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Editor’s Note: The following guest commentary reflects the views and opinions of the author alone and does not necessarily represent the official views of Texas Policy Research, its staff, board, or affiliated organizations. Guest submissions are lightly edited for grammar, formatting, clarity, and length while preserving the author’s voice and arguments.
During a committee hearing on immigration policy, I once mentioned the name César Chávez. A Democrat on the committee leaned forward in his chair and stared at me intently. I noted that Chávez had fought hard for the rights of farm workers already in the United States, but that he also understood the law of supply and demand. To protect the workers already here, Chávez or his companions sometimes went to the border to “persuade” new arrivals to return to Mexico. The committee member slammed his hands on the table, leaned back, and glared. He did not say a word. He did not have to. That moment made my day, and it captured why I keep showing up.
Most Texans never realize how much access they have to the people writing the laws that govern their lives. The Texas legislative process is largely open to the public to witness, and often to shape. Most committee hearings allow public testimony, though some are designated for invited testimony only; the hearing notice will tell you which. Many bills can be commented on online. As James Madison wrote, “Knowledge will forever govern ignorance; and a people who mean to be their own governors must arm themselves with the power which knowledge gives.” In Texas, we have been given exactly that opportunity.
I have testified at committee hearings nearly every week of the 86th, 87th, and 88th legislative sessions. During the 89th session, family responsibilities kept me from Austin, but I still submitted electronic comments on more than 700 different pieces of legislation through the Texas Legislature Online system. I am a retired engineer, not a lobbyist or an activist. I am simply a Texan who decided that being informed wasn’t enough, that showing up matters.
Here is how it works. The Texas Legislature Online (TLO) website (https://capitol.texas.gov) is the starting point for everything: bills being filed, committee hearings being scheduled, and the procedural status of every piece of legislation. The site will also send you email notifications on specific bills or committee hearings. I have mine set to alert me whenever the Homeland Security Committee schedules a hearing, since most Second Amendment legislation moves through that committee.
One thing worth knowing up front: the centralized online comment system through TLO is set up for House committee legislation. For Senate legislation, the process is more old-fashioned. To submit written comments or testimony for a specific Senate committee hearing, you need to either bring hard copies to the Capitol and hand them to the committee clerk before the hearing begins, or mail them to the committee clerk at Texas Senate, P.O. Box 12068, Austin, TX 78711-2068. You can also reach out to your State Senator’s office directly. It is more work than the House process, but it is still real participation, and it still gets read.
If you want to testify in person, the Texas Capitol is a beautiful building that every Texan should visit at least once. Stand in the center of the rotunda on the first floor, look up, and listen to the strange acoustic effects of the dome. While you’re there, stop by your Representative’s or Senator’s office. Their staff is friendly and welcoming to constituents, and building a relationship with them pays off the next time you visit. (A Texas License to Carry, even without a firearm, lets you skip the bag search and metal detector at the entrance, useful on busy days.)
To testify, you will need to register at one of the House or Senate kiosks inside the Capitol building. Set up a password your first time; you won’t have to enter your information again on future visits. Be aware that the committee chair has the authority to call witnesses out of order. I once waited through a busload of citizens who had been bused in from Dallas and were given priority because they had a long drive home. My drive was also long, but I waited my turn. Patience is part of the deal.
Most committee hearings give each witness roughly two minutes to speak, though the time limit is set at the chair’s discretion and can vary. When your time is up, you can offer to take questions. If you’re lucky, a committee member will ask one, which gives you more time to make your case.
I started out uncomfortable with public speaking, so I wrote out everything I wanted to say and practiced until I could fit the words into the two-minute window. Over time, I found a better approach. Instead of writing a full speech, I jot down a few key points I want to make. Then, while I’m waiting my turn, I listen carefully to other witnesses and to what the legislators are saying. When I’m called, I respond to what has already been said in the room, agreeing where I can, pushing back where I should, and working in my own key points along the way. It feels more like conversation than recitation, which is what testimony should be.
One practical note: don’t read from your prepared remarks if you can avoid it. The moment a witness puts their head down to read, the committee members stop listening. Eye contact is how testimony actually lands. Even if you need notes to keep your place, look up regularly.
Over the years, I have had a few memorable moments with my Representative, Ellen Troxclair, who serves on the Homeland Security Committee. Once, after I laid out some facts a committee Democrat didn’t like, he started getting in my face. Representative Troxclair stepped in to defuse the moment. I appreciated the kindness, though I had been planning to handle it myself with more evidence. Another time, when an expert witness was taking so long that I had to step out of the hearing room just to walk around, Representative Troxclair came rushing out to check that I wasn’t leaving for the day. She knew I would support her position when my turn came. That’s what relationship-building with your representative looks like in practice.
Not every hearing has gone well. After the Uvalde shooting, families of the slain children testified at a Homeland Security Committee hearing on gun legislation. They came up to the witness table one by one, placed framed photographs of their children facing the committee, and gave testimony that often ended in tears, with one parent finishing what the other could no longer say. Whatever I thought about the policy debate underway in that room, the grief in front of me was real, and it deserved space. I had signed up to testify, and I had things I believed needed to be said. But it was past midnight, the room was emotionally charged in ways no amount of careful argument was going to penetrate, and I could not see how my two minutes would do anything but harden the people I was hoping to persuade. I walked away without speaking. It is the only time in three sessions I have done that. I do not regret it.
For the 86th, 87th, and 88th sessions, I made it to Austin almost every week. For the 89th, I made it to my keyboard for 700 bills. Both kinds of participation matter. Texas gives ordinary citizens more direct access to the lawmaking process than almost any other state, but that access is only valuable if Texans actually use it. The legislators I have come to know over the years tell me, time and again, that on most bills they hear from only a handful of citizens. The voices that show up shape the bills. The voices that don’t, don’t.
Whatever your views, whatever your district, whatever your schedule, Texas has built a process that lets you in. Walk through the door.
About the Author: Michael Belsick is a retired mechanical engineer who spent more than thirty years working on advanced defense aerospace programs, including the YF-22 and THAAD. After retiring and moving to Texas, he became a regular witness at Texas Capitol committee hearings, testifying nearly every week of the 86th, 87th, and 88th legislative sessions, and submitting written comments on more than 700 pieces of legislation during the 89th session. He is a longtime member of the Fredericksburg Tea Party and lives in Fredericksburg, Texas.
Disclosure: The author writes from his experience as a private citizen who testifies at Texas legislative hearings. He is not a registered lobbyist and reports no financial interest in the legislative process described. He is a member of the Fredericksburg Tea Party. The views expressed are his own.
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