Senate Republicans voted Wednesday morning on monetary punishments for the missing 14 Democratic Senators and passed a bill curtailing a retailer discount law.

The Senate passed 14 resolutions fining each absent Democratic senator $100 for each day they are not at work in the Senate chambers for two or more session days.

The chief Senate clerk would calculate the penalties and bring the totaled amount to Senate President Michael Ellis, R-Neenah, who would then deliver it in writing to the missing senator’s office for immediate payment.

Sen. Fred Risser, one of the 14 missing Democrats who would face a $100-per-day fine, said he questioned whether Senate leadership could enforce the resolutions.

“It has no effect on anyone, I don’t think they’re serious and I don’t think they could enforce it if they wanted to,” Risser said.

The Senate intended to take up the resolutions Tuesday but deferred until Wednesday because Republicans wanted to make sure fining the Democrats was legal and within their powers, Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald’s spokesperson Andrew Welhouse said.

The Senate also passed a bill Wednesday that would repeal a law making it a $500 fine or a misdemeanor for businesses to hold “no-sales tax” promotions.

“We’ve all seen them,” bill author Sen. Van Wanggaard, R-Racine, said. “Businesses claim you can save your sales tax or that there will be a tax-free sales event, or they might also mention the retailer will pay your sales tax.”

Although the retailer tells the consumer they would not have to pay sales tax on a purchase, the business is simply discounting the purchase price by 5.5 percent while sales tax is still collected on the purchase price of the item sold, Wanggaard said.

The law is unnecessary and requires a large amount of resources to enforce, Wanggaard said, and is not on a list of the Department of Revenues top priorities.

The DOR only enforces the current law if they received a complaint, spokesperson Stephanie Marquis said.

She added there are only around five complaints a year.

In other Capitol business Wednesday, rumors spread about possible public hearing locations on the governor’s biennium budget.

The Associated Press announced Wednesday that Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald, R-Juneau, said the Bradley Center in Milwaukee and the Kohl Center in Madison could be potential sites chosen by the Joint Finance Committee to hold public hearings on the proposed budget for fiscal years 2011-2013.

However, JFC co-chair Rep. Robin Vos’ spokesperson Kit Meyer said the public hearing locations had not been decided on yet.

“It most definitely won’t be at a big arena,” Meyer said.

She added that Vos and the JFC members have not decided where any of the hearings are going to be. Vos, Meyer said, was working on other things at the moment. 

State Editor Andrew Averill and the Associated Press contributed to this article