ATLANTA - The House Ethics Committee will investigate a legislator who has failed to file a state income tax return.

State Revenue Commissioner Bart Graham on Wednesday delivered a list of lawmakers to the heads of the House and Senate ethics panels as required by a new law that passed last year to deal with tax deadbeats at the state Capitol.

One unidentified House lawmaker still had not filed a tax return, officials said.

That's far below the 19 legislators identified last year who had failed to file a state income tax return.

"But the only acceptable number is zero," state Rep. Joe Wilkinson, House Ethics Committee chairman, said Wednesday.

Senate Ethics Committee Chairman Dan Moody said that according to the information Graham delivered on Wednesday, "everybody is current in the Senate."

Wilkinson said he and House Speaker David Ralston will determine when to hold an ethics committee hearing.

When word broke last year that 19 legislators had failed to pay taxes, House and Senate officials realized there was little the chambers could do to penalize the lawmakers or even to learn who they were. They quickly adopted legislation requiring Graham to hand over the names of the offending lawmakers to the House and Senate ethics committee chairmen.

And legislators could get even tougher.

A constitutional amendment pending in the House would bar from public office anyone who fails in a timely manner to file a state income tax return or pay his taxes.