Earlier, Democrats had stalled the legislation on the House floor, but a second vote resulted in passage.

Rep. Randy Terrill, R-Moore, sponsor of House Bill 3119, said he already had agreed to work with opponents and take another look at the bill later in the session.

The bill now moves to the Senate but will return to the House before final passage.

"We ought not to be subsidizing people for coming here or remaining illegally," Terrill said.

The lawmaker said there had been plenty of discussion on the bill in committee before it reached the floor.

Rep. Rebecca Hamilton, a Democrat whose south Oklahoma City legislative district has hundreds of Hispanic residents, had filed nearly a dozen amendments to the bill.

However, a Republican lawmaker called for a motion to move the bill forward.

"The move to advance the bill is a move to cut off debate," Hamilton said. Republicans failed to be honest about the bill, she said.

"Look at the preface of the bill; it says right out that illegal immigrants are responsible for wrongs in our society," Hamilton said earlier Tuesday.

Terrill said opponents agreed with him on several provisions of the bill. The only hangup, he said before its passage, was whether undocumented college students should continue to receive in-state tuition and be eligible for scholarships.

However, Shirley A. Cox, director of social action for Catholic Charities and an immigration attorney, said there was little agreement on several aspects of the bill.

Cox, of Oklahoma City, said undocumented workers already are not eligible for most public benefits.

"The only thing they're eligible for in Medicaid is emergency assistance," she said. "They're not eligible for child-care subsidies, welfare, food stamps."

The bill is based on a false premise that undocumented people use public assistance programs, she said. "They don't," she said. "They're not eligible for them."

Earlier Tuesday, Hamilton called the bill "racist." She said at least one version of the bill inferred that illegal immigrants are responsible for wrongs to our society.

"If they're looking for illegal immigrants, all they have to do is come to my neighborhood," she said. "But I'd advise them not to come during the day, because they're all at work."

Throughout the day, several Hispanics spent time at the Capitol, although not many remained when the bill was considered on the House floor. Some Hispanics who had wanted to watch House action on the bill apparently were confused about what entrance to use to go to the House gallery.