THE SAUGUS ADVOCATE – FRIDAY, APRIL 9, 2021 Page 17 Or tune into 1510 AM if you still have an AM radio. THE HOUSE AND SENATE: Beacon 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. 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 and listen online at www.wmexboston.com. There were no roll calls in the House and Senate last week. This week, Beacon Hill Roll Call reports on the number of times each representative sided with Gov. Charlie Baker on his 151 vetoes of items in the 2020 session. A two-thirds vote is required to override a gubernatorial veto. In a full 160-member House, the governor needed the support of 54 representatives to sustain a veto when all 160 representatives voted—and fewer votes when some members were absent, or a seat was vacant. Baker fell short of that goal as 46 votes was the most support he received on any veto. The House easily overrode all 151 vetoes, including 12 that were overridden unanimously. It was mostly the 31 GOP members who voted with the Republican governor to sustain the vetoes. No representatives voted with Baker 100 percent of the time. The three GOP members who voted with Baker the most times are Reps. Donald Berthiaume (R-Spencer) who voted with Baker 128 times (84.7 percent); Shawn Dooley (R-Norfolk), 119 times (78.8 percent); and David DeCoste (R-Norwell), 116 times (76.8 percent). The three GOP members who supported Baker the least number of times were Rep. David Vieira (R-Falmouth) who sided with the governor only 41 times (27.1 percent); Timothy Whelan (R-Brewster) 60 times (40.5 percent); and Nicholas Boldyga (R-Southwick) 79 times (52.3 percent). The vetoes had little support among the 127 Democrats in the House. Only 22 (17.3 percent) of the chamber’s 127 Democrats voted with Baker to sustain any vetoes while the other 105 (82.7 percent) did not support the governor even once. The Democratic representative who supported Baker the most times was Rep. Mike Connolly (D-Cambridge) who sided with Baker 11 times (7.2 percent). PERCENTAGE OF TIMES LOCAL REPRESENTATIVES SUPPORTED BAKER’S VETOES IN 2020 Here is how your representative fared in his or her support of Baker on the vetoes. The percentage next to the representative’s name represents the percentage of times the representative supported Baker. The number in parentheses represents the actual number of times he or she supported Baker. Some representatives voted on all 151 roll call votes. Others missed one or more of the 151 votes. Each record is based on the number of roll calls on which a representative voted and does not count the roll calls for which he or she was absent. Rep. Jessica Giannino Was not yet elected Rep. Donald Wong 66.8 percent 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 March 29-April 2, the House met for a total of nine minutes while the Senate met for a total of 33 minutes. Mon. March 29 House 11:00 a.m. to 11:04 a.m. Senate 11:27 a.m. to 11:37 a.m. No Senate session No Senate session Tues. March 30 No House session Wed. March 31 No House session Thurs. April 1 House 11:01 a.m. to 11:06 a.m. Senate 11:42 a.m. to 12:05 p.m. Fri. April 2 No House session No Senate session Bob Katzen welcomes feedback at bob@beaconhillrollcall.com
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