Voicing Your Opinion / Filing A Witness Slip in the Illinois General Assembly

There are many bills that get filed in the House and Senate any given General Assembly and some of these bills get scheduled for hearings where legislators vote on them.  What can you do if you have an opinion on a bill?  Besides, reaching out to your legislator or the bill's sponsor you can voice your opinion via a witness slip when a bill goes to a committee for a hearing.

What is a witness slip?

• Witness Slip is a way for a person or group’s position to be recorded on a particular bill. 
• Witness slips can be filed by individuals on behalf of themselves or organizations. 
• Once a bill gets scheduled for a hearing in either the House or Senate, a witness slip can be filed. 

Witness can be filed electronically via the Illinois General Assembly website.  

Capitol Outdoors wants you, the hunter, angler or outdoor enthusiast to know exactly how to be involved in your government.  Below, we will walk you through the exact steps on how to file a witness slip.  You can do this on any bill that you choose, from the comfort of your own home. 

1. Go to www.ilga.gov &

Click on GA Dashboard

2.  We recommend that you register on the GA Dashboard website.  

If you register on the website you will be able to :

MyILGA Profile
Save all of your identification information making filing Witness Slips quicker.
Create a Witness Slip in just a few clicks.

Track Your Witness Slips
View all of your Witness Slips filed for each chamber for the current GA.
Your Witness Slips are easy to locate by filtering and sorting by committee name, date/time and even legislation number.

Manage Your Witness Slips
Update filed Witness Slips.
Update identification information, testimony and even positions on Witness Slips you have filed.

3.  Fill out your information and Click Register

4.  Go to email and confirm your registration.  This step is needed before you proceed with the filing of the witness slip to ensure that your account will track the information. 

For this exercise, we are going to file a witness slip on HB 1598 (Bristow) 5YR Hunting & Fishing License Bill.  This is scheduled for a hearing in the House Agriculture Committee on Tuesday 2/19 at 2:00pm. 

5.   Click on HOUSE

6.  Click on Committee Hearings 

7.  Here you will see all the scheduled committee hearings.  Click on WEEK to see what is scheduled for the coming week. 

8.  Find the committee that your bill is scheduled in and click the  ICON in right column that looks like piece of paper to view hearing details. 

9.  Find the bill you are wanting to file a witness slip on and click on the icon in right column that looks like pencil and paper. 

10.  Now it's time to fill out your witness slip.  Make sure you fill out every single area or your witness slip will not be accepted. 

These are your Identifies. 

This section is about who you represent and your position on the bill. 

If you are not representing an organization, put "SELF". 

If you are speaking in committee on the bill - click Oral.

If you have submitted a letter or documentation to the committee - click Written Statement

If you are just wanting your position on record - click Record of Appearance Only 

Click Agree and then Submit! 

11.  This page should pop up next.  If you are done, just click I AM FINISHED. 

12. If you would like to confirm that your witness slips has been processed. 

Click on  House, Committee Hearings, Week, Find Committee and Click on Piece of Paper

13.  Scroll to bill you are wanting to look at witness slips for and click on magnifying glass. 

14.  Here you will be able to view all the proponents and opponents of the bill.  Scroll to confirm you are on the list. 

CONGRATS you have filed a witness slips. 

Witness slips are an important way to voice your official opinion on a bill.   Stay up to date on hunting and fishing legislation on our Legislation Page.  If you feel strongly on a certain bill, file a witness slip, reach out to the bill sponsor and listen to the committee hearing.