A bill to provide Birmingham-Southern College a $30 million loan that college officials say is vital to its survival won approval Wednesday morning in an Alabama House committee after amendments were added.

The House Ways and Means Education Committee approved SB1 by Sen. Jabo Waggoner, R-Vestavia Hills, a Birmingham-Southern alumnus.

The committee vote puts the bill in position for consideration by the full House of Representatives. The bill has already passed the Senate.

Committee approval came after a public hearing on Tuesday, when Birmingham-Southern President Daniel Coleman and BSC Board of Trustees Chair Rev. Keith Thompson urged lawmakers to pass the bill. State Treasurer Young Boozer and others spoke in opposition to the bill.

College officials say the state loan would be bridge funding while it raises money for an endowment that they say would sustain the college.

The Legislature created the Distressed Institutions of Higher Education loan program last year and put Boozer in charge of it. Boozer turned down the college’s loan application last year, saying it did not have the required collateral or financial restructuring plan. The college has disputed that.

Waggoner’s bill would move control of loan program from Boozer to Alabama Commission on Higher Education Executive Director Jim Purcell and make other changes that appear to make it more likely that Birmingham-Southern will receive the loan.

The Senate passed Waggoner’s bill two weeks ago.

On Tuesday morning, the committee added two amendments that drew opposition.

One, proposed by Rep. Cynthia Almond, R-Tuscaloosa, requires county and municipal governments where a college receiving a loan is located to pitch in an amount of at least 15% of the loan.

Another amendment, by Rep. Terri Collins, R-Decatur, requires that any college receiving a loan be at least 100 years old. The original bill required colleges receiving loans to be at least 50 years old.

Birmingham-Southern is more than 100 years old so that amendment would not eliminate it from eligibility for a loan.

The committee narrowly approved the Collins amendment on a vote of 7 to 6 with one abstention.