A domestic partnership bill is headed towards the desk of Nevada Governor Jim Gibbons, a Republican, who has promised to veto it.

The Las Vegas Sun is reporting that senators approved an amended version of the bill along a voice vote on Tuesday.

The bill would offer gay and straight couples limited guaranteed benefits generally associated with marriage, including matters such as community property and responsibility for debts. Private business would not be required to provide benefits such as health care to the domestic partner of an employee. But many employers do voluntarily provide such benefits to domestic partners.

The Assembly tacked on several amendments to the bill it approved by a vote of 26 in favor and 14 against on Friday. Senators agreed to the change Tuesday, which included, among other things, the clarification that no “solemnization ceremony” is required.

The final tally in the Senate is unknown because senators voted by voice, but the Senate's original vote fell two votes shy of the fourteen needed to override the governor's veto. Leaving most to speculate that the bill is doomed.

Everyone, that is, except its sponsor.

Openly gay Senator David Parks, a Democrat from Las Vegas, said last week that he has the fourteen votes needed in the Senate to override a veto. But Parks also needs to pick up two votes in the Assembly. Two members – one Democrat and one Republican – were absent during the original vote.

Critics argue such unions are too similar to marriage and go against the will of Nevada voters who approved a constitutional amendment banning gay marriage in 2002.

A Las Vegas Review-Journal poll published this week showed half of all Nevadans surveyed oppose domestic partnerships for both gay and straight couples. A large majority (71%) of Republicans oppose such unions. The paper's conclusions are based on the responses of 625 residents contacted by telephone last week.

Nationwide, a large majority (67%) of people agree that gay and lesbian couples deserve to have their unions recognized, either by marriage, civil union or domestic partnership, according to a recent CBS News/Washington Post poll.