AUGUSTA (AP) – State legislators should be subject to more stringent conflict of interest laws, a 15-member panel that’s been scrutinizing Maine’s existing ethics laws for nearly a year recommended Monday.

The panel also says the public should have a way to file complaints about legislators’ questionable activities to the state’s ethics watchdog agency, the Commission on Governmental Ethics and Election Practices.

The Advisory Committee on Legislative Ethics was created nearly a year ago by the House and Senate presiding officers in the wake of ethics scandals in Congress involving lobbyists. Its recommendations will be forwarded to the newly elected Legislature, which will be formally seated Wednesday.

Senate President Beth Edmonds, D-Freeport, thanked the panel for completing a “daunting” task and said she would submit the recommendations to lawmakers.

Maine’s existing law says the state ethics commission has jurisdiction over complaints about legislators’ ethics only when other legislators make the complaints, but the law is unclear on whether citizen complaints can be reviewed.

The study panel recommends that citizen complaints be addressed, and that ethics commission hearings and proceedings be held in public once the commission decides that a complaint merits investigation.

The committee also calls for broadening the definition of conflict of interest so it covers more situations. The present law requires lawmakers to recuse themselves from action only if they would receive “distinct and unique” benefit.

The proposal advanced Monday says a conflict should exist if the lawmaker would benefit to a significantly greater extent than someone else.

The study panel also recommends prohibiting legislators from representing clients before a state agency if the legislator is a member of a committee with oversight over that agency. Legislators representing clients before other agencies would be barred from making reference to their legislative membership or from making threats about legislative action.

Some of the recommendations would require new laws and some can be imposed as internal legislative rules.

AP-ES-12-04-06 1729EST