short attention spans (nobody ever marched on Washington for a pie chart)
— "pursue the pursuadables"
— don't feel a need to respond to people who are set in their opinions
— avoid the extremes, go for the middle