State Senate leaders are still saying privately they have the votes to recall a civil unions bill from a deadlocked committee, but state Senate President Colleen Hanabusa publicly cautioned yesterday that such a rare move is not guaranteed to happen.

A bill that would give same-sex partners the same rights as married couples under state law stalled in a 3-3 vote by the Senate Judiciary and Government Operations Committee shortly after 3 a.m. yesterday. The vote came after 15 1/2 hours of testimony before an overflow crowd at the state Capitol auditorium. More than 1,400 people had signed up to testify at the hearing, which drew the largest audience in recent memory.

"I've said there are enough votes to pass the bill (in the full Senate)," said Hanabusa, D-21st (Nanakuli, Makaha), who was in Washington, D.C., to observe oral arguments before the U.S. Supreme Court in a ceded-lands case. "But pulling the bill out of committee is something else."

Senate Democrats will discuss civil unions in private caucus next week after Hanabusa returns from the Mainland. "I'm going to have to get a better sense of how people feel about that issue when I get back," she said.

Under the state Constitution, it takes one-third — nine votes — of the 25-member Senate to pull a bill from committee and bring it to the floor for a vote. Senate leaders have said they have 13 votes to pull the bill, although a few of those senators may have misgivings. If the bill were to reach the floor, Senate leaders believe they have as many as 18 votes — a supermajority — for passage.

The difference between those who have agreed to vote for civil unions and those who are willing to pull it from committee is because of the extraordinary nature of recalling bills. The procedure has only been used a few times and several senators are reluctant to set a precedent for other bills trapped in committee. Others question whether the civil unions bill, as opposed to other legislation, is worthy of a recall.

State Senate Majority Leader Gary Hooser, D-7th (Kaua'i, Ni'ihau), said the state Constitution gives lawmakers the discretion to determine the circumstances for pulling bills. He said that since the committee was deadlocked, the fact that its chairman — state Sen. Brian Taniguchi, D-10th (Manoa, McCully) — is in favor of the bill and that a strong majority of senators support the bill warrants a recall.

Hooser said there would be a much higher bar for pulling the bill if the chairman had voted against it or the committee had not been split. He also said it could be difficult if only the minimum nine senators back a recall, since in that scenario a majority of the caucus would be against the move.

"I agree with some of my colleagues who have concerns that this should be used sparingly," Hooser said.

Speaking personally, Hooser said his resolve to pass civil unions was strengthened by listening to testimony at the marathon committee hearing, which may have set a record as the longest. In a statement in response to an Advertiser editorial opposing the bill, he said people throughout history have suffered discrimination "at the hands of a well-intentioned majority."

"Time and again in our history, we have seen the support and protection of the rights of minorities come as the result of action by lawmakers who found sufficient support in our nation's laws and Constitution to overcome the weight of public opinion," Hooser said.

The bill would give same-sex partners the same rights, benefits and responsibilities as married couples under state law. It would also recognize civil unions, domestic partnerships and same-sex marriages performed in other states as civil unions in Hawai'i.

Although many people who have spoken against the bill base their opposition on religious grounds, state Sen. Sam Slom, R-8th (Kahala, Hawai'i Kai), said before the committee vote early yesterday morning that he does not approach it from a religious perspective. The key, for him, is the legality of taking privileges and licenses and making them into rights.

"I don't think there is any hiding the fact that the ultimate objective of the supporters of this legislation has always been, is now, and will be parity with same-sex marriage," Slom said. "We're not just talking about accepting civil unions and that's it."

The earliest the bill could be recalled and brought to the floor is March 10, since under the law a recall can only happen 20 days after the bill was first referred to the committee. The thousands of people who attended a rally against civil unions at the state Capitol on Sunday, and the hundreds more who testified against the bill before the committee, will likely continue their lobbying over the next two weeks.

State Sen. Shan Tsutsui, D-4th (Kahului), said he would vote for civil unions on the Senate floor and would even back a veto override. But he said he has serious objections to pulling the bill from the committee.

"At this point, I'm not so sure the pull is the right thing to do," he said. "I've been here six years and we have never pulled a bill to the floor.

"I do have bills that have been bottled up in committee that I wouldn't mind coming to the floor, but respecting the committee structure and the general rules that we work by, I try my best to play within the guidelines that have been set forth as common practice."