Gov. Sam Brownback on Saturday evening signed a bill aimed at preventing more than 24,000 state employees from being furloughed at midnight.

After at first declining to hear the bill, the Kansas Senate voted Saturday to pass and send the measure to Brownback.

The bill, which passed unanimously, declares that all state employees will be considered “essential” for purposes of selecting those to be furloughed through the end of the legislative session.

Sen. Ty Masterson, R-Andover, said the bill authorizes employees to work through the end of the fiscal year on June 30, but does not actually authorize payment for their salaries and wages due to be paid on July 2.

Still, supporters of the bill said that gives lawmakers until June 30 to adopt a balanced budget that would contain the spending authority needed to write those paychecks.

Saturday marked the 107th day of the session, tying a record set in 2002 for the longest legislative session in state history.

The vote to pass the furlough prevention bill came just moments after the Senate defeated, on a 5-34 vote, another tax bill to raise more than $400 million in new revenues and balance the next fiscal year’s budget.

The House was expected to take up a different budget bill later in the afternoon.