1.  A Legislator who is elected to the Assembly or the Senate and who has not previously served in either House shall attend the training required pursuant to this section unless his or her attendance is excused pursuant to subsection 6.

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2.  A member of the Assembly who is required to attend training pursuant to this section shall attend each training session designated as mandatory by the Speaker of the Assembly. A member of the Senate who is required to attend training pursuant to this section shall attend each training session designated as mandatory by the Majority Leader of the Senate.

3.  The training required pursuant to this section must include:

(a) Legislative procedure and protocol;

(b) Overviews of the state budget and the budgetary process;

(c) Discussion of major policy issues that are likely to be considered during the ensuing regular session;

(d) Discussion of local governments in this State, including, without limitation, overviews of:

(1) The structure and authority of local governments;

(2) The financial administration of local governments, including, without limitation, the budgets and budgetary process of local governments; and

(3) The services provided by local governments; and

(e) Such other matters as are deemed appropriate by the Speaker of the Assembly, the Majority Leader of the Senate, the Minority Leader of the Assembly and the Minority Leader of the Senate for their respective Houses.

4.  The Director shall provide staff support for the training required pursuant to this section.

5.  The training required pursuant to this section must not exceed a total of 10 days and must be conducted between the day next after the general election and the commencement of the ensuing regular session. The dates for the training must be:

(a) Determined by the Speaker of the Assembly and the Majority Leader of the Senate;

(b) Posted on the public website of the Legislature on the Internet; and

(c) Communicated in writing by the Director to the candidates for election to the Assembly and the Senate for the ensuing regular session, not later than 90 days before the first day on which training will be conducted.

6.  The Speaker of the Assembly or the Majority Leader of the Senate may excuse a Legislator from attending a training session otherwise required pursuant to this section in case of illness, injury, emergency, employment or other good cause as determined by the Speaker or Majority Leader.

7.  Except as otherwise provided in this subsection, the Director shall provide an electronic copy of a training session and a form for attesting completion of the training session to any Legislator who was unable to attend the training session. If any training session is conducted in a manner that the Director determines cannot reasonably be recorded in an electronic format, the Director may provide for an alternate means of recording the information provided during that training session. To successfully complete the training required pursuant to this section, a Legislator who was unable to attend a training session shall complete that session in the manner prescribed by the Director and submit the attestation to the Director.

8.  The Director shall issue a ‘Certificate of Graduation from the Legislative Training Academy’ to each Legislator who successfully completes the training required pursuant to this section.