WASHINGTON (CNN) -- House leaders on both sides of the aisle have agreed to explore the idea of creating an independent ethics board to keep an eye on lawmakers' behavior, instead of relying on members to police themselves, House Speaker-elect Nancy Pelosi announced Thursday.

Pelosi said she and House Republican leader John Boehner have agreed to create a bipartisan task force "to consider and propose an outside enforcement mechanism for the ethics process."

The panel, whose membership has not yet been determined, is to report back by March, she said.

"We want to work together with (Republicans), with the expectation that his bipartisan task force will make a proposal for how we have outside enforcement of a high ethical standard in the Congress," Pelosi said.

"There is no question that the ethics process in the past couple of years has lost the confidence of the American people. I'm hopeful that it is possible that we can have an outside entity that will restore that confidence."

Pelosi said the "particulars" of an independent panel, such as the scope of its powers and whether it would have an enforcement role, will be determined by the task force. But the incoming speaker said she is "full committed to considering the possibility of an outside entity to review the enforcement of the ethics process."