The state Senate advanced legislation Thursday to reform the way defendants are sentenced for second-degree murder convictions.

Individuals convicted of second-degree murder are typically conspirators found to have broken other laws while participating in a crime that resulted in a victim being killed. The classic example of this is the getaway driver who is directly involved in the crime itself, though prosecutors at the Capitol on Thursday said most individuals convicted of second-degree murder are responsible for the victim’s death in the crime that led to the defendant’s arrest and prosecution.

Senate Bill 1400 would allow judges to sentence individuals convicted of second-degree murder to life in prison if they committed the killing or if they are found to have met one of four other aggravating factors: if the victim was a law enforcement officer or a child under age 13; if the individual committed a rape during the crime; if the individual had previously been convicted of a violent offense or the individual was found to have seriously injured or killed another victim during the crime.

The state Senate voted 31-19 with four Democrats joining all Republicans in voting in favor of the bill.

The legislation was prompted by the state Supreme Court decision in a lawsuit filed by Derek Lee, an inmate behind bars for his role in a 2014 Pittsburgh robbery in which the victim was killed. Court documents indicate Lee pistol-whipped a victim in the basement of a home before running upstairs. After Lee left, one of the victims was shot and killed while trying to take a gun from the other robber.

Under Senate Bill 1400, inmates convicted of second-degree murder would be eligible for release after serving at least 35 years in prison. Those over age 70 who have served at least 20 years behind bars would be eligible for parole as well.

The justices gave lawmakers until July 24 to update state law in response to their ruling in Lee’s case.

Senate Judiciary Committee Chairwoman Sen. Lisa Baker, R-Luzerne, told reporters that the House needs to take up the bill before the deadline or the roughly 1,100 inmates, serving life sentences for second-degree murder convictions, will begin filing paperwork seeking their release from prison without any structure in place to help judges and prosecutors determine how to proceed.

The uncertainty of the situation only aggravates the trauma and reopens wounds for victims’ families who had expected the defendants to remain in prison for the rest of their lives, said Sen. Wayne Langerholc, R-Cambria, who joined Baker as co-prime sponsor of SB 1400.

“I find it interesting that no one is talking about the victims,” he said. Their families “had closure,” but now they have to prepare for parole hearings and the possibility that individuals they thought would remain behind bars for life will soon become free,” he said.

“Who’s going to make that call?” to inform victims’ families, he asked rhetorically on the Senate floor ahead of the vote.

During floor debate, Sen. Maria Collett, D-Montgomery, said the legislation creates too many restrictions for defendants to qualify for release.

The bill “creates an illusion” that inmates serving life sentences for second-degree murder have a pathway to freedom, said Collett, the minority chairwoman of the Judiciary Committee, but “in practice, the bill defaults to 35 (years) to life.”

Pennsylvania had been just one of two states, along with Louisiana, in which a second-degree murder conviction carried an automatic penalty of life in prison without parole.

Senate Republicans were joined by Attorney General David Sunday and county prosecutors at a press conference shortly after the vote.

Sunday said that coming up with appropriate sentencing guidelines is challenging but he believes that the provisions in SB 1400 “strike the right balance.”

Sunday pointed to the bipartisan support for the legislation in calling for House Democrats to take up the bill.

But the measure’s path forward is unclear.

House Judiciary Committee chairman Rep. Tim Briggs, D-Montgomery, said he was unaware the Senate was running the bill on Thursday until he was asked about it by a CapitolWire/State Affairs reporter, and had not been consulted about it by Senate Republicans.

Briggs, who had authored a felony murder reform bill that was introduced before the Supreme Court handed down its ruling, said he has not moved a bill in response to the decision because he anticipated negotiating a compromise bill with lawmakers in the other chamber.

“I was hoping we would enter into conversations about what we both agree to,” Briggs said. “Unfortunately, the clock’s running out. But we’ll take a look and figure out what to do with it.”