After Mid-Term Elections, Legislators Poised to Renew Efforts at Death-Penalty Abolition in 2019

Empowered by the results of the November 2018 mid-term elec­tions, leg­is­la­tures in at least four states are poised to renew efforts to repeal their states’ death-penal­ty statutes or dras­ti­cal­ly reduce the cir­cum­stances in which cap­i­tal pun­ish­ment is avail­able. State leg­isla­tive and guber­na­to­r­i­al elec­tions in Colorado, Nevada, New Hampshire, and Oregon have rede­fined the local polit­i­cal land­scape in 2019 in ways that death-penal­ty abo­li­tion­ists say have made those bills more like­ly to suc­ceed. Colorado and Oregon already have mora­to­ria on the death penal­ty, but leg­is­la­tors in both states are expect­ed to move for­ward with bills abol­ish­ing or fur­ther restrict­ing its use. In New Hampshire, where leg­is­la­tors vot­ed to repeal the death penal­ty in 2018 but were unable to over­ride a guber­na­to­r­i­al veto, the new­ly-elect­ed leg­is­la­ture may now have the two-thirds super­ma­jor­i­ty nec­es­sary to over­ride. And in Nevada, where a state court found that cor­rec­tions offi­cials had engaged in ​“sub­terfuge” in attempts to obtain exe­cu­tion drugs, vot­ers elect­ed a gov­er­nor who has expressed con­cerns about cap­i­tal pun­ish­ment, and leg­is­la­tors say they will pro­pose an abolition bill.

In Colorado, Gov. John Hickenlooper, who imposed a mora­to­ri­um on exe­cu­tions in May 2013, was barred by term lim­its from seek­ing reelec­tion. Voters elect­ed Democrat Jared Polis (pic­tured, left), who said dur­ing the guber­na­to­r­i­al cam­paign that he would sign a bill to abol­ish or phase out the state’s death penal­ty, and Democrats gained con­trol of both hous­es of the state leg­is­la­ture. Fort Collins State Rep. Jeni Arndt, who plans to spon­sor the repeal bill, said she is seek­ing bipar­ti­san sup­port for the mea­sure, not­ing that ​“If [pros­e­cu­tors] can’t get the death penal­ty for the Aurora the­ater shoot­er, then this is a waste of tax­pay­er time and mon­ey.” Outgoing sen­ate minor­i­ty leader Lucia Guzman, a past spon­sor of repeal leg­is­la­tion, said ​“I have worked on this issue for sev­er­al years but wasn’t able to get it passed. But I think this year is going to be the year.”

Mid-term changes to the com­po­si­tion of the New Hampshire leg­is­la­ture have increased the like­li­hood that the Granite State will repeal its death penal­ty in 2019, despite anoth­er promised veto by Gov. Chris Sununu. State Rep. Renny Cushing (pic­tured, right), whose repeal bill received bipar­ti­san leg­isla­tive sup­port in 2018, is rein­tro­duc­ing the mea­sure in 2019. Voters elect­ed a veto-proof major­i­ty of six­teen abo­li­tion­ist sen­a­tors in November. In the state house, where the repeal bill received just under the two-thirds super­ma­jor­i­ty nec­es­sary to over­come a veto in 2018, back­ers of abo­li­tion are opti­mistic they will have even more sup­port in 2019.

In Oregon, vot­ers reelect­ed Gov. Kate Brown, who pledged to extend the state’s mora­to­ri­um on exe­cu­tions, and elect­ed Democratic super­ma­jori­ties in both hous­es of the state leg­is­la­ture. With the state con­sti­tu­tion requir­ing a vot­er ref­er­en­dum to abol­ish the death penal­ty, leg­is­la­tors are instead seek­ing bipar­ti­san sup­port for a plan to lim­it cap­i­tal pun­ish­ment only to acts of ter­ror­ism. In Nevada, Governor-elect Steve Sisolak, who defeat­ed state attor­ney gen­er­al and death-penal­ty pro­po­nent Adam Laxalt, has indi­cat­ed he is will­ing to sign a bill to abol­ish the death penal­ty. Assemblyman Ozzie Fumo, who favors repeal, said he expects the leg­is­la­ture to con­sid­er an abo­li­tion bill or to request that the gov­er­nor impose a mora­to­ri­um on exe­cu­tions. ​“There’s a social change com­ing,” Fumo said. ​“Overwhelmingly, we’re going to see peo­ple think about it, and say this is wrong.”