Beacon Hill Roll Call / Volume
35-Report No. 35 / August 25 to August 29, 2008

Copyright © 2008 Beacon Hill
Roll Call. All Rights Reserved. By Bob Katzen

THE HOUSE AND SENATE. There
were no roll call votes in the House or Senate last week.

Beacon Hill Roll Call reports
local senators’ roll call attendance records for the 2008 session through
August 29.

The Senate held 286 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 nine of the Senate’s 40
members have 100 percent roll call attendance records. The worst roll call
attendance record belongs to Sen. James Marzilli (D-Arlington) who missed 202
roll calls (40.7 percent roll call attendance record).

Rounding out the top five
members with the worst records are Sens. Robert Antonioni (D-Leominster) who
missed 58 roll calls (79.7 percent attendance record); Frederick Berry
(D-Peabody) who missed 54 roll calls (81.1 percent roll call attendance record)
and Pamela Resor (D-Acton) and Dianne Wilkerson (D-Boston) who both missed 27
roll calls (90.5 percent roll call attendance record).

LOCAL SENATORS’ 2008 ROLL CALL
ATTENDANCE RECORDS

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. Anthony Galluccio 96.1
% (11)

 Sen. Patricia Jehlen 98.9
% (3)

ALSO UP ON BEACON HILL

CREMATION (H 4929) – Gov. Deval
Patrick signed into law a bill that allows funeral homes in the state to
dispose of unclaimed cremated remains in their possession if they are not
claimed within one year following the cremation. The funeral home would be
allowed to bury the remains in a common grave or scatter them in a designated
area of the cemetery.

CHILDREN’S MENTAL HEALTH CARE
(S 2804) – Gov. Patrick signed into law legislation designed to improve access
and quality of care for mentally ill children. The measure requires the
Department of Early Education and Care to provide behavioral health services in
early education and care programs in order to reach children with mental
illness earlier.

COURT UPHOLDS WIDER BUFFER
ZONES AT ABORTION CLINICS – U.S. District Court Judge Joseph Tauro ruled that
the state’s new abortion clinic buffer zone law that became effective last
November is constitutional. The new law increased the prior buffer zone around
abortion clinics from a floating six feet to a permanent 35 feet. The prior
law, approved by the Legislature in July 2000, established a six-foot
"floating" buffer zone around persons who are within an 18-foot zone
around a center’s entrances and driveways. The new law would expand the zone to
a fixed 35 feet around a center’s entrances and driveways. In January 2008,
opponents of the new statute filed a lawsuit in U.S. District Court contending
that it is unconstitutional and sets a dangerous precedent that restricts free
speech. Supporters of the new law said that an expansion would protect women
who visit clinics from being subject to harassment and harm while still
allowing protesters to express their views from a distance.

HOUSE SESSIONS CUT SHORT –
House sessions continue to be cut short as a fight goes on between Reps. Angelo
Scaccia (D-Boston) and Paul McMurty (D-Dedham). Scaccia is holding up a McMurty
bill that would give a wine and beer license to Westwood’s Wegmans Supermarket.
Scaccia acknowledges that he is blocking the bill because it would hurt
Westwood’s Roche Bros. Supermarket that does not have a liquor license. Scaccia
cites his friendship with the family that owns Roche Bros. and their many
charitable and civic contributions. Critics cry foul and point to Scaccia’s
friendship with Roche Bros. lobbyist Rep. Maryanne Lewis, a former state
representative who was defeated in her 2002 re-election bid. In the meantime,
McMurty continues to doubt a quorum at House sessions and the sessions are
adjourned for lack of a quorum. The House has been meeting only in informal
sessions and there is never a quorum present. The quick adjournments have also
resulted in inaction on other legislation pending in the House.

QUOTABLE QUOTES

"Something has to give
somewhere and it ain’t going to be me." – From a State House News Service
story quoting Rep. Angelo Scaccia on the stalemate between Scaccia and Rep.
Paul McMurty on the beer and wine license.

"Gov. Patrick better be
careful, he might come back to find that Treasurer Cahill has taken away his
chair." – Massachusetts Republican party spokesman Barney Keller
commenting on the game of musical governor’s chairs played on Beacon Hill last
week. At one point, State Treasurer Timothy Cahill was the acting governor
while Gov. Patrick and the other constitutional officers were at the Democratic
convention in Denver.

"The median price of
single-family homes in Massachusetts fell 12.3 percent in July, marking the
sharpest decline in monthly home prices since The Warren Group began tracking
the housing market in 1987." – From a press release by the Boston-based
Warren Group, publisher of Banker & Tradesman.

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
25-29, the House met for a total of 40 minutes while the Senate met for a total
of one hour and 17 minutes.

Mon. Aug. 25 House 11:09 a.m. to 11:42 a.m.

  Senate 11:00 a.m. to 12:02 p.m.

Tues. Aug. 26 No House
session

 No Senate session

Wed. Aug. 27 No House
session

 No Senate session

Thurs. Aug. 28 House 11:04 a.m. to 11:11 a.m.

 Senate 11:00 a.m. to 11:15 a.m.

Fri. Aug. 29 No
House session

 No
Senate session

Bob Katzen welcomes feedback at
bob@beaconhillrollcall.com