HARRISBURG — Pennsylvanians who knowingly hire illegal immigrants would lose their professional licenses under a bill passed out of a state House committee on a party-line vote Tuesday.

The Republican-majority State Government Committee approved the Professional Licensees Illegal Employment Act, which would cover anyone licensed by the Bureau of Occupational and Professional Affairs. Its penalties would apply to first-offense violations.

Supporters said the proposed law would help prevent people who are in the United States illegally from holding jobs that legal residents could otherwise have.

“We have some employers who are looking the other way, and there aren’t any ramifications,” said the sponsor, Rep. Mark Mustio, R-Allegheny.

Democrats said they worried the bill could lead to large institutions going out of business because of a single hire, and that the standards by which someone would be subject to a complaint and investigation were not spelled out.

Rep. Babette Josephs of Philadelphia, the committee’s ranking Democrat, said some of the state’s large hospitals or universities — and even large chains of barbershops — could find themselves in jeopardy if the bill is enacted.

The bill is among more than a dozen in the “National Security Begins at Home” package that has been developed by the committee’s chairman, Rep. Daryl Metcalfe, R-12th.

Among Metcalfe’s top priorities is a Senate-passed bill that would make most people who seek welfare, health care or other public benefits show a driver’s license or similar ID and sign a form swearing they are in the country legally.