Committee hearing transcripts compared

United States Congress

GovInfo defines a congressional hearing as a meeting or session of a Senate, House, joint or special committee, usually open to the public, held to discuss legislation, investigate policy, oversee departments or consider presidential nominations ¹. Hearings may be held on Capitol Hill or elsewhere ¹.

Hearing transcripts are slow to appear. GovInfo says hearings can be published two months to two years after they are held, and whether a hearing is disseminated on GovInfo depends on the committee ¹. GovInfo holds select House and Senate hearings from the 104th Congress (1995-96) forward, with earlier ones being digitized ¹. The text versions omit graphics, which appear only in the PDF files ¹. For hearings not on GovInfo, the site suggests the committee's own website ¹.

United Kingdom House of Commons

House of Commons guidance for witnesses says oral evidence sessions are almost always public, broadcast live and archived online, and usually last up to two hours ². A transcript of what was said is published on the committee's website a few days after the hearing ².

Witnesses may be sent the transcript and asked to identify any additional information requested by members ². A witness who needs to correct the transcript so that the final record is accurate and complete should send a separate note ². If the evidence is quoted in the committee's report, the transcript is cited in a footnote ². Evidence can be given in private in appropriate circumstances ².

Canada House of Commons

Committee Evidence is transcribed and published online, in chronological order as a general rule, and clause-by-clause meetings take precedence over meetings where testimony is heard ³. A Speaker's ruling established that a committee's power to print includes the right not to print, which may extend to omitting evidence from the record ³.

Committee meetings are broadcast too. In 1992 the House agreed to the audio broadcast of all public committee meetings, and in April 1993 it made these arrangements permanent ⁴. The ParlVU service carries video from televised committee rooms and audio from non-televised public committee meetings ⁴.

Kenya National Assembly

Standing Order 248(1A) requires a verbatim report of all proceedings of a committee of the House where evidence is given to be published within seventy-two hours, subject to the Speaker ⁵. Standing Order 249 lets the Speaker direct that secret or purely personal matter be excluded from the verbatim report of the House and its committees and kept in a separate report available only to Members ⁵.

Australia

The Parliamentary Privileges Act 1987 treats the giving of evidence before a House or committee, and the evidence itself, as part of proceedings in Parliament ⁶. Section 13 bars publishing or disclosing, without the authority of a House or committee, oral evidence taken in camera or a document directed to be treated as in camera evidence ⁶. The bar lifts once a House or committee has published or authorised publication ⁶.

Side by side

• Check whether the hearing transcript is published at all, and when ^1,2.
• Look for a correction note or later version before relying on a single word ².
• Compare with the broadcast or archive where one exists ^2,4.
• Remember that evidence taken in private may never appear in the public record ^2,6.