A handful of House members from both parties think so, and unsuccessfully tried Thursday to make oral financial disclosures part of the rules of combat in the Legislature.

Rep. Ross Romero, D-Salt Lake City, asked the joint Rules Committee to modify disclosure rules to require lawmakers to orally declare that they or a member of their immediate family may have a "direct financial benefit or detriment" in an issue - before speaking on the measure.

"It causes us to think for a minute and disclose a conflict we have," Romero said. "It assists our colleagues to understand our background and biases better."

Legislators are already required to list in writing potential conflicts of interest, but critics like Romero and Rep. Dave Ure, R-Kamas, say it is impossible for members to keep track of their colleagues' tangle of involvements. For one thing, the hand-written disclosures often are illegible.

Several members of the Rules panel complained that it would be difficult for them to remember all their boards, charities, and investments in the heat of debate. Would forgetting one make the lawmaker guilty of a crime?

"It raises a Pandora's box of people not realizing what is downstream," said Rep. Todd Kiser, R-Sandy.

Others, like Rep. James Dunigan, R-Taylorsville, said requiring oral disclosures before every speech would bog down lawmaking.

"Some of us are in the House and talking is all we do," said Dunigan. "[Oral disclosure] would be a big slowdown to the process."

Lawmakers caught up in emotional debate cannot be expected to declare their conflicts, said Republican Sen. Curt Bramble, a tax accountant from Provo. "In the heat of discussion, I might overlook a client that I do business with. That now would allow someone to come in and make an allegation of criminal conduct against me."

But Ure said he has been swayed by a colleague's speech, only to later learn the lawmaker has a financial stake in the issue.

"I don't think it hurts to open this up," Ure said. "The intent is to let the body know where we are coming from - allowing our peers to make an intelligent decision."

Although Romero offered to modify the rule to eliminate any criminal penalty for failing to orally disclose a financial conflict, the committee refused to act on the proposal.

"I don't think it's going to have any of us serving time down at Point of the Mountain [prison]," Ure said, jokingly adding, "Although some of us should."