MADISON — In February, 14 state senators thought their best bet to stop the governor’s budget-repair bill dead in its track was to leave the state.
That move failed and the bill became law. And now similar actions may have an expensive consequence.
State Rep. Tyler August, R-Walworth, co-authored a bill, AB 153 — known as the Leave Law — that would penalize any lawmaker who is absent without approved leave for three or more days.
A proposed fine for unexcused absences has Wisconsin Democrats worried that Republicans may take away traditional privileges in the legislature.
The bill, August said, is “pretty simple.” The measure was debated Thursday during its first public hearing before the Assembly Committee of Judiciary and Ethics.
“If any legislator from either house (of the General Assembly) would be absent without leave for a period of three consecutive session days or more, they would be subject to a $500 fine per day” after the first three days, August said.
The proposed law would make absence without leave a crime, a misdemeanor to be prosecuted by a court in the legislators home district.
August said his bill is about making elected officials accountable to constituents.
“When we are elected to these positions, you do so because you want to represent your hometown community and be a voice for them,” August said.
August said the bitter feud between Democrats and Republicans over Gov. Scott Walker’s budget fixes was the driving force behind his proposal. The Democratic senators who left the state for weeks in the spring session, attempted to stall a vote on legislation that eliminated most collective bargaining for many unionized public sector employees.
Several committee members questioned how liberally the fine would be levied.
“What you’re doing here is playing politics with something I certainly don’t agree with, and the question really comes down to the penalties that you’ve imposed,” state Rep. Gary Hebl, D-Sun Prairie, said.
Hebl and other Democrats who oppose the proposed legislation argued that the measure could harm the act of requesting a leave of absence.
To receive a leave of absence from either house, a legislator must file a request with the members of the chamber and receive unanimous consent. None of the lawmakers at Thursday’s hearing could remember a time when a request for leave had not been granted.
“I believe this is my attempt and Rep. August’s attempt to prevent the thwarting of the legislative process moving forward,” state Sen. Frank Lasee, R-De Pere, a co-author of the bill, said. “This is about the minority of either party deciding en masse to run off because that’s really the only time something like this would be exercised.”
Lasee said the bill was written to deter any group of legislators from simply taking off without receiving the authorized leave. It is not to harm lawmakers seeking leave for unforeseen circumstances, he said.
“In the real world outside the Legislature, you stop showing up for work, after a certain period you won’t have a job anymore,” Lasee said. “In our world, you’ll have a job until the end of your elected term no matter what you do.”
Committee Chairman state Rep. Jim Ott, R-Mequon, said all members of the Legislature receive the session calendar two years in advance.
“I understand about death in the family and unforeseen circumstances, but the fact is that I think it is the responsibility of every legislator to keep those periods free when we do have session days planned,” Ott said.
Will Williams, a disabled veteran from De Forest, who opposed the bill, said it “should not even be on this floor.”
“Anyone (with even a) nano amount of intelligence would understand that this is a political move to stop what happened when the senators went to Illinois, and the people of Wisconsin are glad that it happened, because had it not happened they would have had more garbage shoved down their throats,” Williams said.
A vote on the bill has not been scheduled.
Watch the committee hearing on Wisconsin Eye.
