By Bob Katzen

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 dozen s of bills in the days immediately preceding the end of an annual session.

During the week of July 18-22, the House met for a total of 15 hours and four minutes and the Senate met for a total of 16 hours and 49 minutes.

Mon. July 18 House 11:03 a.m.to 3:57 p.m.
Senate 1:05 p.m. to 4:42 p.m.

Tues. July 19 House 11:00 a.m. to 11:04 a.m.
No Senate session.

Wed. July 20 House 11:01 a.m. to 12:37 p.m
No Senate session

Thurs. July 21 House 11:02 a.m. to 7:32 p.m.
Senate 10:17 a.m. to 11:29 p.m.

Fri. July 22 No House session
No Senate session