The constitutional amendment to ban gay marriage has switched committees again.
Senate President Pro Tem David Long says he will assign the amendment to the Rules Committee, not Judiciary as he‘d originally planned.
Long chairs the Rules Committee and notes it is larger, with an extra Democratic and Republican member.
He says with the revision to the amendment, it‘s taken on an even higher profile, and this committee is better equipped to deal with the issue‘s heavy scrutiny and lobbying.
Long says he would prefer that the bill reach the floor unchanged before starting a debate over whether to restore the civil-union sentence.
If the Senate passes the slimmed-down version, it would delay a final referendum until 2016, with another legislative debate next year or the year after.
Long says he expects to hold a hearing on the amendment February 10th or 11th.