On Monday, the state's Joint Finance Committee will vote on the Assembly version of a bill that would make it easier to open an iron mine in northwestern Wisconsin.

GOP leaders said on Friday that they would be open to hearings on the legislation as long as the permit process would not be delayed.

The current Assembly bill calls for state regulators to approve an iron mine permit within a year. The bill also eliminates case hearings.

The Republican bill dramatically reforms Wisconsin's permit process to help Gogebic Taconite dig a huge open-pit mine just south of Lake Superior.

Assembly Republicans passed the measure in January. Passage would clear the way for a full Senate vote.

But committee approval means little because Senate Republicans don't have the votes to pass it out of their chamber.

The GOP holds a one-vote majority in the Senate and state Sen. Dale Schultz, a Richland Center Republican, says he can't support the measure because it eliminates public challenges to permit decisions and doesn't protect the environment.