House leadership will now meet in private with lawmakers who face ethics complaints before the complaints get a full and public committee hearing.

Lawmakers today unanimously approved the rule change, characterized by bi-partisan proponents as a way to help the House speaker, majority leader and minority leader decide whether to launch full-scale investigations. One lawmaker argued the change could lead to mini-investigations away from public view.

Until today, leadership was banned from discussing complaints with the accused lawmakers and instead had to decide whether to pursue charges based on written grievances.

Majority Leader Paul Weissmann, D-Louisville, said that the new process would not have stopped any of the House’s recent ethics probes. Reps. Steve King and David Balmer were recently cleared of wrongdoing by ethics panels composed of their peers. Former Rep. Doug Bruce faced censure for kicking a photographer following a similar ethics probe.