SANTA FE (AP) – The Legislature gave final approval to a bill fixing a glitch in the Human Rights Act that wiped out anti-discrimination protections for tens of thousands of New Mexico workers.

The legislation passed the Senate on a vote of 23-17. The House concurred 40-19 with a change the Senate made, sending it to Gov. Bill Richardson.

The mistake occurred last year, when lawmakers voted to expand the act to cover gays and lesbians but then sent the wrong version of the bill to the governor for his signature.

As a result, companies with fewer than 15 employees – more than one-third of the state’s private-sector businesses – don’t have to comply with any of the anti-discrimination provisions of the Human Rights Act.

The bill that passed would restore the law to its previous state – exempting employers from complying with the law only if they have fewer than four workers.

The ban on discrimination based on sexual orientation, however, would continue to apply only to businesses with 15 or more employees, under the legislation.

“Separate and unequal,” complained Linda Siegle, lobbyist for the Coalition for Equality. “How can you have one standard for one group of people and another standard for another?”

Although the House earlier had voted to apply the sexual orientation provisions to businesses with fewer than 15 workers, there was not enough support for that in the Senate, Siegle said.

If Gov. Bill Richardson signs the bill into law, as expected, it may be challenged in court, Siegle said.

By a single vote, the Senate rejected a proposal to amend the Human Rights Act to specify that nothing in it could be interpreted as authorizing marriage for gays and lesbians.