Taxpayers spent nearly $90,000 on attorneys, meals and legislative salaries for a House Ethics Committee hearing into allegations of misconduct against Rep. Greg Hughes.

"I was shocked at the dollar number and to me it reinforces the fact that we've got to, in some way, better structure an ethics process that will make sure there is merit when the complaint is filed because when we get into this effort it's very expensive," said Rep. Stephen Clark. The Provo Republican is a member of the committee that requested the breakdown of the expenses, released Wednesday.

But the figure only reflects a small portion of the overall expense of the ethics hearings into Hughes and Rep. Phil Riesen, D-Holladay. Both were cleared of wrongdoing.

The cost does not include the tens of thousands of dollars in legal fees racked up by Hughes or Riesen, nor does it include the legal fees for other witnesses who testified before the committee.

The eight legislators on the committee received, on average, $1,653 total for their more than a weeks worth of committee meetings. But the bulk of the taxpayer expense -- $66,939 of the $87,947 -- was for legislative staff, who spent weeks doing legal research, preparing briefs, and staffing the hearings.

All of the expenses were covered within the Legislature's existing budgets.

The ethics hearings also slammed the brakes on bill drafting that staff lawyers would normally be doing in the fall months. They are now scrambling to catch up, racking up overtime to get requested legislation prepared before the Legislature convenes next month, said Michael Christensen, director of the Office of Legislative Research and General Counsel.

Attorneys are also still in the process of reviewing hours of audio tape of the ethics committee hearings for public release, Christensen said.

"We didn't learn $80,000 worth of stuff from it," said Rep. Todd Kiser, R-Sandy, who chaired the committee. "But I would be optimistic that we could, as a body, make meaningful ethics reform from the experience."

Hughes, R-Draper, who was cleared of wrongdoing after more than seven days of closed-door hearings before the committee, would not say exactly how much his legal fees totaled or how he plans to pay his lawyer, Thomas Karrenberg. "They're substantial," he said.

It is possible that a legal defense fund will be created to help cover those costs.

"That's certainly on the table," Hughes said. "Some people, not me, have talked about putting together some funds for my legal fees. If that were to be the case I'm sure that would be a publicly disclosed process. ... I don't want to be characterized as shaking down or approaching people [for donations]."

David Irvine, a former legislator who helped put together the ethics complaint against Hughes and represented Riesen and Rep. Sheryl Allen, R-Bountiful, before the committee, said he and his colleague, Alan Smith, spent an enormous amount of time on the ethics issues. Through the month of October, he estimated they were each spending 10 to 12 hours a day on the topic. All of their work was done on a volunteer basis.

"If we had billed somebody for the time we spent, we probably would have billed them in excess of $200,000," he estimated.

"From our perspective, we never did look at this as a financial issue. It was absolutely a matter that we felt we needed to run with, simply in the public interest. And from that perspective I don't think we regret anything that was done."

Irvine said the donated legal counsel doesn't have to be reported as a campaign contribution because the services were not offered to help get anyone elected. Irvine, who is also a registered lobbyist, said he also does not believe the donation should have to be reported as a lobbyist gift to a lawmaker. Other lobbyists have reported such legal services, however. Attorney Phil Dyer reported $1,260 in discounted legal advice provided last year to Sen. Gene Davis, D-Salt Lake City.