Be a part of the MFOA team that has been giving animals in Maine a voice for over 25 years!
How to Support Maine Friends of Animals’ Legislation
- Read the talking points for the bills. Go to https://mfoa.net for Bill overviews and Fact Sheets.
- Be sure MFOA has your email address to receive our Updates and Action Alerts.
- Find your State Representative and Senator – Maine legislature: https://legislature.maine.gov/
- find my state senator: https://legislature.maine.gov/senate-home-page/find-your-state-senator
- find my state representative: https://legislature.maine.gov/house/house/MemberProfiles/ListAlphaTown
- Share bill information on your social media; ask friends to contact their legislators.
- Write Letters to the Editor (LTE) of your local newspaper(s). Editors prefer to publish concise letters that respond to an article, editorial or an issue before the legislature. LTE 250 words maximum. Limit the subject, be brief and to the point, localize if possible, and end with your most important point.
- Most important: Contact your State Representative and Senator — send them a letter, email and/or call explaining the legislation you hope they will support. Make sure you state the name of the bill and LD # and a brief explanation about what the legislation would do. Concisely explain why the bill is needed and request their vote and support. If you call, leave a short voicemail, again be polite, respectful, and concise. Note: If your legislator serves on the committee one of the MFOA bills is before, as a constituent it is even more important to reach out to them.
- Attend public hearings for the bill(s) in Augusta and give oral testimony, attend by Zoom while also submitting written testimony to the Committee via the Committee clerk (see below).
- Once the bill gets out of committee, email your State Representative and Senator and remind them of your earlier letter / email and urge them to support the bill. And/or call their party office in Augusta and leave a very short message giving your name, address and name the specific bill you want them to vote for:
House Democratic office (207) 287-1430 Senate Democratic office (207) 287-1515 House Republican office (207) 287-1440 Senate Republican office (207) 287-1505
GUIDELINES FOR PREPARING, WRITING, and GIVING TESTIMONY
Committee meetings are live-streamed using the Legislature’s streaming service (not YouTube) by going to the date of the committee meeting on the legislature calendar https://legislature.maine.gov/Calendar/
All most all MFOA and animal welfare bills come before one of three committees: Committee on Agriculture, Conservation and Forestry, Committee on Inland, Fisheries and Wildlife or Committee on Judiciary.
You can submit written testimony, Zoom testimony or testify at a public hearing in the committee room on any legislative bill.
Giving testimony is one of the most effective ways to educate legislators and policy-makers about the impact, either positive or negative, of the proposed legislation. Legislators have many bills that come before them and do not have time to be in well informed on all of them – and either way they respect your being there.
WRITTEN AND ZOOM TESTIMONY:
Go to https://legislature.maine.gov, at the bottom right of the page, click on ‘Testimony Submission’, then on ‘Public Hearing’, which will open up to the drop-down list ‘Choose Committee’. Select the committee that will hear the bill. Choose the date of the hearing, then check LD # “An Act to …..(name of the bill)”, and enter your testimony, can be cut and pasted or downloaded as a document. Complete the rest of the form and submit. Your testimony may not be online until closer to the hearing. Written testimony can be as long as needed, but concise, shorter testimony is more likely to be read – legislators are busy.
Zoom participation is good if you cannot give in-person testimony and still be seen remotely in the committee room. Once you enter your testimony, also click on ‘I would like to testify electronically over Zoom’ you will be sent a link for the meeting, but you must still enter your written testimony and submit it. Zoom testifying is easy, but like in-person testimony, has a 3-minute limit.
PROVIDING ORAL TESTIMONY AT COMMITTEE
There is strength and political persuasion in numbers. Being in the committee room matters.
- No pre-registration is required for in-person hearing testimony.
- Most Committees have a three-minute rule. Practice your speech at a regular pace so you can comfortably complete it in three minutes. You can always submit supportive materials and data attached to your actual testimony. You also can elaborate if the Committee asks you a question after your testimony. Use the question time to not only ask the question, but perhaps refer to a key point in your testimony you wish to add to or underscore. Often, they will not ask follow-up questions.
- Print one copy of your testimony in large font to make it easier to read / refer to. Highlight the keywords. Time is limited, so it is often good to read your testimony to be sure you say what you want to in 3 minutes. Memorizing pieces of the speech is helpful or a pause after a key point allows you to occasionally make eye contact with committee,
- Practicing your speech as it’s written can sound different than when given orally. Write your remarks like you talk.
- Wear business casual clothes, and clothing you are comfortable in.
- Arrive early to get a seat in the Committee Room and in rare cases, to sign up to provide testimony. It also allows you to perhaps chat with a legislator(s) in the room before the hearing begins.
- Walk to the podium, leave your testimony and then walk to side of committee desks to give the Committee Clerk 20 copies of your testimony to pass out to the committee and staff. Give the clerk a minute to pass the testimony to the committee members. The three minutes does not start until you begin your remarks.
Follow this as the appropriate heading for your testimony:
Line 1 - Your name, your title, if applicable
Line 2. In Support of (or Against) LD #___ “An Act to ……….”
Line 3. Committee on (Inland Fisheries and Wildlfie, etc.) and the date of the hearing.
Begin testimony with, “Good afternoon (morning) “Senator____________, Representative_____________ [Senate and House chair], and members of the Committee on (Inland Fisheries and Wildlife” etc.). Identify yourself and the organization you represent (if applicable), and what town/city you are from.
- Stay calm. Don’t be intimidated. The legislators may know little about the bill and need and want to hear your input, and/or they may not be aware of the implications of a particular piece of legislation. Remember they want to hear your testimony to help them better understand the bill.
- Be concise, and as noted, no longer than three minutes. Clearly present your position, stating as either “For” or “Against” the proposed bill; provide factual arguments and data as evidence to support your position; offering a personal story or anecdote to demonstrate your position can be powerful; conclude with a review of your position at the end of your testimony.
- Keep your testimony simple and straightforward. Confine your remarks to the facts and your area of expertise.
- Try not to repeat points made by speakers ahead of you. If all of the points you wanted to make have been made, tell the Committee you agree with the testimony given by the preceding speakers, offer anything different, and urge them to take the appropriate action.
- Conclude by thanking the Committee for the opportunity to provide testimony; ask them to vote ‘out-to-pass” (or ought-not-to-pass) for LD ___; and offer to answer any questions they may have.
- Often you are not asked questions after you give your testimony, but it is prudent to anticipate questions you might be asked by the Committee and prepare / practice answering them.
- Answer only those questions that you can answer correctly, as clearly and succinctly as you can. If you are not sure how to answer a question, simply say you are not sure, and offer to find the answers to their question, which you would provide the Committee (via the clerk) with the information.
- Do not argue with members of the Committee or people giving opposing testimony. Always be polite and respectful of the procedure and the participants in the hearing.
