LANSING (AP) — Michigan’s ban on using bait to hunt deer would end for at least two years under legislation that advanced further in the Legislature on Wednesday, but Gov. Gretchen Whitmer remains opposed to signing it.

The Republican-led Senate voted 21-14, mostly on party lines, after making some changes to the bill a week after it cleared the GOP-controlled House.

Baiting deer and elk is prohibited throughout the entire Lower Peninsula and parts of the Upper Peninsula under a ban that was initially approved by the state Natural Resources Commission in 2018 to combat the spread of chronic wasting disease. The state Department of Natural Resources says baiting and feeding that concentrates animals beyond their normal movement patterns increases the likelihood of disease transmission.

Republicans disagree.

“I don’t see any problem with baiting whatsoever,” said Senate Majority Leader Mike Shirkey of Clarklake, likening it to putting a worm on a hook to fish. “There’s plenty of room to challenge the so-called sound science.”

The Senate changed the measure, which would limit the amount of bait at each hunting site to 5 gallons, to specify that it would have to be spread over at least 400 square feet and to ensure that each piece of bait is no bigger than a sugar beet.