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PHOENIX — State Senate President Tim Bee rejected a request Wednesday to appoint a bipartisan panel to investigate whether Republicans broke legislative rules when they ended a filibuster attempt that could have killed a measure on gay marriage.

Bee says he doesn't see any benefit in honoring the request, made by the gay and lesbian advocacy group Equality Arizona, since the committee would have no power.

But the issue isn't going away.

A panel of five senators will meet Monday to decide whether to pursue a complaint by Sen. Ken Cheuvront, D-Phoenix, accusing Sen. Jack Harper, R-Surprise, of illegally cutting off debate on a tax bill on the last night of the legislative session.

Cheuvront and Sen. Paula Aboud, D-Tucson, were trying to use the tax-bill debate to stall or block a vote on putting a constitutional ban on gay marriage on the November ballot.

Monday's meeting will not review evidence, but determine whether the Ethics Committee, with three Republicans and two Democrats, wants to investigate further.

"I don't see the point in it," Bee, a Tucson Republican, said Wednesday of the request to appoint an independent panel. "If I were to appoint a separate commission it wouldn't have any authority other than to have a hearing."

Bee said Equality Arizona should take its complaint to the Ethics Committee. But Equality Arizona Executive Director Barbara McCullough-Jones called the Ethics Committee "an internal process for senators."

A Senate attorney has concluded Harper violated the rules by cutting of the discussion. Cheuvront contends it was premeditated and deliberate.

Bee said, "I had concerns about the way that came down that night," but he said he would leave the decision to the Ethics Committee. He said he was "absolutely not" involved in any plan to break Senate rules.

On Wednesday Harper filed his response to Cheuvront's complaint, saying he was within his rights as the presiding officer over the floor debate to cut off questions between Cheuvront and Aboud. The pair, both openly gay, were hoping to stall until one of the gay-marriage measure's backers had to leave, which would have left the proposal without enough votes to pass.

Harper, who supports the gay-marriage ban, refused to answer reporters' questions about whether he had planned to turn off the microphones of the two legislators ahead of time to allow Senate Majority Leader Thayer Verschoor, R-Gilbert, to make a motion to table further debate on the tax measure.

The showdown over putting the question on the November ballot brought a dramatic ending to the legislative session last month, and with it dragging on for hours, other legislation fell by the wayside.

Bee, who originally sponsored the marriage measure, is running for Congress against incumbent Democrat Gabrielle Giffords in District 8.

Bee later backed off as the issue's prime sponsor, although he ultimately voted to put it on the ballot. He has not said whether he will vote for it on the November ballot.