Beacon Hill Roll Call.

Beacon Hill Roll Call, by Bob Katzen, records local representatives and senators' votes on three roll calls from prior legislative sessions. There were no roll call votes in the House or Senate last week.

$500,000 to study how to reduce health care costs (H 4900)

House, 133-24, Senate, 34-4, overrode Gov. Deval Patrick's veto of the entire $500,000 in funding for a study of how to reduce health care costs.

Supporters of keeping the $500,000 said this is a worthwhile study that could eventually save million of dollars. In his veto message, Patrick said the study is unnecessary.

Some opponents of keeping the $500,000 study said one of the ways to save money on health care costs is not to waste $500,000 on a study on how to reduce health care costs. (A "yes" vote is for overriding Patrick's reduction and for keeping the $500,000. A "no" vote is against overriding Patrick's reduction and against keeping the $500,000.)

Rep. James Eldridge ... Yes

Rep. Lewis Evangelidis ... No

Rep. Harold Naughton Jr. ... Yes

Rep. Patricia Walrath ... Yes

Sen. Robert Antonioni ... Yes

Sen. Harriette Chandler ... Yes

Biofuel (S 2814)

House, 154-0, approved and Patrick signed into law a bill designed to encourage the development of advanced biofuels in Massachusetts. Woodchips and switchgrass are some of the wood and grasses used to make biofuel.

The measure would reduce the state's 21 cents per gallon gas tax in proportion to the amount of biofuel in each gallon of gas and mandate that home heating oil and diesel fuel contain five percent of biofuel by 2013.

Supporters said this important legislation would preserve the environment, reduce energy costs and greenhouse gas emissions, create jobs, spark the economy and make Massachusetts less dependent on foreign oil. (A "yes" vote is for the bill.)

Rep. James Eldridge ... Yes

Rep. Lewis Evangelidis ... Yes

Rep. Harold Naughton Jr. ...

... Didn't Vote

Rep. Patricia Walrath ... Yes

Protect military families from

predatory insurance sales (H 4508)

House, 153-0, approved and sent to the Senate legislation requiring the state's insurance commissioner to establish and adopt rules and regulations to protect members of the military and their families from unscrupulous sales practices from companies and individuals that sell insurance.

Supporters said the Federal Military Personnel Financial Services Protection Act requires states to adopt a law providing this protection. They noted when soldiers go overseas they are concerned with protecting their family and are often easy prey for these misleading and outrageous practices.

The bill has been languishing in the Senate Ways and Means Committee. (A "yes" vote is for the bill.)

Rep. James Eldridge ... Yes

Rep. Lewis Evangelidis ... Yes

Rep. Harold Naughton Jr. ... Yes

Rep. Patricia Walrath ... Yes

ALSO UP ON BEACON HILL

Creative Economy Council (H 4965) - The House gave final approval to and sent to the Senate a bill creating a Massachusetts Creative Economy Council. The proposal defines the creative economy as "industry sectors that center on providing creative services such as advertising or architecture or creating and promoting intellectual property products such as arts, film, computer games, multimedia or design."

Supporters said the council would work with designers, artists, cultural institutions and businesses to boost the growing creative economy. They argued this is an important effort that directly creates jobs and increases business for restaurants and stores in the areas surrounding these ventures.

Opponents said the state should not be singling out specific business sectors for assistance. They argued the state should make Massachusetts friendlier to all businesses. Only final Senate approval is necessary prior to the measure going to Patrick.

Blood donations (H 4547) - Patrick signed into law a measure allowing 16-year-olds to donate blood with their parents' permission.

Supporters said there is a blood shortage in Massachusetts and noted the state imports an estimated 30 percent of its blood supply from neighboring states. They argued that lowering the age would increase the blood supply and noted that unlike older adults with illnesses, the overwhelmingly majority of 16 year olds are in perfect health and would not be disqualified from donating blood.

Print election ballots in Chinese and Vietnamese (H 5083) - The Election Laws Committee held a hearing on a bill requiring the city of Boston to prepare bilingual ballots in Chinese and Vietnamese for all federal, state and municipal elections.

The proposal mandates bilingual ballots in polling places in which there are 35 or more voters who speak only Chinese or 30 or more voters who speak only Vietnamese. It also requires that Chinese ballots be transliterated and include "the printing of relevant Chinese characters to represent the phonetic equivalent of the syllables of an English name."

Supporters said the law is needed in order to allow many elderly Asian-Americans, who do not read English, to participate in the voting process. They noted the transliteration is necessary because the Chinese language does not use the Western alphabet.

Opponents argued transliteration is imprecise and would confuse voters. They questioned why only Chinese voters should receive this special treatment. Secretary of State William Galvin, the bill's chief opponents, did not attend the hearing, but submitted written testimony.

Vote and win money - MassVOTE's "Eye on Democracy" is seeking short films from voters with good or bad experiences when voting at polling places on Nov. 4. The best films will receive awards ranging from $500 to $2,500. For more information, call 617-542-8683 or go to www.eyeondemocracy.org.

How long was last week's session? Beacon Hill Roll Call tracks the length of time the House and Senate were in session each week. Many legislators say legislative sessions are only one aspect of the Legislature's job and a lot of important work is done outside of the House and Senate chambers. They note their jobs also involve committee work, research, constituent work and other matters are important to their districts. Critics say 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 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 Sept. 22 to 26, the House met for a total of 59 minutes while the Senate met for a total of 31 minutes.

Bob Katzen welcomes feedback at [e-mail].