And when they return, they promise to present a report detailing their activities to a committee comprised largely of those who are planning to go on the trip.

The Legislative Management Committee on Tuesday expanded the delegation from 12 lawmakers to 14 and mandated the group to make a formal report to the Executive Appropriations Committee.

At least eight of the 20 Executive Appropriations Committee members are among those tentatively scheduled to go on the trip.

"We are investing taxpayer dollars, and I would like to know what happened," said Senate President John Valentine, who will not be going to China.

The Legislature will spend more than $18,000 to send 10 Republicans and four Democrats to the LiaoÂning Province from July 7-15.

For Valentine, there is a broad benefit from simply learning about other governments.

"We would be dumb as rocks if we didn't take the opportunity to learn about the world," he said.

This was but one answer lawmakers offered after Holladay Democratic Sen. Patricia Jones questioned the purpose of using tax money to send lawmakers to Liaoning.

The responses were varied. Some heralded the potential cultural exchanges. Others said the trip was a way to reciprocate for visits Liaoning officials have already made to Utah.

But most of the discussion centered around business opportunities.

"Everything happens in Asia because of relationships and connections," said House Minority Whip Brad King. "Business and government are really much more closely aligned than they are here in the states."

Lawmakers plan to visit business parks and industrial plants, but they won't have any business representatives with them, like Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr. had when he made a trade mission to China last year.

Valentine and House Speaker Greg Curtis said they do plan to formally invite members of the news media to attend as long as they pay their own way.

Two Democrats from Price - King and Sen. Mike Dmitrich - touted mining as one area of shared interest.

"There is a lot of opportunity there," Dmitrich said. "The mine safety aspect. We can generate something there."

House Majority Leader Dave Clark will lead the delegation with Senate Majority Leader Curt Bramble.

Clark said lawmakers have developed broad goals for the trip, but he still expects them to come up with specific expectations before departing.

"I want to know what the expectations are before we go," he said.

Some of those goals will be concrete and easy to track, like linking a specific Utah business with industries in China.

Others will be more abstract.

Clark said fostering better "government to government" relationships is a primary objective but may be harder to quantify.

mcanham@sltrib.com