ATLANTA - House Republicans are pushing an ethics bill designed to make state agencies and boards subject to the same rules of conduct as state lawmakers.

House Speaker David Ralston said Thursday the bill would be introduced next week. It's one of a flurry of ethics bills introduced this session in the wake of former House Speaker Glenn Richardson's resignation after an alleged affair with a utility lobbyist.

Ralston said rules should be the same for legislators and others in state government.

"My understanding is there is a substantial disparity between what we as legislators are required to do and what they are required to do and we just want to bridge the gap," the Blue Ride Republican said following a speech to the Atlanta Press Club.

State Rep. Joe Wilkinson, chairman of the House Ethics Committee, said there are already disclosure requirements for state board members. But there are different reporting requirements when it comes to gifts.

He also said there are questions about whether lobbyists should face the same gift caps for spending on state agency board members as are being proposed for lawmakers.

"These are things we have to work out," Wilkinson said.

"We are looking for level playing field."

Among the ethics proposals on the table is one bill that would place a $100 cap on individual meals, trips and concert tickets that lobbyists routinely provide for legislators at the state Capitol. It has bipartisan support.

Lobbyists may currently spend anything they like entertaining legislators so long as they report the expense.

Another proposal would give the state Ethics Commission the power to investigate conflict of interest complaints against legislators. Lawmakers currently police their own conduct with a joint legislative ethics panel.

That panel dismissed a complaint against Richardson in 2007 which first raised allegations of the affair.

Ralston said Thursday that after the Richardson scandal the Legislature needs to act on ethics to help restore public trust. But he allowed that ultimately strict laws can only do so much.

"Common decency would solve some of these problems," Ralston said. "Behaving yourself is not a complicated sort of thing."