August 27, 2012 ... Beacon Hill Roll Call, a legislative tracking service run by Bob Katzen, has released the roll call attendance records for the 2012 legislative session. Since formal sessions, when roll call votes may be taken, are concluded for this year, and only informal sessions are held requiring unanimous consent to advance legislation, no additional roll calls are likely.

Sen. Richard T. Moore, D-Uxbridge, attained a roll call attendance record of 100%. Sen. Moore was recorded on every one of the 179 roll call votes cast during the year. He is one of only 13 of the Senate’s 39 members to achieve a perfect score.

“Although the job of a legislator involves much more than voting, roll call votes are among the most public acts that we do,” Sen. Moore explained. “Consequently, the public often judges us on the percentage of votes we make.” Sen. Moore noted that even more important than the roll call attendance is how each of us voted on the issues. “That’s really what counts,” the Senator concluded.

Some of the key issues on which Sen. Moore voted favorably included the Fiscal 2013 State Budget, the Health Care Payment Reform and Cost Containment law, the Jobs and Economic Development law, the “Right to Repair” law, Foreclosure Reform, State Government Finance Reform, Storm Response Funding, Children in Need of Services (CHINS) Reform, and Electricity Pricing and Competition Reform. Among the issues he voted to oppose was the “bailout” of the MBTA because the bill did not correct the management abuses to prevent further deficits.

Roll call records of the Senate differ somewhat from the record kept regarding members of the Massachusetts House of Representatives. Every one of the Senate’s 179 roll calls were conducted on substantive legislative issues or procedures related to specific legislation. Approximately 20% of the House roll calls are to ascertain the presence of a quorum to proceed with legislative business, and not on specific legislation.

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