The Senate Judiciary Committee in Kansas recent­ly advanced (7 – 4) leg­is­la­tion that would elim­i­nate cap­i­tal pun­ish­ment in the state and replace it with a sen­tence of life with­out parole. Kansas enact­ed its cur­rent death penal­ty law in 1994, but has not exe­cut­ed any­one for more than 40 years. There are cur­rent­ly ten men on the state’s death row, though none are close to exe­cu­tion. The abo­li­tion leg­is­la­tion, which was orig­i­nal­ly intro­duced by Republican Sen. Carolyn McGinn to address the high costs of cap­i­tal pun­ish­ment, would only apply to future cas­es. Senator Tim Owens, chair of the Judiciary Committee, spoke of the bil­l’s impor­tance, ​“This is tru­ly life and death that we’re talk­ing about. We need to have a vote.” On January 29th, the 149th anniver­sary of Kansas join­ing the union as a free state, Senator David Haley (Kansas City‑D) remarked in sup­port of abo­li­tion, ​“I’m remind­ed of what Kansas is, and what we stand for. We have val­ues in this cham­ber, and as a state, that I hope we live up to.” The bill may be vot­ed on by the full Senate soon.

(D. Klepper, ​“Death penal­ty repeal advances in KS,” Kansas City Star, January 29, 2010). Read more Recent Legislative Activity. At least five states are con­sid­er­ing bills to abol­ish the death penal­ty in 2010: Kansas, Kentucky, Nebraska, South Dakota and Washington. New Hampshire has a leg­isla­tive com­mis­sion considering abolition.

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