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 state senators in 2010.

The list reveals that senators collected a total of $74,782. Under state law, per diems are paid by the state to senators "for each day for travel from his place of residence to the Statehouse and return therefrom, while in the performance of his official duties, upon certification to the state treasurer that he was present at the Statehouse." 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 in which a senator resides and its distance from the Statehouse. 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 Statehouse often 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 most other private sector and 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.

We have included all senators who served in 2010. That includes eight former senators who did not run for re-election as well as five current senators who served as representatives in 2010.

The 2010 statistics indicate that 25 senators have received reimbursements ranging from $710 to $8,370 while 20 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 2010 is Sen. Benjamin Downing (D-Pittsfield) with $8,370. The other senators rounding out the top ten with the highest amounts in order of the amount of money received include former and current Sens. Stephen Buoniconti (D-West Springfield), $7,986; Stanley Rosenberg (D-Amherst), $6,120;  Michael Knapik (R-Westfield), $5,610; Robert O'Leary (D-Barnstable), $5,250; Michael Rodrigues (D-Westport), $4,770; James Welch (D-Springfield), $3,828; Joan Menard (D-Somerset), $3,744; Bruce Tarr (R-Gloucester), $3,276 and Gale Candaras (D-Wilbraham), $3,120.

 LOCAL SENATORS' PER DIEMS FOR 2010

   The dollar figure next to the senator's name represents the total amount of 2010 per diem money the state paid the senator.  The number in parentheses represents the number of days the senator certified that he or she was at the Statehouse during that same period.

 A total of 20 of the state's senators did not list any days and did not request any per diems. This should not be construed to mean these senators were never at the Statehouse in 2010. It simply means they chose not to list the number of days and not to request their per diems.

Sen. Robert Hedlund          $0       (0 days)                           

Sen. Brian Joyce                  $0       (0 days)                           

Sen. Thomas Kennedy       $0       (0 days)                           

Sen. Therese Murray           $0       (0 days)                      

ALSO UP ON BEACON HILL

PAROLE BOARD MEMBERS RESIGN - Gov. Deval Patrick has accepted the resignations of the five members of the seven-member State Parole Board who in 2008 approved the controversial release of Dominic Cinelli, the accused killer of Woburn police officer John McGuire during a December jewelry robbery at Kohl's in Woburn. Cinelli, who was paroled in 2009 and was also killed during the robbery, had been serving three concurrent life sentences for several armed robberies and assaults.

COMPANY CLOSING DESPITE TAX BREAKS - A company that received some $58 million in state tax breaks, loans, grants and other incentives in 2008 to open a facility at the former military base in Devens announced plans to close the plant and lay off an estimated 800 workers. Evergreen Solar Inc. said it would continue operations at its lower-cost facility in China.

There is ongoing debate about whether the state will be able to use the "clawback" provisions that were part of the deal as a vehicle to recover a portion of its money. Clawback provisions require repayment of some funds by the company if it does not meet certain goals including the creation of the minimum number of jobs that it promised.

 TRUSTS FOR PETS (H 1467) - Gov. Patrick signed into law legislation that would allow pet owners to set up trust funds to take care of their dogs, cats and other animals after the owner has died just as if they were minor children.

AMERICAN FLAGS MADE IN AMERICA (H 5081) - Gov. Patrick signed into law a bill requiring that American flags purchased by any state agency be made in the United States. Previous law was looser, allowing the state to purchase flags with a "substantial majority of (their) principal components assembled into the final product in an assembly plant in the United States."

 ALLOW ARCHITECTS TO PLACE LIENS (S 2512) - The governor signed into law a measure allowing architects, professional engineers and land surveyors to place liens on properties when they are not paid by the homeowner.

 Supporters say this measure will give these professionals the same lien rights that are enjoyed by builders. They noted many of these hardworking people do not get paid in full and prior to this law, their only recourse was a lengthy and often unsuccessful lawsuit.

 QUOTABLE QUOTES

  "I think maybe we have spent enough time trying to think about how to give money and benefits to people who are very powerful and rich."

 Sen. Patricia Jehlen (D-Somerville), commenting on the closing of the Devens plant of Evergreen Solar, a company that received more than $58 million in state tax breaks, loans and grants.

"There were failures of both the board's process in paroling Mr. Cinelli and the supervision after his release. Ultimately it is Cinelli and Cinelli alone who is responsible for the murder of Officer McGuire. But after this review I cannot say that the Parole Board or Parole Office did all they could to assure public safety."

Gov. Patrick discussing the resignation of five Parole Board members who in 2008 approved the controversial release of accused cop-killer Dominic Cinelli.

 "I am pleased at the action the governor announced relative to the Parole Board. He has finally come to the same conclusion many of us reached weeks ago. I am however disappointed it took this long and that the life of a police officer had to be taken in order for him to act."

House Republican Minority Leader Bradley Jones (R-North Reading).

 "The defendant, Patrice Tierney, engaged in a conscious course of deliberate ignorance regarding the true nature of (her brother Robert) Eremian’s income and Eremian’s ownership of Sports Offshore."

From a press release from the U.S. Attorney's office announcing that Patrice Tierney, wife of Congressman John Tierney, was sentenced to 30 days in prison and then two years of supervised release, including five months of home confinement, on charges of aiding and abetting the filing of false federal tax returns for her brother.

 "There are two options and neither of them reflects well on Congressman Tierney. He either looked the other way as his wife managed millions of dollars in ill-gotten gains for her fugitive brother, or the voters of the 6th district have a congressman who is so clueless that he should not be deciding how to spend taxpayer money."

 Massachusetts Republican Party Chairman Jennifer Nassour asking how Mrs. Tierney could manage more than $7 million in illegal gambling profits without the knowledge of her congressman husband.

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

During the week of Jan. 10-14, the House met for a total of two hours and 37 minutes while the Senate met for a total of 32 minutes.

Mon.   Jan. 10    House  11:02 a.m. to  11:09 a.m.

                             Senate 11:00 a.m. to  11:03 a.m.

Tues.  Jan. 11    No House session

                              No Senate session

Wed.   Jan. 12    No House session

                              No Senate session

Thurs.  Jan. 13    House  11:04 a.m. to   1:34 p.m.

                               Senate 11:03 a.m. to  11:32 a.m.

Fri.   Jan. 14    No House session

                          No Senate session

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