Topeka ? State senators approve a bill limiting the number of violent sexual predators that can be housed in a single county while they’re waiting to be released from custody.

The 40-0 vote Thursday sent the measure to the House.

The bill would block Gov. Kathleen Sebelius’ plan to expand a program for predators at Osawatomie State Hospital. The program is for predators who are in the final two stages of treatment for their mental abnormalities.

The bill says no more than eight predators can be housed in a single county when they are in the final stages of treatment.

The Osawatomie program houses eight, and Sebelius had proposed bringing four more to the hospital. Local legislators and residents oppose the plan, fearing the Osawatomie program eventually could house dozens of them