NASHVILLE (AP) - A legislative impasse that threatened existence of the Tennessee Wildlife Resources Commission may have been eliminated.

According to The Knoxville News Sentinel, a House committee has approved a bill that would change the commission's name, but not its basic functions.

The House Conservation Subcommittee passed the measure sponsored by Rep. Judd Matheny, R-Tullahoma, after amending it to comport with a deal Matheny said was endorsed by Gov. Bill Haslam and House Speaker Beth Harwell.

The new commission would continue to have 13 voting members with nine appointed by the governor and two each by the speakers of the House and Senate.

The current commission will cease to exist on June 30 without legislative action. Legislators have argued for more than a year over how its functions should be changed.