A Senate bill aimed at adding law enforcement officers as class protected under hate crimes laws could be a vehicle to add LGBTQ individuals to list.

The Senate Judiciary Committee on Wednesday approved a bill sponsored by Sen. Chris Elliott, R-Daphne, that places law enforcement officers in the hate crimes statute, which enhances penalties to those who commit crimes based on a victim’s identity.

The statute currently covers race, color, religion, national origin, ethnicity and physical or mental disability. Elliott said in the committee that stats on the targeting of law enforcement officers were “difficult to come by.”

“We know we have dozens of instances where law enforcement is targeted or prosecutors may think they’re targeted simply because they’re law enforcement, but the stats aren’t recorded that way,” he said.

Sen. Linda Coleman-Madison, D-Birmingham, asked how one would distinguish “between a hate crime and police getting shot at simply because they’re doing their duty.” The committee chair, Republican Cam Ward of Alabaster, said it would come down to intent.

“You have to show ‘the reason I was going after this person is because I knew he was law enforcement, and you’ve got to prove intent,’” he said. “That can be a higher standard, but you have to prove intent.”

Efforts to amend the state’s hate crimes statute to include sexual orientation have occurred on and off for more than a decade. Sen. Vivian Davis Figures, D-Mobile, offered an amendment to add sexual orientation to Elliott’s bill. The amendment passed the committee 5-4.

“He was listing out hate crimes, and that is definitely a hate crime,” Figures said after the vote. “Regardless of how you feel about that issue, it’s still a hate crime and people are still victims of it. So we need to cover it.”

The measure passed the committee on a 7 to 2 vote. It now goes to the Senate, where the full body will have to vote on Figures’ amendment.