This is the Beacon Hill Roll Call, Volume 36-Report No. 32, for the week of Aug. 10-14.

Beacon Hill Roll Call reports local senators' roll call attendance records for the 2009 session through August 14.

The Senate has held 132 roll call votes. Beacon Hill Roll Call tabulates the number of roll calls on which each senator was present and voting and then calculates that number as a percentage of the total roll call votes held. That percentage is the number commonly referred to as the roll call attendance record.

Only 13 of the Senate's 40 members have 100 percent roll call attendance records. There is a tie for worst roll call attendance record between Sens. Cynthia Creem (D-Newton) and Susan Fargo (D-Acton) who each missed 40 roll calls (69.6 percent roll call attendance record).

Rounding out the top five worst records are Sens. Jack Hart (D-Boston) who missed 36 roll calls (72.7 percent roll call attendance record); Frederick Berry (D-Peabody) who missed 25 roll calls (81.0 percent roll call attendance record); Thomas McGee (D-Lynn) who missed 18 roll calls (86.3 percent roll call attendance record) and Robert O'Leary (D-Barnstable) who missed 17 roll calls (87.1 percent roll call attendance record).

LOCAL SENATORS' 2009 ROLL CALL ATTENDANCE RECORDS THROUGH AUGUST 14

The percentage listed next to the senator's name is the percentage of roll call votes for which the senator was present and voting. The number in parentheses represents the number of roll calls that the senator missed.

Sen. Therese Murray: President rarely votes

ALSO UP ON BEACON HILL

SMOKING, LATEX AND CANCER DRUGS - The Public Health Committee has not yet acted on a proposal barring any employee who handles food from using latex gloves (H 2157). Supporters say that many customers are allergic to latex and that it is just as easy for food handlers to wear non-latex gloves. Other measures that are awaiting action by the committee include prohibiting smoking outside within 25 feet of all entrances, exits and windows of buildings (H 2162) and establishing a program that allows individuals, hospitals and drug companies to donate cancer drugs (H 2156). The program is designed to provide these drugs to patients who are uninsured and do not qualify for Medicare and other federal and state programs.

STIMULUS FUNDS - The Patrick administration reports that private entities, state and local governments in the Bay State have received $4.44 billion spent some $2 billion in stimulus money that it received under the controversial American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.

CANCEL PRELIMINARY CITY ELECTIONS - The Election Laws Committee heard testimony on bills that would allow several cities to cancel their September preliminary elections. Separate local home rule petitions were filed to cancel the September contests in Methuen, Revere, Taunton and Lowell. The measure provides that all candidates who would have been on the September ballot are considered nominated and automatically appear on the November final election ballot. Supporters said that this would save money for struggling cities that can barely pay their bills during this recession. Lowell Mayor Edward Caulfield testified that the estimated cost of running Lowell's primary would be approximately $41,000 while Revere Mayor Thomas Ambrosino pegged the city's cost at $50,000. A law eliminating Boston's 2007 regularly scheduled September 25 preliminary election was approved by the Legislature and signed by Gov. Deval Patrick in 2007.

OTHER ELECTION BILLS - The Election Laws Committee's hearing also included consideration of a bill prohibiting the use of the word "incumbent" next to a candidate's name on local and state ballots and replacing the word "unenrolled" with "independent" when referring to a candidate without a party affiliation. (S 358). The measure also provides that candidates be listed on the ballot in an order determined by a random lottery. Current law requires incumbents to be listed first, followed by an alphabetical listing of candidates of established political parties and then an alphabetical list of non-party candidates. Other measures on the committee's agenda include prohibiting Level 3 (high-risk) sex offenders from voting at schools and libraries and requiring them to vote at a location to be determined by the city or town (H 555); allowing 17-year-olds to vote in local city and town elections (H 553) and requiring that the state print bilingual ballots in precincts or entire cities or towns in which five percent or more of the U.S. citizens are persons of the same language minority according to the most recent federal decennial census (H 677).

QUOTABLE QUOTES

"The difficulty of detecting this invasive pest highlights the need to encourage every resident in the Commonwealth to be vigilant and learn to recognize and report sightings of Asian Longhorned beetles, in order to prevent further spread of the species." -- Gov. Deval Patrick declaring August as "Asian Longhorned Beetle Awareness Month." These bugs have infested thousands of trees in central Massachusetts and a quarantine zone has been designated in Worcester and some surrounding communities.

"At the governor's direction, I have asked Interim General Manager Bill Mitchell to suspend all future public workshops on any potential fare increase or service cuts. The governor has been very clear that we will not allow a fare increase of any kind to come before the Board until an extensive top to bottom review is completed of the T finances and operations, and we can be confident that each and every cost saving and efficiency has been exhausted." -- Secretary of Transportation James Aloisi on the cancellation of several forums at which T riders could express their opinions about possible fare hikes.

"I think the watchdog role suits me well." -- From a State House News Service interview with Mary Connaughton, a Republican appointee to the Massachusetts Turnpike Authority board, commenting on the possibility of running against 23-year incumbent Democratic State Auditor Joe DeNucci.

"Two things. First, balance the budget and don't raise taxes." -- Charlie Baker, Republican candidate for governor when asked during a boston.com chat what would be the first item that he would address if elected?

HOW LONG WAS LAST WEEK'S SESSION? Beacon Hill Roll Call tracks the length of time that the House and Senate were in session each week. Many legislators say that legislative sessions are only one aspect of the Legislature's job and that a lot of important work is done outside of the House and Senate chambers. They note that their jobs also involve committee work, research, constituent work and other matters that are important to their districts. Critics say that the Legislature does not meet regularly or long enough to debate and vote in public view on the thousands of pieces of legislation that have been filed. They note that the infrequency and brief length of sessions are misguided and lead to irresponsible late night sessions and a mad rush to act on dozens of bills in the days immediately preceding the end of an annual session.

During the week of August 10-14, the House met for a total of 30 minutes while the Senate met for a total of 35 minutes.

Monday, Aug. 10 
House 11:01-11:15 a.m.
Senate 11-11:22 a.m.

Tuesday, Aug. 11
No House session
No Senate session

Wednesday, Aug. 12
No House session
No Senate session

Thursday, Aug. 13
House  11:02-11:18 a.m.
Senate 11-11:13 a.m..

Friday, Aug. 14
No House session
No Senate session

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