DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — A key Iowa lawmaker says there’s not enough support to advance a House measure that seeks to reinstate the death penalty in Iowa.

The Des Moines Register reports that Public Safety Committee Chairman Rep. Clel Baudler, R-Greenfield, says there aren’t enough votes in the committee to advance the bill. The proposal would allow those convicted of first-degree murder to be executed by lethal injection. Iowa abolished the death penalty in 1965.

Baudler’s comments came after an emotional public hearing on the bill Thursday. More than a dozen people spoke, with most opposing the bill.

Baudler says he hopes a Senate version of the bill — which would apply the death penalty only to those convicted of kidnapping, sexually abusing and killing a minor — would find support in the House.