An Act To Penalize Legislators for Excessive Absences

Sec. 1. 3 MRSA §2,  as corrected by RR 2013, c. 2, §3, is amended by adding after the 2nd paragraph a new paragraph to read:

A member of the Senate or House of Representatives may not be absent without leave for more than 5 legislative days in the first regular session or for more than 3 legislative days in the second regular session. A member who violates this paragraph must have the member's salary reduced by an amount as determined by the Legislative Council for each legislative day of absence without leave.

SUMMARY

This bill requires that a member of the Legislature be penalized by having that member's salary reduced for each legislative day the member is absent without leave after 5 days of absence in the first regular session and after 3 days of absence in the second regular session, in an amount to be determined by the Legislative Council.