TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — A bill that would potentially shrink civil service protections for some employees has advanced in the Kansas House.

The chamber voted 71-53 Tuesday to give first-round approval to a bill that would allow state agencies to remove some protections for new workers and employees changing positions.

State employees receive employment protections and benefits not given to political appointees.

The chamber also blocked an amendment that would have reinstated non-discrimination protections for sexual minorities. The body voted 81-42 that the proposal was not relevant to the bill.

The Senate on Tuesday will debate a bill that would eliminate most collective bargaining processes between state agencies and public employees. Agencies would have the power to impose pay and benefit conditions on employees under the bill.

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TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — The Republican-dominated Kansas Legislature is considering proposals to restrict public employee unions and potentially shrink the state’s civil service.

GOP lawmakers who support the changes up for debate Tuesday argue that they’ll give state agencies more flexibility and allow them to operate more like private companies.

Critics see an attack on public employee unions that often support Democrats.

The House was debating a bill to make it easier to move state jobs out of the civil service, where workers have greater job protections than political appointees.

The Senate was taking up a bill to restrict bargaining between state agencies and public employee unions to minimum pay.

The same measure would bar state and local government agencies and school districts from deducting union dues directly from their workers’ paychecks.