There were no roll calls in the House or Senate last week. This week, Beacon Hill Roll Call reports on the percentage of times local senators voted with their party’s leadership in the 2023 session through Dec. 15.

Beacon Hill Roll Call uses 97 votes from the 2023 Senate session as the basis for this report. This includes all roll calls that were not on local issues.

The votes of 34 Democrats were compared to Senate Majority Leader Cynthia Creem, D-Newton, second-in-command in the Senate. The Democrats’ votes could not be compared to those of Senate President Karen Spilka, D-Ashland, because, by tradition, the Senate president rarely votes.

Nineteen (55.8%) of the Democrats voted with Creem 100% of the time. The other 15 Democrats (44.2%) voted with Creem at least 90% of the time.

The senator who voted with Creem least frequently is Sen. Walter Timilty, D-Milton, who voted with her only 88 times (90.7%). Rounding out the top four who voted with Creem the least frequently are Sens. John Keenan, D-Quincy, who voted with her 91 times (94.7%); and Barry Finegold, D-Andover, and Becca Rausch, D-Needham, who each voted with her 93 times (95.8%).

Beacon Hill Roll Call contacted these four senators three times each and asked them to comment on the percentage of times, lower than the other senators, each one voted with the Creem. None of the four responded.

The votes of two of the Republican senators were compared with those of GOP Senate Minority Leader Bruce Tarr, R-Gloucester. Sen. Ryan Fattman, R-Sutton, voted with Tarr 85 times (87.6%). Sen. Patrick O’Connor, R-Weymouth, voted with Tarr 100% of the time.

The third Republican, former state representative and newly elected Sen. Peter Durant, R-Spencer, just joined the Senate on Nov. 29 and was not yet a senator when the 97 roll calls in the Senate took place. Since Durant was a representative before moving onto the Senate, we based his numbers on how many times he voted with House Minority Leader Rep. Brad Jones, R-North Reading, in 2023. He voted 100% of the time with Jones.

The percentage next to the senator’s name represents the percentage of times the senator supported his or her party’s leadership so far in 2023 through Dec. 15. The number in parentheses represents the number of times the senator opposed his or her party’s leadership.

Some senators voted on all 97 roll call votes. Others missed one or more roll calls. The percentage for each senator is calculated based on the number of roll calls on which he or she voted.

Sen. Joanne Comerford — 100% (0)

Sen. Paul Mark — 100% (0)

Also up on Beacon HillPublic safety legislation

The Public Safety and Homeland Security Committee held a public hearing on several bills, including:

Retired police dogs — Dakota’s Law (H 2424): Would create a Retired Police Dog Care Fund to give grants to nonprofits to provide care and medical services to retired police K-9s. The law is named after Dakota, a K-9 who suffered post-traumatic stress disorder following the 2013 Boston Marathon bombing.

“Dakota’s Law is based on a true life Massachusetts story [that] is now an award-winning documentary called ‘Healing Dakota,’” said sponsor Rep. Steve Xiarhos, R-Barnstable. “Dakota’s Law is aimed at providing a lifetime of financial support to pay the medical bills of heroic police K-9s injured in the line of duty and upon their retirement.”

Allow advanced life support for police K-9s (H 2423): Would allow advanced life support care to be administered to an injured police K-9 by a licensed, trained professional. The bill is a follow up to a law, known as Nero’s Law, approved in 2022 that requires EMS personnel to provide emergency treatment to a police K-9 and use an ambulance to transport the dog injured in the line of duty to a veterinary clinic or hospital if there are not people requiring emergency medical treatment or transport at that time. Nero’s Law does not require EMS personnel to administer treatment on the way to the hospital. This new bill adds that requirement.

“[This bill] is also a true life Massachusetts story involving the murder of my fellow Police Officer Sean Gannon and the shooting of his devoted partner K-9 Nero,” said sponsor Rep. Steve Xiarhos, R-Barnstable. “Nero’s Law Phase 2 enhances the current Nero’s Law [by] offering specially trained Massachusetts first responders the option to provide advanced life support for police K-9s injured in the line of duty.”

Help police officers after a critical incident (H 2355): Would require all police department and other law enforcement agencies to develop and maintain a program for supporting law enforcement officers who have been involved in a critical incident. A critical incident is defined as a traumatic event that may cause powerful emotional reactions in people involved or exposed to the event. These events could include a line-of-duty death of an officer, the suicide of an officer, multiple casualty incidents, an event involving children, an officer-involved shooting, and any other event that elicits an emotional response.

“This legislation acknowledges the emotional impact that traumatic events have on law enforcement officers and ensures that every officer involved in a critical incident receives the necessary support they need to maintain their mental well-being,” said Rep. Kathy LaNatra, D-Kingston. “Untreated trauma weighs down on officers, and as each officer encounters more and more critical incidents, that trauma builds on the last incident, similar to adding rocks to a backpack and asking the officers to just continue marching despite the extra weight. This bill will ensure that every officer has access to support after an incident, to help them remove the rocks from the backpack before returning to service. This legislation takes a significant step toward prioritizing the well-being of those who dedicate their lives to serving our communities.”

Primary enforcement of seat belts (H 2395, H 2340): Would allow police officers to issue tickets for seat belt violations even if the driver is not first stopped for another violation as is required under current law.

“Seatbelts offer the best defense from injury or death in car crashes,” said Rep. Jeff Roy, D-Franklin, sponsor of H 2395. “Seat belts promote safety, save lives and save money. We could save 45 lives, prevent 500 injuries and save $525 million over five years with a primary seat belt law in effect. According to a recent study in the New England Journal of Medicine, the single greatest opportunity to improve health and reduce premature deaths lies in personal behavior and seat belt use is yet another form of impaired driving that must be addressed.”

“There are so many highway deaths in the news where people have been ejected from their cars,” said Rep. Jim Hawkins, D-Attleboro, sponsor of H 2340. “It’s not so corny to say seatbelts save lives. This bill makes not wearing seatbelts a primary offense, meaning that you can be pulled over for that.”

Supporters of the bill have been trying to get it passed for years and have been unsuccessful. The original secondary enforcement law was approved in 1985, repealed on a ballot question in 1986 and then reimposed in 1994.

Opponents of the primary enforcement bill say they have warned for years that creeping incrementalism would inevitably lead to these attempts to impose primary enforcement. They say this bill is another example of unnecessary government intrusion and argue people should have the personal freedom to make their own decisions. They express concern that primary enforcement will result in racial profiling and more minorities being pulled over for suspected violations.

Massachusetts Law Enforcement Memorial Fund (H 2417): Would establish a Massachusetts Law Enforcement Memorial Fund to maintain the Massachusetts Law Enforcement Memorial in Ashburton Park outside the State House. The memorial honors Massachusetts law enforcement personnel killed in the line of duty.

“I sponsored [this bill] to provide for the sale of specialty license plates with the proceeds directed toward the stewardship and upkeep of the memorial,” said sponsor Rep. Tom Walsh, D-Peabody. “Having attended the annual Massachusetts Law Enforcement Memorial Foundation ceremony for fallen officers, I can attest to the deep appreciation the commonwealth has for our law enforcement families as well as the need for this legislation to provide a stable, off-budget funding source to properly maintain this monument to our police officers.”