HARRISBURG - A Senate committee unanimously endorsed a so-called gift ban that would prohibit lawmakers and other state officials from accepting anything of value beyond "a trinket or memento" from lobbyists.

"It would elevate the process to one that the people would have more confidence in," said Sen. Jeffrey Piccola (R., Dauphin), chairman of the State Government Committee and the bill's sponsor.

Pennsylvania has no restrictions on what lobbyists can give or what lawmakers can accept, unlike 15 states that ban or severely limit gifts.

Disclosure is required in Pennsylvania. The 1,300 lobbyists and their clients must say how much they spend to influence legislation, and must report gifts to individual state officials if they exceed $250 annually, or meals and lodging if more than $650.

Although he voted for the bill, state Sen. Anthony Williams of Philadelphia, the ranking Democrat on the committee, said it is flawed. It's unclear whether the full Senate will consider the measure before the end of the session in November.

Williams said he would rather see a bill that calls for disclosure of all gifts rather than an outright ban.

"I think fuller information about who gets what, for how, or for what, is the appropriate consideration," said Williams. Clamping down on gifts, especially small ones, he said "would drive some of that activity further behind the scene, and that scares me."

But Barry Kauffman, executive director of government watchdog group Common Cause of Pennsylvania, lauded the bill.

"It largely diminishes the influence of people who are professional best friends," Kauffman said of lobbyists, "and it strengthens the integrity of a lawmaker and the decision-making process."

In April, the Associated Press reported that 253 members of the General Assembly acknowledged receiving about $22,000 in gifts and $89,000 in subsidized travel - much of it to foreign lands - in 2007. The information was revealed on ethics reports lawmakers are required to file each spring.

Additionally, the Inquirer reported on Sunday that more than a dozen lawmakers had received freebies from lobbyists – from hundreds of dollars in golf balls to the use of a luxury sports stadium suite -- without disclosing them on their ethics reports.

Under the legislation, lawmakers could still accept small gifts from lobbyists, from coffee mugs to key chains to plagues. The bill doesn't put any cap on the value of acceptable gifts other than to describe them as trinkets or mementos.

Piccola said the issue likely would become a topic in the fall legislative campaigns with candidates staking a position on the subject.