How to testify before the Tennessee legislature

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

How Tennessee does it

The General Assembly hears public testimony in House and Senate standing committee meetings, not on the floor, and sign-up happens in person before the meeting starts. House committees use a House Witness Card, historically pink, available at the meeting room and now also reachable through the online House Witness system. Senate committees typically use a sign-up sheet near the room entrance. Either way, you'll list your name, contact information, whether you support or oppose the bill, and how long you intend to speak.

Both chambers livestream committee meetings, so anyone can watch remotely, but signing up to actually testify is done on site. There's no confirmed statewide portal for submitting written testimony from home. The most reliable path for written comments is contacting the committee chair's office directly or delivering material to committee staff before the meeting.

Deadlines and numbers

• Sign-up: in person, via House Witness Card (or online House Witness system) or Senate sign-up sheet
• Speaker time limit: not codified, set by the chair meeting to meeting
• 2026 session: 114th General Assembly's second regular session convened January 13, 2026, adjourned sine die April 23, 2026
• Constitutional cap: 90 legislative (floor) days over a two-year General Assembly, plus up to 15 organizational days at the start of a term

Where to go

• Committee schedules and calendars: wapp.capitol.tn.gov/apps/Schedule/Default
• House Witness sign-up: wapp.capitol.tn.gov/apps/HouseWitness/Index
• Committee rosters and chairs: capitol.tn.gov/committees

Rules

Tennessee doesn't have a confirmed statewide portal for remote or written testimony submitted from home. No official page states a fixed per-speaker time limit. Each chair sets it meeting by meeting. Committee schedules typically post only a few days ahead once session convenes in January, so check the schedule app frequently rather than assuming advance notice. Whether livestreamed committees currently accept remote spoken testimony, as opposed to remote viewing only, could not be confirmed. If that matters for your bill, route the question to /engage.