Yes, RL circumstances can arise, but the region doesn't just stop ticking in peoples' absence (I mean, until we reach some critical threshold of absences, that is). Removing somebody from office for inactivity isn't being mean or unfair to them, it's just looking out for the wellbeing of TNP as a whole.
There is a mechanism already for avoiding being removed for violating voting requirements - get a leave of absence. This doesn't account for people who don't log in for 30 days, and it doesn't account for those who are unable to request a leave for whatever reason, but in the majority of RL instances it will be possible to do so quickly.
If someone disappears without warning for a month because something terrible has happened to them, I think the region will understand and be sympathetic when they return, and not hold it against them when considering future elections - but that doesn't mean we have to just hold things in place in their absence (particularly because we don't know in advance when people disappear whether it's because RL got busy, or because something terrible happened, or they just wandered off. We also don't know what the length of that absence will be - Elu has disappeared for months at a time at times, including at least one period while he was the sitting delegate). How long can the region be expected to wait? We've already answered that question - we're willing to wait between 20 and 30 days, which is a relatively generous period of time.
If the current speaker is up for PMing each and every member once they miss three legislative votes (note that it's legislative only that count for removal) or who haven't voted within fifteen days, I think that's a policy he should adopt independently. There are two significant problems I see with putting it into the Legal Code though - one, if the RA has a period of lower legislative activity (which happens), the current phrasing would require the Speaker to PM the entire RA just because fifteen days have gone by with no vote opening. Two, it's not unimaginable for the Speaker's office to have an occupant who is significantly less on the ball than the last three have been, and implementing a strict requirement like this means that if any RA member doesn't receive these mandated warnings, we have to slap the Speaker with Gross Misconduct charges. If it's an independent policy instead, the Speaker has the discretion to avoid silliness in the first case, and to simply drop the policy in the future if they don't want to keep up with it.
I still don't think it's necessary - pruning inactive members is critical to keep the RA a functional size - but if the current Speaker wants to take it on himself to keep them in the fold I can't really stop him.[note]The IRCabal, on the other hand...[/note]