State Senate leaders are wavering on whether to revive a civil-unions bill by pulling it from committee and are discussing possible amendments to advance it while preserving the integrity of the committee process.

After a private caucus yesterday afternoon, majority Democrats said they would not rush their decision and will likely wait at least until preliminary work on other bills is finished next week before taking any action.

Several senators, speaking on background because caucus discussions are private, said one prominent senator has vowed to force a vote on pulling the bill.

Under the state Constitution, it would take nine of the 25 senators in the chamber to recall the bill. The soonest the bill could come to the floor by this procedure is Tuesday — 20 days after it was first referred to the Senate Judiciary and Government Operations Committee — but senators indicated that such a vote would not happen until later.

While senators may have reservations in private, a vote on the Senate floor would put them on the spot publicly, and a majority have told gay activists they support civil unions.

State Senate President Colleen Hanabusa, D-21st (Nanakuli, Makaha), said she would like Senate Democrats to come to a consensus. She said earlier reports that the Senate had the votes to pull the bill from committee and to pass it on the floor were accurate at the time. But she said some senators are now looking at other factors, including the importance of maintaining the committee process.

"My position is that we need to ensure that the Senate does not damage itself, and I'm talking about the relationships among senators, as a result of any action taken," Hanabusa said. "So I am going to explore as many of the potential possibilities to see if the Senate can reach a consensus."

Ultimately, a majority of senators can control the chamber. But the Senate is guided by internal rules and has only rarely voted to pull a bill that has stalled in committee. The Senate Judiciary and Government Operations Committee deadlocked 3-3 last month on the civil-unions bill.

The bill would give same-sex partners the same rights, benefits and responsibilities as married couples under state law. It would also recognize domestic partnerships, civil unions and same-sex marriages performed in other states as civil unions in Hawai'i.

The state House passed the bill last month in a 33-17 vote.

Some senators said privately that Senate leaders are having second thoughts because of the large demonstration against civil unions at the state Capitol last month and the thousands of telephone calls and e-mails urging them to drop the issue. Supporters of civil unions are also doing outreach, but it appears the opponents have had the momentum since the bill left the House.

State Sen. Will Espero, D-20th ('Ewa Beach, Waipahu), has proposed amending the bill as a compromise. He said he would convert the state's existing reciprocal beneficiaries law, which provides same-sex partners some of the same rights as marriage, into civil unions with additional rights.

His proposal would give same-sex partners more rights than they have now but not the identical rights as marriage under state law.

"The intent of the amendment is to find a win-win situation where both sides will feel better," he said. "(The civil unions bill) as voted on now would make one side extremely happy and the other side extremely sad and disappointed."

The amendment could help the bill win broader support in the Senate but would likely raise complications if the bill moves into conference with the House.

Gay activists have told lawmakers that civil unions already are a compromise because they are less than full marriage equality. Same-sex partners in civil unions would not be recognized like married couples under federal law and the partnerships would not be honored in states that do not recognize civil unions.

Some senators also question why an amendment is necessary when a majority has already indicated they support civil unions. Some suggest privately that senators are looking for political cover through an amendment or the committee process to avoid taking a public vote now that the issue has turned so contentious.

State Sen. Les Ihara, Jr., D-9th (Kapahulu, Kaimuki, Palolo), said the state Constitution included the procedure for pulling bills from committee to protect minority rights. Drafters of the constitution, he said, wanted to prevent the majority from freezing bills in committee when at least one-third of the chamber wanted to bring the bill to the floor for debate.

Ihara said a vote on pulling the civil-unions bill should happen even if a majority of senators are unable to reach consensus. "This is really about protecting minority rights in the constitution," he said.

Many of the leading opponents of civil unions met yesterday afternoon at the First Assembly of God Church in Red Hill to discuss strategy. Dane Senser, a victims' rights advocate, said he believes senators are feeling the pressure. The 15 1/2-hour committee hearing last month, where opponents outnumbered supporters in often emotional testimony, was a taste of the public sentiment.

"This thing should be killed immediately," Senser said.