AUGUSTA – An advisory committee is set to make recommendations next week to increase public access to the ethics process while also clarifying and updating the rules that govern the conduct of lawmakers.

In one of the biggest proposed changes, anyone would be allowed to file a complaint against a legislator with the Commission on Governmental Ethics and Election Practices. Currently, only lawmakers are allowed to file such complaints.

The recommendations were previewed Tuesday by outgoing House Speaker John Richardson, who called them an important step in matching state law with public expectations for the conduct of legislators.

“It’s my hope and desire that, though I will not be here in January, this is one of the first matters brought up and passed,” Richardson said. Term limits prevented Richardson from seeking re-election.

The panel, established earlier this year by Richardson and Senate President Beth Edmonds, is also set to recommend that the definition of “conflict of interest” be expanded to include less direct benefits to lawmakers than current law covers.

“There’s a romantic notion that there’s a citizen Legislature,” Richardson said. “And yet the work around here is nearly constant and almost full time.”

When the ethics laws concerning conflict of interest were written, Richardson said, there was the feeling that they needed to be as narrow as possible so that people could serve and still do other work.

“In today’s world, I just don’t think that’s how the public perceives the job,” Richardson said.

Besides making conflict of interest rules more easily understandable, the recommended changes would make it easier for lawmakers to recuse themselves when a conflict might exist. Legislators are required to vote on all matters except those where a conflict exists.

While the committee is expanding the ability of the public to accuse lawmakers of wrongdoing, it’s also recommending that complaints be initially treated as confidential matters and only be made public if they are determined to have merit by the ethics commission.

“While we want to make sure charges are considered, we also want to make sure a person is innocent until proven guilty,” Richardson said. “If there’s not enough merit to go forward then that politician has some safeguard toward allegations that are made against him or her.”

Richardson said the advisory committee is divided over changes in the area of “undue influence” – the potential for legislators to use their office to benefit themselves or others outside of their legislative duties. The committee is divided over a proposal to prohibit legislators from representing a client before a state agency if they sit on the legislative committee that oversees that agency. Currently, lawyers and other professionals can do so, but may not refer to their elected position during those interactions.

The panel was formed in the wake of an ethics investigation into Wilton independent Rep. Tom Saviello, who was accused of using his position as a lawmaker to improperly try to influence the Department of Environmental Protection. Saviello was a member of the Natural Resources Committee and a paper company employee. Both the committee and the DEP have jurisdiction over issues related to his work.

The ethics advisory committee will meet for the last time Dec. 4 and formalize its recommendations. Richardson said that packet of changes will be introduced in the next Legislature.