All through life your participation is key to doing something and it counting. What do I mean? Of course there is the adult example, you don’t come to work you usually don’t get paid for those days. And if you miss too many you will get put on disability (if it is medical) or get let go so your employer can replace you with someone to do the work! When I was in City College you automatically got dropped if you missed more than 3 classes because they felt you couldn’t really learn in the class if you weren’t there. Even in elementary school they tell parents that if their kids miss to many days their kids will have to repeat a grade.

So what is the line for California legislators? I was reading an article over at the Fresno Bee about legislators keeping the per diems that they get for showing up to floor sessions, even when they don’t. That fact bothers me, it is similar to stealing. But that wasn’t the thing that upset me the most. It is not apparent how many floor sessions you can miss before getting tossed out.

There are many reasons that legislators miss. It seems a very common one is campaigning and I am not cool with that at all!!! But illness is a real reason but still, how many times can you miss and still the job properly? Skipping a day or two may not hurt a real big deal but that isn’t always the case.

Sen. Patricia Wiggins, a 70-year-old Santa Rosa Democrat who had displayed erratic behavior and erupted in occasional outbursts, has not attended floor sessions since March while treating an undisclosed medical condition.

Wiggins performs limited legislative work away from the Capitol, such as consulting with aides about her bills, spokesman David Miller said.

Sen. Jenny Oropeza, D-Long Beach, has missed every Senate floor session but one since May 21 because of an abdominal blood clot. Assemblywoman Wilmer Carter, D-Rialto, missed two months of floor sessions due to knee replacement surgery.

Really? Even when I don’t feel well I understand that my job still needs to be done. The people voted in people to “represent”. The key to representing is being there in place of others. While I am not talking about the validity of the excuse, I am talking about a stop loss. How much can you miss before you are kicked out or at least a temp? Shouldn’t there be something in place to enable these districts to have representation?