Legislative Update - 3/16

A look at roll call votes.

Holding Your Representatives Accountable: Checking Roll Call Votes

Did your representatives vote to uphold marriage equality? To convert your local public school into a charter school? To make it harder for families to receive SNAP benefits?

Every roll call vote is recorded and easy to look up.

Let’s use HB1793, also known as “Campus Carry,” as an example. We’ll walk through how to check your representatives’ votes using the General Court website.

Step 1:

Start here: Here’s the link to the website.

Step 2:

Enter the bill number (HBxxxx or SBxxx.) Pro tip: You can also use the hyperlinks in the bill tracker below to jump directly to any bill.

For this example, we' are using HB1793.

Step 3:

Click on the bill number.

Step 4:

Click on the roll call vote. FYI: A bill can have more than one roll call vote, and they are listed in order. If there are multiple motions or amendments it can get confusing, but focus on votes for OTP (Ought To Pass), OTPA (Ought To Pass with Amendment), or ITL (Inexpedient To Legislate).

In this example, there is one roll call vote on an Ought To Pass (OTP) motion.

Step 5:

Once you click on the link to the roll call vote, you can search the list by name, by vote result or by party.

It’s important to know how your representatives vote. As I mentioned last week, there is a lot at stake in the State House and many harmful bills are still moving forward. One of the most effective ways to push back is to hold legislators accountable for their votes.

Bill Tracking

It’s a quieter week as the “Crossover” deadline approaches and we don’t have a session scheduled for this Thursday. The bill tracker has been updated, and I want to highlight a few items.

You can download the chart here: 2026 Bill Tracker - 3/15/26

Download

As you can see there are very few action items. Any bills highlighted in GREEN are heading to the Senate and most haven’t been scheduled for hearings yet. But there are a couple, including HB1792 (the CHARLIE Act) and HB1730 with links to the Senate’s online testimony portal highlighted in blue.

My focus has primarily been on House bills so far, but I’ll begin adding more Senate bills as they make their way to the House in the coming weeks.

Transparency only matters if we use it. Take a few minutes to look up how your representatives are voting—and if you don’t like what you see, let them know.