Boston (WBZ Newsroom)  -- The Legislature's Judiciary Committee will hear testimony Tuesday on a bill that would protect mothers who breast-feed in public. 

The measure would exempt breast-feeding from public indecency laws. 

The state Senate passed a bill last year, but the House didn't. State Senator Susan Fargo has been pushing for this for years and she tells WBZ Newsradio 1030 she's hopeful this year will be different. 

Since 1993, 39 states, including Maine, New Hampshire, Connecticut and Vermont, have legalized public breast-feeding. 

Rhode Island has not made the leap, but does exempt breast-feeding from its public indecency laws.