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Beacon Hill Roll Call Beacon Hill Roll Call Volume 36 - Report No. 52 Friday, January 1, 2010 Copyright © 2010 Beacon Hill Roll Call. All Rights Reserved. THE HOUSE AND SENATE. There were no roll call votes in the House or Senate last week. Beacon Hill Roll Call has obtained the official list from the State Treasurer’s office of the “per diem” travel, meals, and lodging reimbursements collected by the 40 state senators in 2009. The list reveals that senators have collected a total of $90,502. Under state law, per diems are paid by the state to senators “for each day for travel from his place of residence to the State House and return therefrom, while in the performance of his official duties, upon certification to the state treasurer that he was present at the State House.” These reimbursements are given to senators above and beyond their regular salaries. The amount of the per diem varies and is based on the city or town a senator lives in and its distance from the State House. The Legislature in 2000 approved a law doubling these per diems to the current amounts. The payments range from $10 per day for senators who reside in the Greater Boston area to $90 per day for some western Massachusetts lawmakers and $100 per day for those in Nantucket. Senators who are from areas that are a long distance from Boston’s State House often are the ones who collect the highest total of annual per diems. Supporters of the per diems argue that the system is fair and note the rising costs of travel, food, and lodging. Some opponents say that most private-sector employees and most other state workers are not paid additional money for commuting. Others argue that the very idea of paying any per diem is outrageous when thousands of workers are losing their jobs and their homes, the state is in the midst of a recession, funding for important programs has been cut, and taxes have been raised. The 2009 statistics indicate that 26 senators have received reimbursements ranging from $410 to $10,530 and that 14 senators have so far chosen not to apply for any money. State law does not establish a deadline that senators must meet in order to collect the per diems. The senator who received the most per diem money in 2009 is freshman Senator Benjamin Downing (Democrat from Pittsfield), with $10,530. The other recipients in the top five include Senators Stanley Rosenberg (Democrat from Amherst), $9,000; Michael Knapik (Republican from Westfield), $8,250; Robert O’Leary (Democrat from Cummaquid), $5,500; and Stephen Brewer (Democrat from Barre), $5,445. LOCAL SENATORS’ PER DIEMS FOR 2009 The dollar figure next to the senator’s name represents the total amount of 2009 per diem money that the state has paid the senator through December 31, 2009. The number in parentheses represents the number of days that the senator certified that he or she was at the State House during that same period. A total of 14, or 35 percent, of the state’s 40 senators did not list any days and did not request any per diems. This should not be construed to mean that these 14 senators were never at the State House in 2009. It simply means that they chose not to list the number of days and not to request their per diems. Senator Scott Brown $3,536 (136) ALSO UP ON BEACON HILL DeLEO APPOINTS ATTORNEY TO LOOK INTO $378,000 SPENT IN DiMASI CASE — House Speaker Robert DeLeo hired Daniel Crane, Governor Deval Patrick’s former undersecretary for consumer affairs and business regulation, to review the details of the $378,000 in state money that has been used for the House’s legal bills in the corruption case of indicted former Speaker Salvatore DiMasi. A written statement issued by DeLeo’s office said that Crane will perform a third-party review of the House’s legal contract with the law firm Gargiulo/Rudnick. DeLeo in recent weeks has resisted calls to release the documents detailing the spending and argued that the federal prosecutor requested that the House keep the information private for the time being. The chief of the U.S. Attorney’s public corruption unit has disputed that contention and says that the release of House billing records would not jeopardize the case against DiMasi. A small group of legislators, led by Representative Lida Harkins (Democrat from Needham), has been demanding an explanation and breakdown of the spending from DeLeo. The group says that the announcement by the U.S. Attorney contradicts DeLeo and again demanded release of information on the $378,000. Critics want to know whether the money was used to help defend DiMasi. They say that the appointment of Crane is not enough and again urged release of the billing records. DeLeo insists that the money was not used to defend the former speaker but rather to assist in obtaining documents relating to the case. $76 MILLION FROM ABANDONED PROPERTY — State