PROVIDENCE — Amid the drumbeat of alleged public corruption scandals in Rhode Island, state legislators are considering a bill that would for the first time make it a felony to violate the public trust.

Currently — in what may be a surprise to the average Rhode Islander — the state well versed in public corruption has no law that makes such behavior illegal. State and local officials can be charged with bribery or embezzlement and a variety of related charges, but not with outright corruption.

Federal law does include a corruption provision, though a relatively small number of cases are prosecuted on the federal level.

Now a bill proposed by Attorney General Patrick C. Lynch would target alleged corruption scandals that the federal government does not take up, often because they involve lower level public officials.

Testifying at a House Judiciary Committee meeting last week, Lynch said the bill was “sorely needed” particularly in difficult budgetary times like these when officials might face greater temptation to bend the rules.

“When the attorney general’s office spoke to me about this, my first reaction was just shy of shock because I could not believe this piece of legislation, or a statute like this, wasn’t already on the books,” bill sponsor Rep. Peter Kilmartin, D-Pawtucket, testified at the same hearing. He called the bill an important tool “to basically clean our own house” when necessary.

The proposed law is modeled on the federal statute that was enacted in 1988, and would apply to public servants at all levels — from elected officials to state, municipal and contract employees.

Lynch said he expects the proposal will find support at the Assembly as the session moves forward. But House spokesman Larry Berman said legislative leaders have not yet made up their minds whether to back the legislation. A Senate spokesman did not return calls for comment about an identical bill now making its way through the Senate, with Sen. Frank A. Ciccone III, D-Providence, as its sponsor.

If enacted, Lynch predicted the legislation “will provide my office with the tools necessary to prosecute public servants who use their public position for private gain and send a message that integrity in government is critical for efficient and effective government.”

The proposal would also extend the statute of limitations for any such crime to 10 years. Violators would be punishable with imprisonment of up to 10 years and a fine of up to $150,000.

The law would further allow the state to civilly recover any money that the public servant may have received in the course of a violation.

The missing link in Rhode Island’s law is one common in most states.

The difference, attorney general spokesman Michael J. Healey said yesterday, is that court decisions in other states have allowed for a broader interpretation of criminal theft statutes, making it easier to prosecute offenders for committing “intangible” thefts including “honest services” they were entrusted with as public officials.

With its long history of corruption scandals large and small, Rhode Island has no shortage of cases that could have been prosecuted under a state corruption law, should one exist. A list provided by Lynch’s office included well-known figures such as former state Sen. John A. Celona, as well as low-ranking local employees from town parks and fire departments.

cneedham@projo.com