COLUMBUS, Ohio—The Ohio Senate voted 22-11 on Tuesday to pass legislation that would set new rules for minor political parties in Ohio.

A Senate committee reported the fast-tracked legislation on Tuesday morning after adding an emergency clause and making some changes to make it easier for minor parties to win ballot access.

However, Libertarian and Green party officials renewed complaints that the reforms would make it extremely difficult for them to participate in next year's elections.

The legislation, Senate Bill 193, would relax vote thresholds for minor parties to be recognized by the state, and it would push back the deadline for parties to submit paperwork for a general election.

Sen. Bill Seitz, the Cincinnati Republican sponsoring the bill, has said the legislation is needed as state rules governing minor parties have been in limbo since a federal court held in 2006 that they were overly restrictive.

Since then, the state has continued to recognize four minor parties: the Libertarians, the Green Party, the Constitution Party, and the Socialist Party.

Seitz said on the Senate floor that new rules are needed to ensure recognized political parties have some proof of support. He said the current situation is like the "wild, wild West.

"Obviously, if you are in one of those minor parties, you probably would like that current lawless state of affairs to continue, because you get to stay on the ballot without demonstrating any modicum of public support," Seitz said. "I don't think that's appropriate public policy, and that's why we drafted Senate Bill 193."

But state Libertarian Party leaders said the timing of the legislation is designed to sabotage the chances of their gubernatorial candidate, Charlie Earl, against incumbent Republican Gov. John Kasich.

If the bill passes, the Libertarians and other minor parties would have only a few months to get the approximately 56,000 voter signatures needed to re-form as a party. They would then have to further collect a modest amount of additional signatures for individual candidates to get on the ballot.

The Senate State Government Oversight and Reform Committee on Tuesday approved the addition of an emergency clause, meaning the bill would take effect immediately upon passage.

Other amendments adopted by the committee would further relax some rules, including language that minor parties only have to renew their status every four years, not two years as some Libertarians had feared.

However, Ohio Green Party Co-Chairman Bob Fitrakis said committee members "conceded all the minor issues" while keeping the major roadblocks in place.

Libertarians have discussed filing a lawsuit against the bill when it would take effect.

Earl said Tuesday that the legislation has “taken four or five pockets of resistance and combined them into one bag of fury.

“We’re coming after them,” he said. “We’re not going to stop.”

The legislation now heads to the Ohio House of Representatives for consideration.