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Overview

The General Assembly always provides opportunities for people to speak to the business before its committees, even if those persons are not themselves Presbyterian. In the truest sense, these are "public hearings" that are "open" to all. Of course, committees do not have unlimited time to hear from people, so there are always limits on how many people can speak and for how long each person can speak. But this year's Assembly will be hybrid (with only commissioners, advisory delegates, and limited resource persons present in the committee rooms), and so the usual limitation that speakers must be at the Assembly will not apply. That does mean, however, the process for requesting to speak and the means for addressing the committee will necessarily involve online technologies.

This resource provides a general overview of the process from signing up to viewing the testimony presented through public hearings. It is designed for both commissioners and advisory delegates who will review public hearing testimony and for those who are not official participants in the assembly who may wish to offer public hearing testimony. 

Before we begin, we want to offer an important reminder: the standing rules of the General Assembly do not permit commissioners and advisory delegates to request to address the committee to which they are assigned through the public hearings process. You will have opportunities to speak to those issues during your community's deliberations.

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