by J.C. Stoner, President-Elect

This is a continuation from Part 1.

I arrived at the Texas Capitol by 7:00am on Tuesday, May 6 to provide testimony on “the importance of ensuring stable housing for students and the way that housing plays a critical role in student success” for HB 2476. The Committee on Higher Education hearing wouldn’t start for another hour, so I had plenty of time to live in my own head. I wandered around the Capitol looking for room E2.306. Now I used to work in housing operations where we would walk housing properties all day every day and I’ve walked some doozy of some buildings with complex numbering schemas, but I couldn’t find E2.306. It wasn’t on the second-floor east wing as one might intuitively think. A police officer ended up directing me to the underground basement extension down an exceptionally long hallway.

I connected with the Chief of Staff. She took me to get registered as a witness. When entering my information into the computer, she told me to make sure I typed everything correctly and to double check. Was this a problem people had? Spelling their name correctly? I remembered the last piece of advice I got during my drive the night before: “the most important thing you need to do is not embarrass yourself.” I guess the first way to avoid that is to spell my name right.

I then went into Representative Simmons office and met all her staff. It was a really special moment. People kept coming in and talking shop. They were delivering folders, talking about past bills and the rush to end the legislative session. I asked them about the funding, and the description I got finally connected with me.

“Think of it this way: This bill is creating the bucket, but not putting any money in it. Then later down the road someone else will fill the bucket. The Comptroller has the discretion to fill the bucket at any time, but eventually our goal is for this grant to be a line item in the actual state budget with regular funding.”

Representative Simmons came in and we talked for a few minutes. I learned her backstory and the backstory of many in her office. By now I was starting to feel it. There was a juice in the air. Nobody was running around cutting people’s ties or anything like that, but there was an undeniable energy.

We went to the committee hearing and Representative Simmons, her Chief of Staff, and I sat in the corner and waited our turn. The Chief of Staff told me that I would go up there when called. But there was a problem. There were three chairs, but only Representative Simmons and I would be up there; or would we be rotating? “The most important thing you need to do is not embarrass yourself.” I should have watched some more videos of past hearings to see where people sat…

I leaned over to the Chief of Staff, “which chair do I sit in?” She responded, “the one on the right.” Got it.

The representative got up and introduced the bill. While talking, she said “11.8% of community college students in Texas experience homelessness…” Oh uh. My statement said 8% of college students, but I knew from my research her stat was also true. The difference was the modifier “community college students”. What would it say if the witness she invited shared differing statistics? I quickly scratched out 8% on my handwritten notes and scribbled in 8%-12%. Working in housing has certainly taught me to think quickly and be adaptable under pressure.

The committee chair finally called me up. I sat down and thought, “here we go. Don’t embarrass yourself.”

“You’ve registered as James Staner? Or is it Stoner?” Uh oh. What is going on? Did I actually spell my name wrong?! Maybe he was just being courteous to pronounce it correctly?

“Uh… Stoner.” Now I’m swimming in my head and didn’t hear him ask me to confirm my neutrality on the bill.

“I’m sorry?”

“You are neutral on the bill?”

“That’s right.”

Time to get back in control and act like I belonged. So I started reading my statement.

It went reasonably well for my first time doing something like this. I don’t think I embarrassed myself. A few key notes about my statement that I think are important for anyone who ever does this for their first time:

• I am employed as a state employee, but I was not there for that role and I was not representing my institution. I made it clear from the outset that I was here in my capacity as President-Elect of SWACUHO. I never mentioned my job title, my responsibilities, or my school. “I am here in my capacity as President-Elect of SWACUHO…”
• I was taught growing up when speaking to people to “Look at me, speak to me, smile at me.” I had observed that most people who came before just read the statement with little eye contact attempted. The few times I tried looking at the committee I got a little off on the statement. I’m here to deliver the statement, not build a relationship. Deliver the statement and save the eye contact for Q&A.
• Two minutes goes fast, but with enough practice, it doesn’t go that fast. I ended up only using 1 minutes and 53 seconds. Even with limited time there is always time to slow down.
• I’ve learned from hearing a lot of staff advocate for various things or construct arguments for changes is they would have been better leaving their emotions at the door. Sometimes trying too hard to create an emotional reaction undermines the content. Stick to the facts and let the facts speak for themselves.

Next up was the questions the committee could ask. This is where all control goes out the window. I’m not reading a statement anymore. I would be responding in real time to unknown prompts, if any questions were even asked. I was told I wouldn’t likely get any questions, but of course I did.

The first question I received I didn’t fully understand in the moment. I thought I did, but afterwards, when processing the exchange, I realized I may have missed the actual question buried in there. This tends to happen when housing professionals try and explain the nuances of our field to people who aren’t housing professionals. I imagine the same is true when I ask anyone a question about what they do.

The second question I received was about how the grant might impact existing financial aid like Pell grants.

The words of my friend the night before echoed in my head about deferring a question I either don’t know or aren’t qualified to answer. But I didn’t need that advice because I’ve told countless students working front desks that we are not experts on financial aid and we shouldn’t be giving details about how financial aid packages apply to student housing costs. There is just too much risk if they say something wrong or, more often, the person asking hears something else.

And then it was over. I went back to the Representative’s office and we talked some more.

I witnessed another conversation that was fascinating to me. Some staffer came in to deliver another folder. This person told the staffer “I watched the feed about the bill you just presented. That was a really good layout.”

What struck me about this interaction was two things:

• This person was talking to the staff member and said, “…the bill you presented.” This staffer wasn’t even present at the hearing, but clearly there was an acknowledgement of all the backend work and how everyone in the representative’s office made that moment happen. I was reminded that an RA may give a resident their key on move-in day, but it took the assignments staff to create the booking, the maintenance techs to turn the room, the housekeepers to clean the room, and everyone else to make that first moment happen for a new resident.
• He didn’t focus on the content or the purpose; he focused his compliment on the “layout.” I took that as how the bill was presented and the logical flow to introduce an idea and support it. Presentation matters.

Before I left I told Representative Simmons and her staff that it was kind of fun to be a part of the process. Representative Simmons leaned over to me, smiled, and said: “Isn’t it?”

Is this how people get into public policy? Is this how people transfer their housing skills into anything? A single two-minute moment?

They thanked me for my participation and how valuable it was. And then I was on the back on the road. Less than 20 hours from when I left, I was back in DFW.

Here is a link to the video recording of the hearing.

• 14:10 – bill introduction
• 16:52 – beginning of my statement
• 19:20 – questions
• 21:55 – bill closing

J.C. Stoner, Ph.D.

President-Elect

SWACUHO