A bill reinstating felony-level laws for drug possession near schools earned enough votes in the Oklahoma House to pass, despite vigorous opposition from criminal justice reformers.

House Bill 1482 was heavily amended from its original version to earn enough support to pass the House, where it got just enough votes Thursday to move on to the Senate. The original bill would have allowed prosecutors to charge people with a felony if found with drugs near schools, parks, churches and other public gathering places.

The amendments, however, limited the bill's scope to only school zones.

In November, Oklahomans voted to downgrade virtually all drug possession cases into misdemeanors. The criminal justice reformers who voted against House Bill 1482 said the people spoke clearly about what they wanted. Supporters of the bill, however, said voters weren't told the state question eliminated what they described as drug-free school zones.