The hearing will start at 8am with an overview of the bill and questions among House committee members of the author, Chairman Buckley. It'll go from there to invited testimony, which could last several hours.
Just before 10, they'll adjourn for several hours of House floor business. You can go to the gallery and watch them or take a break to have a snack, recharge your devices, and hone your testimony with friends (we'll be in E2.024). Depending on how long House business is, that break is generally 2-ish hours (give or take an hour) this early in the session. But we really have no idea until it happens.
When the House business is concluded, we'll all make our way back to the hearing room and the hearing will start up again. I would expect that we'll hear another hour or more of invited testimony, by that's just a guess - this is a hot bill so they'll be trying to score points by asking lots of questions during this portion on Tuesday, is my guess.
When that is done they move on to public testimony. That's us.
You'll get called, more or less, in the order you registered. So folks who registered first thing at 7am will be called early-to-mid-to-late afternoon - much earlier than those who register at noon, or whenever he cuts off testimony. Those of us who can't be there until later will be called later. Hearings like this typically go until late evening or early morning hours so plan on hanging out with us until late. Most of the professionals get there early to register so we humans-with-responsibilities tend to be among the last half of folks called. Most folks are registered by 8:30, so the difference between when you get called after registering at 9 and 11:30 is negligible.
We will have folks helping us keep track of how many people are registered and where the committee is on the list throughout the day and evening, which helps us get a better sense of timing as the day goes on. So keep track of what time you registered, who else might be registering at kiosks near you (they'll all go on the same list). That'll help. But prepare to be there from late-afternoon through early evening waiting to be called with the rest of us because there's no way to get it exactly right and it'll get chaotic if those of us down there also have to try to keep track of schedules for everyone who isn't.
None of this is set in stone but should give you a general idea of how the day might go so hopefully it gives you a little bit of info to plan your day around. We have friends under the dome who will be providing food and snacks for us throughout the day and evening so don't worry about starving while you're down here. In fact, we have a lot of fun and I hope y'all will come away inspired and ready to do it again.
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