The Maine House of Representatives voted Monday to reject a proposal from the Department of Public Safety to merge the Capitol Police with the Maine State Police.

The bill, LD 2165, which was sponsored by House Speaker Ryan Fecteau, D-Biddeford, would have slowly eliminated the Capitol Police, a specialized and separate law enforcement agency tasked with security at the Maine State House complex in Augusta.

As Capitol Police officers resigned or retired, the bill would have mandated they be replaced by Maine State Police officers.

But the proposal — a Governor’s Bill — was shot down by the House, 64-78. Eight Democrats and one unenrolled representative joined Republicans in voting against the measure. Eight legislators were absent.

The Maine Senate, on the other hand, approved the bill 22-8 Monday afternoon. Each body will have a chance to deliberate and vote again on the measure; if no agreement is reached, the proposal will die.

In testimony submitted last month, Maine State Law Enforcement Association Executive Director Kevin Anderson said the pay disparities between legacy Capitol Police officers and new State Police troopers would be unacceptable — as much as $12-$15 per hour. The association represents most of the Capitol Police’s 17 officers.

“During impact bargaining held with the Department of Public Safety it was revealed that Troopers assigned to the Capitol Police role will wear the State Trooper uniform and Capitol Police Officers will wear the current uniform,” Anderson wrote in his testimony. “Currently the Department had not agreed to address the huge pay parity issue this bill will create if it is enacted and begins to be implemented.”

Leadership over the Capitol Police would also have changed: A state police lieutenant would have been designated as the agency’s supervisor.

The idea for the bill came from Michael Sauschuck, the Department of Public Safety’s commissioner, after the October resignation of Matthew Clancy, the former chief of the Capitol Police. Clancy was arrested after he was kicked out of a Hallowell bar last summer. He is facing an assault charge.

Sauschuck said he introduced the bill to improve operational efficiency, which he said was particularly important given the marked uptick in violent threats made against Maine lawmakers in recent years. The Capitol Complex has been locked down for a number of bomb threats in the same time period.

The bill was reported out of the criminal justice and public safety committee along party lines, 7-5, late last month. Republicans opposed the bill because of the pay disparities and perceived inefficiencies.

The most “elegant and simple solution,” Rep. Donald Ardell, R-Monticello, said during a committee work session, would be to simply hire a new police chief rather than to absorb the entire department.

“I am unconvinced of the need to create any changes, large or small,” Ardell said.