In early 2007, the Legislature briefly considered a bill authorizing same-sex marriage until Democratic leaders assigned it to a study committee. On April 4, 2007, by a vote of 243 to 129, the New Hampshire House passed a civil unions bill that gave partners in same-sex civil unions the same "rights, responsibilities and obligations" as heterosexual married couples. Lynch took no public position until April 19, when he said that he would sign legislation establishing civil unions for same-sex couples because he believed "it is a matter of conscience, fairness and preventing discrimination." On April 26, 2007, the New Hampshire Senate approved the civil unions bill 14-10 on a party line vote. On May 31, 2007, Governor John Lynch signed the civil unions bill into law, making New Hampshire "the first state to embrace same-sex unions without a court order or the threat of one." The law took effect on January 1, 2008. Licenses for civil unions became available on December 10, 2007, allowing civil unions to be formalized in the very early hours of January 1, 2008. Deputy Secretary of State David Scanlan said, "As far as we're concerned, everything is on schedule."