Clark laid out an eight-point plan that included gift bans, the elimination of personal use of campaign funds, quicker financial disclosures and a bipartisan look at changing the ethics investigation process.

"The entire process should be fair, open and transparent," Clark said.

He will work with the other House members elected to leadership positions to pass such legislation.

Layton's Kevin Garn became the new majority leader, while Washington Terrace's Brad Dee became majority whip and Becky Lockhart of Provo became assistant majority whip.

"We intend to hit the ground running," Clark said. "This is a strong leadership team, and none of my colleagues here have been known to shrink from speaking what they think."

In addition to ethics reform, Clark says he will focus on the economy, education, energy and health care.

But he said that any politician on the campaign trail this year quickly realized that ethics reform was important to voters.

He said this summer provided plenty of opportunity to figure out what needed to change in the ethics investigative process. The Legislature used its Ethics Committee to examine several complaints of unethical behavior this summer.

"It was like we had a car in the barn that had been sitting there for 10 years. We fired it up and ran it around the track and parts

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of it weren't working as well as we thought," Clark said. "Until we took it for a test drive, we didn't know, so it caught us off guard, but that's why we're proposing that we put these items up for discussion."

The proposed gift ban would have an exception for items worth less than $5 or $10, and meals likely could be accepted if they are offered to the Legislature as a whole or are part of an event, such as a Lincoln Day dinner.

"What we're looking at is one-on-one meals with contracted lobbyists," Clark said. "With some qualifications, there would be a meal ban."

He also would like to set caps on campaign contributions and prohibit elected officials from lobbying for a full year after leaving office.

He also said he would like to appoint the majority and minority leader to create a bipartisan committee to look at the ethics process and make suggestions for potential changes.

Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr. has said he would like to see changes made in that process, but Clark says the state Constitution clearly gives the Legislature power to govern itself.

"I appreciate and am supportive of his efforts on the executive side, but from the House standpoint, this is a legislative issue," he said.