RICHMOND, Va. (AP) – Virginia’s anti-sodomy law will remain on the books for at least another year as a Senate panel rejected a bill to decriminalize sodomy in private settings.

Del. David Albo’s bill sought to rewrite Virginia’s law in response to the U.S. Supreme Court decision last June in Lawrence v. Texas, which struck down the anti-sodomy law in Texas.

Albo’s bill stopped short of repealing Virginia’s existing “crimes against nature” law, but proposed a new statute specifying that such behavior is illegal when committed in a public place.

However, the Senate Courts of Justice Committee voted 10-5 to kill the legislation, with Republican members saying the law could still be partially applied as written.

Albo, who also serves as chairman of the state Crime Commission, said afterward the committee’s action leaves Virginia open to a constitutional challenge similar to the one in Texas that led to the Supreme Court decision.

“The first person who gets charged with this and hires a decent attorney, that’s where we’ll be going,” said Albo, R-Fairfax County.

The Senate panel last month passed a similar bill submitted by Sen. Patricia Ticer, D-Alexandria, that would have decriminalized sodomy in private settings and lowered the penalties for sodomy in public places. However, the full Senate sent the legislation back to committee, where it was defeated.

Attorney General Jerry W. Kilgore has said changing Virginia’s law may be premature because several sodomy cases are pending in courts across the state. He also said the public aspect of the law could still be applied despite the Supreme Court’s ruling on sodomy in private settings.

“It’s not legally necessary to strike it. Prosecutors just won’t prosecute under that portion of the law anymore,” said Kilgore spokesman Tim Murtaugh.

Virginia Beach Commonwealth’s Attorney Harvey Bryant testified he has experienced no problems prosecuting anti-sodomy cases in recent months. However, charges recently were dropped against a Lexington man because of the ambiguity of the law.

Chris Miller, assistant commonwealth’s attorney in Rockingham County, said prosecutors in February dropped a solicitation to commit sodomy charge against David Long, a former Washington and Lee University vice president, due to a judge’s previous interpretation of Lawrence v. Texas.

Harrisonburg Circuit Judge John McGrath ruled that the adult bookstore where 26 men were arrested in a raid and charged with various crimes could be considered a private setting under the high court’s decision.

“In light of the judge’s ruling, we couldn’t go forward on the factual circumstances of the case,” Miller said.

Equality Virginia, the state’s largest gay rights advocacy group, predicted a legal challenge to the anti-sodomy law within a year.

“We’d rather have this sorted out by the courts than try and tamper with it in the General Assembly,” said Bill Kocol, chairman of the group’s Legislative Affairs Committee. “As higher courts get involved, they’ll have to deal with this issue whether the public portion of the law is severable from the private portion.”

Republicans said that was not the only constitutional question to consider.

Sen. Kenneth Stolle, R-Virginia Beach and a former chairman of the Crime Commission, said Albo’s bill would have opened up questions of equal protection by mandating varying penalties for different sexual acts.

Sodomy in a public place would have remained a felony punishable by up to five years in prison or a $2,500 fine, while sex acts committed by heterosexuals in public would be considered a misdemeanor.

Ticer’s bill would have dropped sodomy to a misdemeanor, but that placed the solicitation to commit sodomy charge in jeopardy because it’s only applicable with felonies.

“I think everybody recognizes we need to try to find a solution to it, but I just don’t have time to try and resolve that,” Stolle said.

Stolle said the Crime Commission would continue studying the law. The commission drafted Albo’s bill late last year.