A proposal to legalize physician-assisted suicide was tabled at the Legislature tonight.

After almost five hours of often emotional testimony — mostly in opposition from the elderly, religious, disabled and health care provider community — the committee voted to hold the bill.

Sen. Josh Green, an emergency room physician and chairman of the committee, decided to hear the bill, saying he felt the issue deserved fresh debate, given the turnover in government since it was last vetted publicly in 2007.

Senate Bill 803 would allow a terminally ill, competent adult to receive medication to end life. The bill specifically prohibits mercy killings, lethal injections and active euthanasia, and requires patients to receive informed consent.

Alternate doctors would be allowed to substitute for those who decline to participate, and the law also would provide immunity from civil and criminal liability for acts taken in good faith.

Although bills are never dead until session is over, the vote to hold the bill in committee means it would take a majority vote to reconsider the proposal.