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THE EVERETT ADVOCATE – FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 19, 2021 Page 11 THE HOUSE AND SENATE: BeaBeacon Hill Roll Call By Bob Katzen A note from Bob Katzen, Publisher of Beacon Hill Roll Call: Join me this Sunday night and every Sunday night between 6 p.m. and 9 p.m. for my talk show “The Bob Katzen Baby Boomer and Gen X Show.” Jump in my time capsule and come back to the simpler days of the 1950s, 1960s, 1970s and 1980s. My guest on Sunday, February 21st on my WMEX 1510 AM Radio and online show will be two icons of Boston television—Bob Lobel and Susan Wornick. Bob is synonymous with Boston sports and Susan is synonymous with Boston news and consumer reporting. Don’t miss it! There are many ways you can listen to the show from anywhere in the world: If you have a smart speaker, simply say, “Play WMEX on RADIO. COM” Download the free RADIO.COM app on your phone or tablet Listen online at: www.radio. com/1510wmex/listen Tune into 1510 AM if you still have an AM radio Visit us at www.bobkatzenshow. com con Hill Roll Call records local senators’ votes on roll calls from the week of February 8-12. There were no roll calls in the House last week. All roll calls are on proposed amendments to the rules by which the Senate operates. Senators proposed a total of 50 amendments to the rules but only seven were approved while 43 were rejected. Sponsors and proponents of the defeated amendments said that the amendments were needed in order to ensure more transparency and to make the rules fairer to both parties. “The Senate did important work by passing a rules package with changes that will promote the vital values of diversity, transparency, safety and training,” said Sen. Joan Lovely (D-Salem) who headed the task of drafting new rules for the 2021-2022 session. “A majority of senators rejected inserting a third check-in to continue doing business at 10 p.m. in addition to the ones at 8 p.m. and midnight; mandating immediate anti-harassment and bystander intervention training because development of online trainings, given COVID-19 are still underway; setting standards for hearings in the Senate and joint rules because they are more appropriately included in the emergency rules; and tripling the representation of the minority party on the Redistricting Committee because we [already] passed [an] amendment doubling this representation. I am proud of the amendments that did pass that made an already strong package of rules even stronger.” REQUIRE UNANIMOUS VOTE TO GO BEYOND MIDNIGHT (S 10) Senate 6-34, rejected an amendment that would require a unanimous vote for the Senate to continue any session beyond midnight. Current Senate rules require a twothirds vote to go beyond midnight. Amendment supporters said sessions after midnight when taxpayers are sleeping, and some members are barely awake, are irresponsible and should only be held if 100 percent of the senators agree there is a major emergency. Amendment opponents said going beyond midnight currently is only done when there is a dire emergency. They said it is often impossible to get a unanimous vote on anything and argued it is not wise to give a single member the power to adjourn the Senate. (A “Yes” vote is for requiring a unanimous vote to go beyond midnight. A “No” vote is against requiring it.) Sen. Sal DiDomenico No REQUIRE TWO-THIRDS VOTE TO GO BEYOND 10 P.M. (S 10) Senate 6-34, rejected an amendment that would require a twothirds vote for the Senate to continue any session beyond 10 p.m. Current rules require a two-thirds vote to continue beyond 8 p.m. and 2021-2022 Senate Committee Assignments Majority Leadership President Majority Leader President Pro Tempore President Emerita Assistant Majority Leader Assistant Majority Leader Assistant Majority Leader Majority Whip Assistant Majority Whip Ways and Means Rodrigues - CHAIR Friedman - VICE Lewis - ASST VICE Barrett Boncore Brady Feeney Finegold Gobi Hinds Jehlen Lesser Keenan Moore Rush Spilka Creem Brownsberger Chandler Lovely Barrett DiDomenico Rush Cyr Senate Standing Committees Bills in Third Reading DiDomenico - CHAIR Lovely - VICE Brownsberger Rodrigues Lesser - CHAIR Creem - VICE Boncore Friedman Lewis Intergovernmental Affairs Rush - CHAIR Hinds - VICE Montigny Crighton Moore Personnel and Administration Boncore - CHAIR Crighton - VICE DiDomenico Feeney Friedman Ethics Global Warming and Climate Change Creem - CHAIR Barrett - VICE Brady Lovely Pacheco Post Audit and Oversight Moore - CHAIR Eldridge - VICE Chandler Finegold Jehlen Keenan Redistricting Brownsberger - CHAIR Gobi - VICE Chang-Díaz Cyr Gomez Hinds Steering and Policy Montigny - CHAIR Rodrigues - VICE DiDomenico Lovely Reimagining Massachusetts: PostPandemic Resliency Hinds - CHAIR Lewis - VICE Chang-Díaz Jehlen Keenan Lovely Lovely- CHAIR Boncore - VICE Hinds Brownsberger Friedman a separate two-thirds vote to