BEIJING, Dec. 29-- Competent lawmakers are all alike; incompetent lawmakers are each incompetent their own way.

Being a lawmaker is no easy task. Not only be must you be strict with yourself and disciplined, but it is a constant process of public consultation, submitting proposals and keeping tabs on colleagues.

However, in 2014, 26 national lawmakers failed to discipline themselves appropriately and were kicked out of the National People's Congress (NPC).

At Sunday's closing session of the bimonthly legislative meeting, three lawmakers were put under investigation for graft and dismissed, two were former leaders of provincial congresses. The other was a former party chief from a city in Jiangxi Province.

There were also three "resignations", including that of Rong Lanxiang, a deputy from eastern Shandong Province who resigned "for personal reasons". The founder of Lanxiang Vocational School, one of the largest in China, was investigated for family planning violations when it was alleged that he had six children. Rong issued an apology, saying he was "willing to take responsibility".

Rong has been in the spotlight since his school--which has trained more than 400,000 excavator drivers, chefs and computer technicians--was accused by American security investigators in 2011 of being part of cyber attacks on Google.

According to the NPC, lawmakers should be dismissed if they are "no longer trusted by the electorate" for whatever reason. They can resign to assume responsibility for dereliction of duty, or for health or personal reasons.

Among the 26 legislators, Su Rong, former vice chairman of the country's top political advisory body and one of the graft "tigers", was this year's most prominent dismissee. Another "tiger" Bai Enpei was also stripped of NPC membership. Bai was once Party chief of Yunnan Province and deputy head of the NPC Environment and Resources Protection Committee.

Beyond the few bad apples, most parliamentarians perform their duties with diligence and courage.

At last week's legislative session, Wu Xiaoling, member of the NPC standing committee, harshly criticized Beijing's traffic control system which keeps cars off the road one day each week. While discussing the Air Pollution Law, the former vice governor of the People's Bank of China said property rights have been infringed upon as cars in the capital cannot be used four days a month, which prompts more car purchases and could further damage the environment.

She suggested deletion or changes to Article 45 in the draft which would give local governments the right to issue car bans. Many lawmakers opposed the article as they feared controversial traffic control measures such as the odd-even rule used during the Beijing Olympics would be legalized. Wu wants air pollution combatted by raising emission standards and increasing the cost of car use through parking fees and other economic measures.

At last week's panel discussion on the State Council's social security report, she said, "Basic social security should not differentiate between citizens." Taking pensions as an example, Wu suggested a standard national program for every citizen with different employers offering extra annuities and citizens able to turn to commercial insurance programs.

China has nearly 3,000 national lawmakers and about 2.7 million lawmakers at lower levels. Congress deputies, they are part-timers from all walks of life. Part-time lawmakers are thought to better understand the people's situation. Discussions at legislative sessions have become increasingly heated, with lawmakers squabbling for opportunities to speak.

Chen Yunying who represents Taiwan is especially interested in child development. She has a PhD in education. Chen always submits thoroughly researched proposals to the legislature.

Gao Derong of the Dulong ethnic minority from Yunnan, is a primary school teacher. He was a township lawmaker in 1981 before being elected as county, provincial and later national level lawmaker over the last three decades.

Gao has made proposals on every aspect of Dulong life with much field research before each legislative session.

If lawmakers do not fulfill their duties and do a mediocre job, the people's congress in Mudong Township in Chongqing would not approve. Their appraisal program for the local legislature evaluates lawmakers' performance by the effect of their proposals.

"Silent lawmakers would be publicly criticized," said a local legislative official.