Madison NORML

There will be a combined public hearing of the Senate Committee on Health, Health Insurance, Privacy, Property Tax Relief, and Revenue and the Assembly Committee on Public Health on Tuesday, December 15, 2009 at 10am in Room 412 East at the State Capitol.

Interested parties who attend the hearing may register in support of the JRMMA, submit written testimony, and/or testify in person. Arrive early to complete a hearing registration card. A tally will be made of those registering for and against. Written testimony will be made available to all members of both committees. Please dress respectfully of the situation, business casual or even a suit and tie or your best outfit.

Testifying in person: If you plan to testify personally, while there will likely be no time limits, testimony that is shorter and to the point holds legislators attention better. It may be helpful to prepare a brief statement that you can read in a few minutes. You can expand on your remarks in written form to include additional information.

Here's what our friend Jim Miller has to say: "I like to tell potential tesimonialists that if they plan on saying something that someone else could say, then probably someone else should say it. Stick to what is personal to you! When you say how marijuana helps you are saying something nobody else can. THAT is what committee members need to hear. Leave the policy wonk stuff to policy wonks. I hear that there will some in attendance."

How to Submit written Testimony: You may submit written testimony to Kelly.Johnson@legis.wisconsin.gov in State Sen. Jon Erpenbach's office. The mailing address is Room 8 South State Capitol P.O. Box 7882 Madison, WI 53707-7882. Sen. Erpenbach's office will make all submitted written testimony available to all members of both committees.

This does not mean each member will make the time to review all submissions. Concise and easy to read submissions with a narrow focus on your personal connection to the issue will likely get read more than long submissions that stray off topic into things like the total legalization of cannabis. Please stay on topic. The bill is not about marijuana legalization, but creating a narrow exemption for the sick and dying. Legalizing marijuana overall is not covered by the bill, and is not pertinent to this discussion.