continue beyond midnight but do not require any vote at all to continue from 10 p.m. to midnight. Amendment supporters said this is another useful opportunity for members to control late night sessions and make them as rare as possible. Amendment opponents said the amendment goes too far and is unnecessary. (A “Yes” vote is for requiring a two-thirds vote to go beyond 10 p.m. A “No” vote is against requiring it.) Sen. Sal DiDomenico No ANTI-HARASSMENT TRAINING (S 10) Senate 10-29, rejected an amendment that would require all State House members, officers and staff, regardless of when they are hired, to receive anti-harassment and bystander intervention training within 90 days of beginning employment. The current rules require members, officers and staff who are employed at the beginning of the biennial session to receive the training within 90 days of the opening of the session while employees hired after the first training must complete their training at the “next available training opportunity.” Amendment supporters said “next available training opportunity” is vague and could mean the training would not take place for many months or even a year. They said the amendment guarantees everyone gets the training during their first 90 days of employment. Amendment opponents said that the training was held in person pre-pandemic but will soon be online. They said it is unclear when that will occur and argued it is too early to adjust this rule when it is not yet known whether the online sessions will be live or on video. (A “Yes” vote is for the amendment. A “No” vote is against it.) Sen. Sal DiDomenico No WATCH REMOTE HEARINGS (S 10) Senate 6-33, rejected an amendment that would require any public hearing conducted remotely to utilize technology that allows people to view or hear the hearing live on one or more publicly accessible platforms which allow people to tune into the hearing via computer and telephone. Amendment supporters said Rules that it is important to have a standardized system and requirements in the regular, non-emergency Senate rules, that ensure the public can access these hearings. Amendment opponents said that this amendment is already included in the emergency rules the Senate has adopted for use during the pandemic. They argued it is not necessary to put the requirement in the regular rules at the present time. (A “Yes” vote is for the amendment. A “No” vote is against it.) Sen. Sal DiDomenico No REDISTRICTING (S 10) Senate 4-35, rejected an amendment requiring that the Redistricting Committee consist of six members—three from the majority party (currently the Democrats) and three from the minority party (currently the Republicans). Current rules provide for a seven-member commission with five Democrats and two Republicans. Redistricting, performed every 10 years based on the federal census, is the process of drawing new congressional and state legislative district boundaries. It will be done this year based on the 2020 census. “I filed [this] amendment to ensure that there is equal representation on the redistricting,” said amendment sponsor Sen. Ryan Fattman (R-Sutton). “This will guarantee that the redistricting process is a fair, bipartisan effort.” Amendment opponents noted that the new rules already double the current number of minority party members on the committee from one to two. They said going further than that is not necessary and noted that all Senate committees have more majority members than minority members. (A “Yes” vote is for the amendment. A “No” vote is against it.) Sen. Sal DiDomenico No 72 HOURS NOTICE (S 10) Senate 5-34, rejected an amendment that would require senators to receive 72 hours notice before a bill is considered unless the threeday notice requirement is suspended by a unanimous vote, or a two-thirds vote in the event of an emergency. Current law only requires 24 hours notice and can be suspended for both an emergency and non-emergency by a twothirds vote. “We must be given sufficient time to review matters presented for consideration, to reach out and feel the pulse of our communities, to ascertain how proposed legislation may affect those we represent, to hear the concerns and reconcile them with the support,” said amendment sponsor Sen. Diana DiZoglio (D-Methuen). “This amendment would increase transparency of the actions of the Senate and further better the performance of our jobs.” Amendment opponents said the one-day notice has worked well and the Senate leadership often gives members more than 24 hours to read the bills. (A “Yes” vote is for requiring the 72-hour notice. A “No” vote is against it.) Sen. Sal DiDomenico No GIVE TWO MORE DAYS TO READ BUDGET (S 10) Senate 4-35, rejected an amendment that would increase from five to seven the number of days senators and the public would be given to read the state budget before BEACON | SEE PAGE 13

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