(Santa Fe, New Mexico) The New Mexico Senate has once again put the kibosh on a proposed domestic partnership bill.

The Senate Judiciary Committee voted 5-5 on the Domestic Rights and Responsibilities Act.  One member was absent, but legislation needs a majority to advance. The vote means the bill is virtually dead.

The only hopes of reviving it would be for a member of the committee to end their opposition and call for a new vote, or for the House to pass a similar bill and send it to the Senate.

Gov. Bill Richardson supports the bill. A spokesperson for the governor said Richardson will be “visiting with legislators who don’t currently support the bill” in an effort to get them to change their minds.

A House version of the legislation is currently in the Consumer Public Affairs Committee.

The legislation would create a statewide domestic partnership registry for both same and opposite-sex couples.

Couples would register with local county clerks and receive certificates attesting to their relationships. Partners would have to attest they are over the age of 18 and not otherwise in a relationship.

They would be guaranteed access to each other in hospitals and be able to make medical decisions for partners who are unable to make those decisions themselves, and they would be granted other state benefits and rights accorded to partners in marriages.

Equality New Mexico called the failure in the Senate a “a temporary setback.” Spokesperson Linda Siegle said it took 12 years, but lawmakers last year approved a bill banning discrimination against gays and lesbians in employment or housing.

The LGBT rights group has been pushing the partnership bill for the past three years.  Twice the measure has passed the House only to be blocked in the Senate.

In 2003, Richardson issued an executive order providing state employees, both gay and straight, with the option of providing their partners health insurance through domestic partner coverage.