State House leaders are greatly expanding the role of the ethics committee, assigning it the task for the first time of shaping proposed ethics reforms and leading an education effort to help members recognize potential pitfalls.

"I would like to have the committee begin taking on an expanded role from the past," said incoming House Speaker David Clark, R-Santa Clara. "They will be hearing legislation and will function as an as-needed standing committee."

That is a significant departure from past years, when the ethics committee would only convene if an ethics complaint was filed. It had met just four times in the last decade. Clark said he hopes it means the panel will have a specific focus on a top issue for the upcoming session.

Tensions have been high in the Utah House, as factions fought bitterly over competing ethics complaints filed against former Rep. Mark Walker, Rep. Greg Hughes and Rep. Phil Riesen, D-Holladay. Walker resigned and Hughes and Riesen were cleared by the committee, but members also complained that the process for reviewing the complaints and the code of conduct itself were in need of drastic reform.

Legislators have already asked staff attorneys to draft 17 bills relating specifically to ethics. A handful of others have been requested relating to campaign finance and lobbyist regulation, which the new chairman of the ethics committee, Rep. John Dougall, R-American Fork, expects will be in his committee.

"I anticipate we'll be busy reviewing a lot of information and trying to determine which … ideas make sense and which don't have merit," Dougall said.

The ethics committee is one of the rare bodies in the Legislature made up of equal numbers of Republicans and Democrats, which gives the minority party an equal say in the ethics legislation approved by the body.

Clark said he is also encouraging the committee to do more training for legislators, including perhaps working with staff attorneys to write an ethics manual to explain the vagaries of the legislative ethics code.

"We have not done a great deal of education," he said. "We can do a better job, so I've asked this committee to come up with training, background. Let's make sure we understand. We're going to take an active role in an ongoing basis, not just with new legislators … not just waiting for the other shoe to drop."

The U.S. House ethics committee, for example, has a 400-page detailed ethics manual explaining the body's rules and giving examples of ways members might run afoul of the code of conduct.

Now, legislative attorneys do a presentation to newly elected members on the ethics rules.

"One of the key things I'd like to do is make sure we focus on training and understanding for members, trying to narrow legislative conduct so we can avoid issues," Dougall said. "My hope is if we do a good job there it reduces the [disciplinary] meetings we have to hold."

Clark said the body hopes to draw on the experience of former U.S. Rep. Jim Hansen, who was a speaker of the Utah House and chairman of the U.S. House ethics committee.

The Senate is not planning to change the way it screens ethics legislation.