AUGUSTA — A bill to make sure every lawmaker earns a decent wage was scrapped by its sponsor today and replaced with a study commission.

Rep. Richard Burns, D-Berwick, told members of the State and Local Government Committee that his bill, Legislative Document 226, wasn’t supposed to be about pay. As originally written, the bill would have examined what legislators earn in their full-time jobs to determine whether they have enough money to pay for housing, transportation, child care, health insurance, clothing, food, and recreation.

If they didn’t make enough, their legislative salary would have made up the difference. If they made too much, they would not have been paid at all.