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PHOENIX — The Legislature on Wednesday passed a comprehensive plan that would put firms that repeatedly and knowingly hire illegal immigrants out of business in Arizona.

The bill says a single violation could suspend a company's state licenses for up to 10 days. But House Bill 2779 also would let judges waive that penalty based on factors ranging from the number of illegal workers employed to the duration of employment.

Companies also would be able to present evidence that their directors or officers were not involved in the hiring. But a second violation within three years would mean permanent revocation of state licenses.

The legislation also says those who commit intentional violations — defined by Rep. Russell Pearce, R-Mesa, as recruiting illegal entrants for jobs — definitely would be put out of business for at least 10 days for a first offense. And the probationary period would last five years.

Lawmakers sent the bill to the governor on a House vote of 47-11, and a 20-4 tally in the Senate.

Gov. Janet Napolitano said Wednesday that she had not seen the final version of the bill. But Napolitano, who last year vetoed an employer-sanctions bill that she said was too weak, indicated a willingness to sign this measure.

"I have been saying for a long time you cannot deal with the border simply by talking about troops and fences and so forth," the governor said.

"You have to deal with the underlying labor issues," she continued. "And you have to have a law that can be enforced on those who intentionally go around the law to hire labor illegally."

If Napolitano does sign it, Pearce, who has been the driving force behind the legislation, said he will recommend that allies scrap plans to ask voters to approve a more punitive initiative. That measure would put a firm out of business for just one knowing violation of the law.

Not everyone was enthusiastic about the legislation.

Sen. Barbara Leff, R-Paradise Valley, worried that a "rogue" employee in charge of hiring, acting without blessing of the business's owners, could put a large company out of business by hiring one or two janitors who are in the country illegally.

"So we now have 1,200 people who will lose their jobs — 1,198 of them who are American citizens," said Leff, who chairs the Senate Committee on Commerce and Economic Development. "What do we tell those people who have all lost their jobs?"

But Pearce, who has been the driving force behind the legislation, said that can happen only on a second offense — and only after a judge found the firm knowingly or intentionally broke the law.

Rep. Steve Gallardo, D-Phoenix, also objected to the mandatory revocation for a second offense. He noted that judges would have no discretion to consider other factors.

But Pearce said the legislation makes it easy for employers to obey the law.

It specifically requires companies to check the legal status of new employees through the Basic Pilot Program — now formally known as the Employment Eligibility Verification Program — a database run by U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services.

And it says any company that uses the program is entitled to a "rebuttable presumption" that it has not hired undocumented workers — essentially a legal defense against being found guilty unless a prosecutor can show the employer really didn't do the checks, or do them properly.

Most business groups oppose the legislation — with one major exception: The East Valley Chamber of Commerce Alliance supports the bill as a preferable alternative to the initiative. But Jessica Pacheco, lobbyist for the Arizona Chamber of Commerce and Industry, said state legislators should instead let Congress enact an immigration measure.