House · Senate · Committees · The data

What is in each column

Every table on the data page downloads as a CSV and is also served as JSON. This says what each column holds, how much of it is filled, and what a value looks like. The counts here are taken from the files themselves, so they describe the copy you download rather than an older idea of it.

Two things are worth knowing before you use any of it. The two chambers do not record absence the same way, so some columns are filled for one chamber and empty for the other, and that is noted below rather than smoothed over. And the House roll calls before 2018 are photographs of printed sheets, so those rows carry the Clerk's tally but no names. The names column says which is which.

Roll calls

6,604 rows · rollcalls.csv · rollcalls.json

Column	What it holds	Filled	Example
chamber	House or Senate.	every row	House
session	General Court number. The 194th sits 2025 to 2026.	every row	190
when	Date, and the time where the record gives one. The Senate feed carries a timestamp; House sheets from 2018 on print a time, and the scanned ones do not.	97% of rows	2018-01-24 17:18
number	The roll call number, which restarts with each General Court rather than each year.	every row	306
bill	The bill voted on. On the scanned House sheets this is read out of the printed question, which is the only place it appears.	91% of rows	H4134
question	The question put, as printed.	97% of rows	QUORUM
yeas	Votes in favour.	every row	148
nays	Votes against.	every row	0
not_voting	House only. A member recorded as not voting. Empty for Senate rows, which do not use this category.	every row	11
present	House only. Answering present is not a yea, a nay, or an absence, and is counted separately.	66% of rows	0
absent	Senate only. Empty for House rows, which record not voting instead.	45% of rows	3
names	Whether we have the individual votes. "read" means every name is on the vote page. "not read" means the sheet is a scan, so the tally here is the Clerk's but the names are not available.	every row	read
page	Path to this vote's page on the site. Empty where the names are not read, because there is no page.	66% of rows	house/votes/2018/306.html
bill_page	Whether the bill named above has a page here. Some do not: the 186th and 187th General Courts were never crawled for bills, and the feed is missing a few others.	every row	no
source	The legislature's own record for this vote.	every row	https://malegislature.gov/Journal/House/

Members

346 rows · members.csv · members.json

Column	What it holds	Filled	Example
chamber	House or Senate.	every row	House
code	The legislature's member code, which is stable and is what its own records use.	every row	RAD1
name	Full name as the legislature spells it.	every row	Robert A. DeLeo
party	Party as recorded.	every row	Democrat
district	The district represented.	every row	19th Suffolk
sitting	Whether the member sits today. Members who have left keep their pages.	every row	no
first_session	Earliest General Court in which this site has a recorded vote for them. This is where the readable record starts, not necessarily where their service did.	every row	189
last_session	Latest General Court with a recorded vote for them.	every row	191
roll_calls	How many roll calls they appear in on this site.	every row	623
committee_votes	How many published committee votes they appear in.	every row	0
page	Path to their page on the site.	every row	house/members/RAD1.html

Bills

56,040 rows · bills.csv · bills.json

Column	What it holds	Filled	Example
session	General Court number.	every row	188
bill	Bill number, unique within its session.	every row	S1773
title	The bill's title, as filed.	every row	Transportation Finance Reform
sponsor	The member who filed it.	99% of rows	Bruce E. Tarr
cosponsors	Number of cosponsors besides the primary sponsor.	every row	3
type	The legislature's own classification, such as Bill, Resolve or Amendment.	every row	Amendment
committee_actions	What committees did with it, as the record states.	95% of rows	Accompanied
committee_votes_recorded	How many published committee votes this bill drew. Nearly every bill dies in committee, and before February 2025 a vote was only recorded if a member asked for one.	every row	0
roll_calls	How many floor roll calls named this bill.	every row	0
url	The legislature's own page for this record.	every row	https://malegislature.gov/Bills/188/S177

Committee votes

5,928 rows · committee_votes.csv · committee_votes.json

Column	What it holds	Filled	Example
session	General Court number.	every row	188
bill	Bill number, unique within its session.	every row	H101
committee	Committee code. The committees table gives the names.	every row	J13
date	Date and time, where the record gives one.	every row	2013-11-15 16:45
question	The question put, as printed.	every row	Please Vote?
favorable	Members voting to report the bill favorably.	every row	10
adverse	Members voting to report it adversely.	every row	0
reserve_right	Members reserving their rights. This is not an abstention and is not folded into anything else.	every row	1
no_action	Members recorded as taking no action. This is not an absence. The feed calls it NoVoteRecorded; the committee's own page prints No Action.	every row	6
url	The legislature's own page for this record.	every row	https://malegislature.gov/Bills/188/H101

Amendments

47,690 rows · amendments.csv · amendments.json

Column	What it holds	Filled	Example
session	General Court number.	every row	190
bill	Bill number, unique within its session.	every row	H1100
branch	Which chamber the amendment was offered in.	every row	Senate
number	The amendment's number within its bill.	every row	1
title	The bill's title, as filed.	90% of rows	Land Acquired by the City of Cambridge f
moved_by	The member who offered it.	90% of rows	Sal N. DiDomenico
outcome	What became of it. Most budget amendments are consolidated rather than voted on individually.	every row	Adopted
roll_calls	How many roll calls this amendment drew. Most drew none.	every row	0
url	The legislature's own page for this record.	every row	https://malegislature.gov/Bills/190/H110

Hearings

3,153 rows · hearings.csv · hearings.json

Column	What it holds	Filled	Example
session	General Court number.	every row	188
date	Date and time, where the record gives one.	every row	2013-02-14 11:00
committee	Committee code of the hearing's host.	every row	J39
name	Full name as the legislature spells it.	every row	Joint Committee on Ways and Means
location	Venue, street and city, as three fields joined for display.	every row	Arlington Town Hall, Auditorium, Arlingt
status	The legislature's own status, such as Completed or Canceled.	every row	Completed
bills_heard	How many bills were on the agenda.	every row	0
event_id	The legislature's event number, which is site-wide rather than per session.	every row	489