On a related note, House Speaker Dennis Hastert (R-IL) yesterday called on the ethics committee to create new rules governing lawmakers’ privately funded travel. The Speaker made his request in a letter to Chairman Doc Hastings (R-Wash.) and Rep. Alan Mollohan (W.Va.), the ranking Democrat. Hastert asked Hastings and his staff to update the ethics rules in light of the recent uproar involving members’ faulty reporting and trips paid for by private interests, several of them to luxury golfing resorts. Hastert urged Hastings and Mollohan to make the changes using increased funds that were allocated to the committee in April. Bob Ney (R-OH) recently mandated members to file travel-disclosure forms electronically in 2006. He authorized Clerk of the House Jeff Trandahl to develop a system that would only accept electronically filed disclosure forms. Ney explained that the new system would cut back on paperwork and make those records more transparent and readily accessible to the public.