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Testify at House redistricting hearings: instructions
Testify via Zoom
Testify via Zoom
To register to testify via Zoom, you MUST register 48 Hours before the hearing begins.
Click on Date for RSVP link.
Registration for the hearing is open and will close 48 hours prior to the start timeof the hearing.
Once registration has closed, members of the public will no longer be able to register to be invited to testify at this hearing.
To provide testimony by videoconference, invited witnesses need access to a computer or other device with an internet connection and audio/visual capability. Please note that you must remain visible and audible throughout your testimony. Information for completing the witness affirmation form and obtaining the videoconference link will be sent upon registration.
You will not be called to testify if the Committee does not have a signed Witness Affirmation Form from you 24 hour before the hearing. Once you’ve filled out the RSVP for specific hearing date, you will receive an email from the Committee Clerk, Colleen Garcia, Phone: (512) 463-9948. The email will contain instructions on how to complete your registration and what the rules are to testify virtually.
Complete and sign with a pen the attached Witness Affirmation Form. If you prefer to type your responses, you may do so using the "Fill & Sign" tab.
Scan the document and return by email, or you may send a picture of the form via email.
After your completed Witness Affirmation Forms is received, you will be emailed a Zoom link to testify. Please check your Spam folders. The email may come from Zoom directly.
You will be admitted to the Zoom meeting from the waiting room in small groups. While in the waiting room, please watch your Zoom chat for the order of testimony.
Ensure that the name as it appears on Zoom is recognizable (no nicknames or other party's names), so that they know who to admit from the waiting room.
Please note that after joining the meeting, you will remain in the waiting room until it is your turn to testify. While you wait to be recognized, watch the hearing livestream at https://house.texas.gov/video-audio.
When you are admitted from the waiting room, please mute the livestream of the committee hearing so that it is not audible in the background while you are testifying or waiting to be recognized. Your video and audio will be turned of until it is your turn to testify.
Once it is your turn to testify your video will be turned on and we will ask you to unmute. The House Rules require all virtual participants to be visible and audible for the duration of their testimony. If you are not visible or audible, you will be moved from the Zoom meeting to the waiting room.
After you have completed your testimony, you will be removed from the Zoom meeting, and you may continue to watch the livestream here: https://house.texas.gov/video-audio/.
Testify in person
Testify in person
To testify in-person at the Capital, you’ll need to register when you arrive at one of the kiosks dispersed throughout the building.
To view a video of how to register go to this link and click on the view video on the right hand side.
Public access instructions to the Texas Capital can be found here.
Suggested Items to bring with you: copy of your testimony, COVID mask, phonevcharger, and light sweater.
(Optional) Drop by your House member’s office to let them know you testified.
Keep up to date
Keep up to date
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Take quick action AOTL Action Hub.
Tips on testifying before a House redistricting hearing
Make the most of your TWO minutes.
Prepare. Practice what you’re going to say before you arrive. DO NOT WING IT.
Use the KISS Rule: Keep it simple, Sally
Testimony tips
Thank the Committee and tell them your name and if you represent yourself or a group.
EXAMPLE: Thank you, Mr. Chairman and Committee Members. I am _____, representing myself.
Describe your district and community.
EXAMPLE: I live in the _____ area of Dallas. My neighborhood is close to _____ school, where most of the kids speak English and Spanish. Our community has grown a lot in the last 10 years, but our leadership is the same.
EXAMPLE: I live in Dallas County. The population of my area has exploded;, I understand that we may get a new congressional seat.
Why is gerrymandering harmful to you?
EXAMPLE: No one has been harmed more by map manipulation and voter suppression than Black and Latino communities whose voices have been minimized atin the ballot box and in Congress.
EXAMPLE: I care about addressing gun violence and believe we should expand Medicaid. Neither of these issues have been addressed. Instead, we’ve had special sessions about bathrooms. I don’t get it. People in my district and across the state want solutions not more division.
EXAMPLE: I worry about how divided we are as a country. Gerrymandering and map manipulation only make the problem worse.
What do you want from your elected leaders?
EXAMPLE: I ask that in future you hold hearings with 2 weeks’ notice before hearings and a less cumbersome process to register to testify virtually. I went through a series of steps to appear before you today including—finding the unpublicized hearing on the state website, finding the hearing announcement, using a link in the announcement to sign up, waiting to hear from a committee clerk to send me an affidavit, printing out that form, signing it, taking a picture of the form with my camera phone, sending it to the Committee Clerk, and waiting again for the Zoom link. The impact of redistricting on our state lasts for a decade, given the gravity of the process. The hoops I had to jump here to be here seem to deter millions of people who will have to live with the results of your work.
EXAMPLE: I ask that the Committee draw maps that are fair, competitive, and represent ALL Texans.
EXAMPLE: I ask that you work to end map manipulation and gerrymandering.
Thank the Committee and wait to be excused.
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