Treasurer Tim Cahill announced that the state’s December unclaimed stock liquidation sale and eBay auction of other unclaimed items has raised $76 million in new state revenue to help balance the state budget. HAND SANITIZING AT RESTAURANTS (H 3918) — A bill before the Public Health Committee would require take-out restaurants without restrooms to install a sink with soap and water or to make hand sanitizer available to its employees and customers. ALLOW DONATION OF LEFTOVER FOOD (H 3999) — The Judiciary Committee is looking at a proposal that would encourage restaurants and cafeterias to donate their edible leftover cooked food and nonperishable food to local food pantries and shelters. The measure would allow a tax credit or deduction for the donation and would prohibit liability for the restaurant in the event of any harm resulting to a person who eats the food. POST-PARTUM DEPRESSION (H 3897) — The Committee on Financial Services’ agenda includes legislation that would require all health-care plans to cover benefits for screening for postpartum depression — a serious condition that can affect women following childbirth. DANGEROUS ACTIVITIES FOR CHILDREN (H 4001) — The Public Safety and Homeland Security Committee is considering a measure that would require written consent of both divorced parents who share custody of their child before he or she is allowed to participate in activities considered hazardous “by a reasonable person’s standard.” Hazardous activities are described as including hunting, motocross, and shooting or participating at an event at a gun range. MANDATORY HELMETS WHILE RIDING A HORSE (H 3885) — The Committee on Environment, Natural Resources, and Agriculture is looking at a bill that would require anyone who rides a horse or who is riding in a horsedrawn vehicle to wear a helmet. DISCOURAGE GRIDLOCK AT INTERSECTIONS (H 4028) — The Transportation Committee is considering legislation that would impose a $100 fine on drivers who cause gridlock at intersections. The measure would require drivers to allow enough space between their vehicles and the one in front of them in order to prevent getting stuck in an intersection at a red light and making it impossible for cross traffic to move. MORE TIME TO PAY PROPERTY TAXES (H 3967) — The Revenue Committee is considering a proposal giving senior citizens over 60 and veterans an additional grace period of 10 days to pay their property taxes. QUOTABLE QUOTES “Coakley would prefer to meet directly with Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, but won’t have a one-on-one debate with Scott Brown.” — From a Republican State Committee list of the top ten reasons that Democrat Martha Coakley will not debate Senator Scott Brown one-on-one prior to the Tuesday, January 19 election to fill the late Ted Kennedy’s seat. Coakley has insisted on including independent candidate Joseph L. Kennedy (not related to the famous Kennedy clan). “Brown voted to increase government spending by $7.2 billion over a nine year period as a state representative and state senator.” — From a press release by the Coakley campaign “I have taken an unpaid leave of absence from my employer for this campaign. I do not believe that taxpayers/employers should pay candidates when we are not doing our jobs. I am asking if Martha Coakley and Scott Brown would be willing to forego/give back their [state] salaries for the amount of time they have been campaigning.” — From the web site of the Joseph Kennedy campaign “I have agreed, surprisingly, with a lot of what the speaker [Newt Gingrich] has had to say today.” — Governor Deval Patrick on a Meet the Press panel on NBC that included former Republican Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich. “Scott’s election would shock the country and send a strong message that business as usual in Washington is coming to an end.” — Excerpt from former governor Mitt Romney’s announcement endorsing Scott Brown. “Over the last four months as his eyesight and health were failing, his sister, Remmington, would help him and would sit by Reagan’s bed and care for him, and she became known as Nurse Remmington. We’ll miss him dearly.” — An excerpt from Independent gubernatorial candidate Christy Mihos’ web site announcing the death of his dog Reagan. “A woman is like a teabag. You never know how strong she is until you put her in hot water.” — From a State House News Service story revealing the engraving on the Italian marble plaque that Senator Steve Tolman (Democrat from Brighton) gave as a Christmas gift to Senate President Therese Murray. 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 contend 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 December 28- January 1, the House met for a total of five hours and 55 minutes while the Senate met for a total of 34 minutes. |
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