How to testify before the Pennsylvania legislature

This page covers what's specific to Pennsylvania. For the general steps of signing up and speaking, see the general guide.

How Pennsylvania does it

The General Assembly is bicameral, and each chamber runs its own hearings. For the 2025-2026 session, both House and Senate operate a hybrid system: oral testimony in person or remotely (often by Zoom, after joining a YouTube livestream and being moved into a videoconference queue when called), plus written submissions.

There's no single statewide portal that centralizes sign-up and written testimony. Instead, each committee posts its own sign-up instructions, witness lists, and testimony submission address on its own hearing notice at palegis.us. To participate, identify the House or Senate committee handling your bill, find its current hearing notice, and follow whatever link or contact is listed there.

Deadlines and numbers

• Sign-up: commonly closes about 2 business days before a hearing, set per committee, not by statute
• Hearing notices: often posted only days in advance, so monitor the committee page or subscribe to alerts
• Speaker time limit: varies by committee and hearing, stated on the individual notice
• 2026 session: runs through November 30, 2026 (two-year session)

Where to go

• House committee hearing notices and archives: palegis.us/house/committees/committee-archives
• Senate committee hearing archive: legis.state.pa.us/cfdocs/legis/cms/Archive.cfm?Chamber=S
• 2026 session calendars: palegis.us/house/session/calendars and palegis.us/senate/session/calendars
• General Assembly homepage (find your legislator, committee assignments): legis.state.pa.us

Rules

Pennsylvania has no single statewide per-speaker time limit or centralized written-testimony portal like some states use. Each committee sets its own time limit and its own submission address, so the hearing notice itself, not a general legislature page, is the authoritative source for a given bill. Because notices post only days ahead, check the relevant committee's page regularly once you know your bill has been referred. If a committee's notice doesn't list clear instructions, route the question to /engage for current committee contacts.