2026 Joint Legislative Budget Hearing Witness Request Scheduling Form

Important Notice to Prospective Witnesses – Please Read Carefully

Thank you for your interest in testifying at the 2026 Joint Legislative Budget Hearing. There are two ways for your voice to be heard by the Joint Legislative Budget Committees:

1. By submitting written testimony; or
2. By testifying in person, with accompanying written testimony:

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1. Written Testimony: You can submit written testimony for any hearing, which will be made a part of the record to be considered by the committees. It is not necessary to testify in person in order to have your voice heard.
2. If you are not also seeking to testify in person, then please send your written testimony to wamchair@nyassembly.gov AND financechair@nysenate.gov no later than 5 p.m. on the scheduled date of the hearing. See below for a hearing schedule.

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3. In-person Testimony: While submission of written testimony can be submitted by any witness/organization for multiple hearings, in-person testimony can ONLY be presented by a given witness/organization at ONE Hearing.
4. If you wish to be an in-person witness at a Joint Legislative Budget Hearing, please fill out the witness request form below. Please note that in order to present testimony in person, you must also submit written testimony to both wamchair@nyassembly.gov and financechair@nysenate.gov no later than the due dates and times listed in the chart below.
5. Upon review of your submitted form, the Legislative Committees will make a determination as to whether you will be scheduled to testify. The Committees will endeavor to schedule as many witnesses to testify as is possible, but time constraints (hearings typically last 8 to 14 hours per day over the course of 12 hearing days) will not allow for all those seeking to testify to be able to present in person testimony. It is emphasized that all submitted written testimony will be reviewed. You do not need to testify in person for your voice to be heard.
6. If you are notified that you will be invited as an in-person witness, please submit your written testimony to both wamchair@nyassembly.gov and financechair@nysenate.gov by the due date/time listed on the chart below.
7. The committees will use their best efforts to contact you as soon as possible if you have been invited as a witness to testify in person.
8. If we do not receive your written testimony by the due date/time, you will not be permitted to give oral testimony.
9. At the hearings, witnesses will have 3 minutes in which to present their in-person testimony. After this time, Legislators may ask the witnesses questions concerning either their in-person testimony or their previously submitted written testimony. Witnesses are strongly encouraged to summarize their key points in their in-person testimony and not simply read from their written testimony.
10. Note: Substitutions of witnesses or of submitted testimony will only be permitted under extraordinary circumstances, at the discretion of the committees.
11. The committees reserve the right to decline to allow presentation of any requested in-person testimony if any of the above rules are not complied with.

NO POWERPOINT PRESENTATIONS, PLACARDS, OR SIGNS ARE PERMITTED IN THE HEARING ROOM.