WASHINGTON — Senate committee members last week passed a bill that would prohibit genetic-based discrimination, just a day after a House subcommittee held a hearing on the same subject.

The legislation, called the “Genetic Information Non-Discrimination Act,” is designed to protect against the misuse of genetic information with regard to insurance or in the workplace. Specifically, it establishes protections against using one’s genetic makeup in making decisions about their health coverage or job.

Its primary sponsor, Sen. Olympia Snowe (R-Maine), said the measure ensures that people who take advantage of genetic testing “do not risk discrimination” based on test results, and most of those sitting on the Senate’s Health, Education, Labor and Pension Committee agreed, voting 19-2 on Wednesday in favor of S.358. Chairman Edward Kennedy (D-Mass.), a co-sponsor of the legislation, noted that Americans shouldn’t fear the healthcare benefits they could derive from genetic information because it could be used against them.

A House version of the bill, introduced by Rep. Louise Slaughter (D-New York), was the subject of a Tuesday hearing by the Health, Employment, Labor and Pensions Subcommittee, part of the Committee on Education and Labor. She testified that worries about genetic testing would obviate the potential benefit of having such information in hand.

Her version of the bill, H.R. 493, has 150 co-sponsors in the lower chamber. President Bush recently voiced his support for such a measure, noting that genetic information should not be “exploited in improper ways” during a recent speech at the National Institutes of Health.

Historically, opposition to this legislation has arisen from employer groups, and as a result it has not gotten far.

Snowe, inspired by a constituent’s breast cancer ordeal a decade ago, has introduced versions of genetic nondiscrimination legislation in each of the past six congresses. The Senate has passed it twice, 98-0 in 2005 and 95-0 in 2003, though the House has never voted on the matter.

Upon the bill’s committee clearance, Snowe urged the full Senate to take quick action and called on her House colleagues to give it careful consideration.