Should state lawmakers spend taxpayer dollars to keep their aloha shirts clean and their suits pressed?

What about legislators using public money to send flowers to the family of a friend who died? Or buying a birthday cake for a staff member?

The state Ethics Commission began Wednesday to examine the way Hawaii’s 51 House reps and 25 senators spend their legislative allowances each year. The commission did so after receiving complaints from a couple of lawmakers.

It marks the first time the commission is reviewing policy on the issue in decades.

Legislators each receive roughly $12,000 to cover “incidental expenses connected with legislative duties.” House and Senate rules include a few more restrictions, but the Ethics Commission is likely to offer clearer guidance soon.

“There are some things that make you wonder as a member of the public — it is public money being spent — how appropriate it is,” Commission Chair Leiolani Abdul said.

“It’s a very interesting question that’s being raised and I’d like to take a look at it.”

Comments among the commissioners and Ethics Executive Director Les Kondo make it doubtful that any individual lawmaker will face formal ethics charges over past expenses. The commission seems more interested in offering “high level” advice for all legislators and then following up if necessary.

In the short term, the commission plans to send a memo to House and Senate leaders letting them know there are concerns about how lawmakers use their allowances. But the commissioners were split on what specific uses should be prohibited.

Dry cleaning bills, for instance, seemed a “pretty personal” expense to Abdul and Commissioner Edward Broglio. But Commissioner David O’Neal felt comfortable with it. He said he doesn’t think the commission should bother looking into the allowance issue at all.

Civil Beat in October reviewed how lawmakers have used their allowances, finding a wide range of expenses. Legislators spent thousands of dollars to mail newsletters to their constituents, but they also used the money to buy gifts for orphans, fly to conferences on the mainland and go to charity galas.

In all, the 76 lawmakers’ legislative allowances add up to nearly $1 million.

For the most part, Kondo said the legislative allowances are spent on things that seem reasonable to him, like office-related purchases, communicating with constituents and traveling for work.

But other expenses — airline seat upgrades, congratulatory gifts, membership dues, donations to private charities — are questionable, he said.

The commission expects the debate to continue at its meeting next month.

Read Civil Beat’s report on how the House reps spent their legislative allowances in 2012 and 2013 here. View the story on how senators spent their allowances over the past two years here.

• Contact Nathan Eagle via email at neagle@civilbeat.com or Twitter at @NathanEagle.