Topeka ? The House gave first-round approval to a bill dealing with illegal immigration after rewriting it to the point that its chief supporter disowned it.

The voice vote came after four hours of debate and sets the stage for a final vote of approval today. The Senate passed its own measure earlier in the day, and the final bill will be written by negotiators from the two chambers.

At debate’s end, Rep. Lance Kinzer, who handled the bill on the floor, asked the House to reject it, but Minority Leader Dennis McKinney, a Greensburg Democrat, quickly moved the bill be advanced.

“The bill doesn’t include any meaningful penalties for employers,” said Kinzer, an Olathe Republican. “We’re going to see an immigration bill that does very little to address the concerns of the people of Kansas on this issue.”

At the beginning, supporters said the bill was tougher than a measure the Senate approved because it required businesses to use the federal E-Verify database to check whether people hired are in the country legally.

It also imposed penalties for employers convicted of hiring illegal immigrants that include permanent loss of business licenses for a third conviction.

Those provisions have been modified or removed.

Dealing with illegal immigration has been high on the agenda of many legislators, who say they are responding to constituents’ concerns about the increased number of illegal immigrants in Kansas. Some estimates put the number at 90,000.

A coalition of 36 businesses that includes the Kansas Chamber, Kansas Farm Bureau and Kansas Livestock Association, balked at mandatory E-Verify and penalties. It said that would be an undue hardship on employers and would force them to be immigration police.

Kinzer said legislators have made numerous accommodations to the business community, including requiring the highest level of proof required to convict somebody.

The original bill’s undoing came from an amendment by Rep. Richard Carlson, a Republican from St. Marys. The House adopted it 86-36.

“This goes a long way to address the penalties to the offending businesses,” he said.

The bill originally made E-Verify mandatory but didn’t require it for most employers until July 1, 2010, when state labor officials will do the actual checking for them. Carlson’s amendment pushed that back one year.

“It would be more prudent go give employers more time,” Carlson said.

The bill originally mandated E-Verify starting this year for any business convicted of hiring an illegal immigrant, and it required the suspension of business licenses for up to 30 days for a second violation. It called for a permanent revocation on a third conviction.

Carlson’s amendment mandated E-Verify after a second conviction and did away with all revocations. Like the original bill, it gave employers using E-Verify an absolute defense.

Kinzer said the amendment contained “many poison pills” that would make the bill unenforceable and cause the courts to strike it down.

“If this goes on, we can go home and say many things, but we can’t say we passed meaningful legislation,” he said.