He said the panel may talk to more than 500 people and would probably not start hearings before April or May.

The city will also start formal hearings on Sept. 20 on new regulations governing discharge into all three water systems.

Without such a commitment, he said, the panel is more likely to start hearings on Aug. 29.

The Senate committee investigating campaign finance abuses is planning to start hearings on July 8, officials familiar with the inquiry said today.

Both Dutch and Belgian parliament are planning to start hearings about the problems.

"They started holding hearings six days a week to resolve the backlog," Mr. Fuoco said.

The Senate is expected to start hearings on crime issues in a couple of weeks.

And they object that the board started hearings without releasing the annual report on landlord income and expenses, a basic document for calculating rents.

The Senate Judiciary Committee is about to start hearings on the domestic spying.

"Within a couple of days, we'll probably have a committee and we'll start holding hearings."