I like Kris' suggestion better than the current draft.

But also, I am unconvinced there's a significant problem with the status quo. If applications are not being accepted, that is a failure of the Chair (and, if relevant, their appointed Deputies) in doing their job rather than the law itself. The natural recourse for such a difficulty is to (1) ask nicely, (2) ask grumpily, then (3) do a recall. In this case, it got taken care of on step (1), and I'm fine with following that same process in any future iterations. 

While I agree with Qaz that if you're on LOA you likely won't be paying too much attention to if your LOA is accepted or not, other members of the Assembly generally are, and if there's a structural problem with LOAs not being recognized it usually gets addressed.