Facts & Research
Recent Legislative Activity
State legislatures and U.S. Congress frequently consider bills addressing death-penalty issues, including legislation to repeal capital punishment, reform it, or expand it.
Below are important pieces of death penalty legislation that have recently passed or are currently being considered. (DPIC welcomes additions and suggestions.)
(Left: A board displays the vote totals in the Virginia Senate, which passed a bill to abolish the death penalty by a 21-17 vote on February 4, 2021.)
2022 - Proposed legislation
States with bills to abolish death penalty indicated with *
Session dates via StateScape
State names link to state legislative homepage
| ALABAMA (Session dates: 01/11/2022 - 05/17/2022) | ||
|---|---|---|
| Bill number | Bill Description | Status |
| ARKANSAS (Session dates: 02/14/2022 - 04/15/2022) | ||
|---|---|---|
| Bill number | Bill Description | Status |
| ARIZONA* (Session dates: 01/10/2022 - 05/30/2022) | ||
|---|---|---|
| Bill number | Bill Description | Status |
| HCR 2002 | Would repeal the death penalty | Introduced by Rep. Athena Salman (D) |
| CALIFORNIA* (Session dates: 12/07/2020 - 11/30/2022) | ||
|---|---|---|
| Bill number | Bill Description | Status |
| ACA 2 | Would amend the California constitution to prohibit the death penalty from being imposed as a punishment for any violations of law. | Read first time December 7, 2020. Referred to the Appropriations Committee and the Committee on Public Safety on February 18. Sponsored by Assembly Members Laura Friedman (D), Mike Gipson (D), and Mark Stone (D). |
| AB 1224 | Would allow a judge to dismiss a finding of a “special circumstance.” Under current law, if certain special circumstances are found in a first degree murder case, the defendant must be sentenced to death. | Introduced February 19, 2021 by Member Marc Levine (D). Referred to the Assembly Committee on Public Safety on March 4 and PASSED by the committee by a vote of 5-2 on April 21. |
| SB 300 | Would repeal a provision requiring punishment by death or imprisonment for life without the possibility of parole for a person convicted of murder in the first degree who is not the actual killer, but acted with reckless indifference for human life as a major participant in certain specified violent felonies. Would also allow prisoners sentenced under that provision to petition for a resentencing. Would allow judges to strike special circumstances. | Introduced February 3, 2021 by Sen. Dave Cortese (D).
PASSED by the Senate Committee on Public Safety by a vote of 4-0 on April 6 and referred to the Senate Appropriations Committee. Ordered to the Inactive File on June 2 at the request of the legislative sponsor. |
| AB 256 | The “Racial Justice Act for All” would make California’s 2020 Racial Justice Act retroactive. | Introduced January 14, 2021 by Assembly Members Ash Kalra (D), Robert Rivas (D), and Miguel Santiago (D), and Sen. Sydney Kamlager (D). PASSED by the Public Safety Committee (6-2) on March 23. PASSED by the Appropriations Committee (4-0) on May 20. PASSED the Assembly (45-21) on June 1.
PASSED by the Senate Public Safety Committee (4-1) on June 29. Suspended by the Senate Appropriations Committee on August 26. The bill can be considered by the Senate in 2022. |
| FLORIDA* (Session dates: 01/11/2022 - 03/11/2022) | ||
|---|---|---|
| Bill number | Bill Description | Status |
| SB 386/H 6061 | Would abolish the death penalty. | SB 386 filed September 30, 2021 by Sen. Gary Farmer Jr. (D). H 6061 filed October 20, 2021 by Rep. Joseph Geller (D). |
| SB 770/HB 1251 | Would prohibit the death penalty for defendants with severe mental illness | SB 770 filed November 2, 2021 by Sen. Jeff Brandes (R). HB 1251 filed January 6, 2022 by Rep. Vance Aloupis Jr. (R) |
| SB 1204 | Would create a public records exemption for information that could reveal the identity of a “person or entity” that participates in an execution | Filed December 8, 2021 by Sen. Doug Broxson (R). |
| GEORGIA* (Session dates: 01/11/2021 - 03/31/2022) | ||
|---|---|---|
| Bill number | Bill Description | Status |
| HB 485 | Would repeal the death penalty | Introduced February 17, 2021 by five Democratic sponsors and one Republican sponsor. |
| ILLINOIS (Session dates: 01/13/2021 - 01/11/2023) | ||
|---|---|---|
| Bill number | Bill Description | Status |
| HB 3627/SB 614/SB 2219 | Would reinstate the death penalty | HB 3627 filed February 19, 2021 by Rep. Andrew S. Chesney (R), referred to Rules Committee. SB 614 filed February 24, 2021 by Sen. Brian W. Stewart (R), referred to Assignments Committee. SB 2219 filed February 26, 2021 by Sen. Jason Plummer (R), referred to Assignments Committee. |
| INDIANA (Session dates: 01/04/2022 - 03/11/2022) | ||
|---|---|---|
| Bill number | Bill Description | Status |
| IOWA (Session dates: 01/11/2021 - 05/31/2022) | ||
|---|---|---|
| Bill number | Bill Description | Status |
| SF 82/SSB 1004/HF 271 | Would reinstate the death penalty for murder in the first degree involving kidnapping and sexual abuse offenses against the same victim who is a minor | Introduced January 14, 2021 by 14 Republican sponsors in the Senate and 1 Republican sponsor in the House and referred to Judiciary Committee. Failed to make it out of committee by deadline for passage. |
| SF 534, as amended by H-1306 | The amendment would reinstate the death penalty for the murder of a “correctional officer, public employee, or hostage while the person is imprisoned in a correction institution under the jurisdiction of the Iowa Department of Corrections, or in a city or county jail … or a peace officer who is on duty, under any circumstances, with knowledge that the person killed is a peace officer.” | Amendment filed in the House Committee on Public Safety by Rep. Jon Jacobsen (R) on March 25, 2021 after SF 534, passed the Senate on March 10, 2021. No hearing has been scheduled. |
| KANSAS* (Session dates: 01/11/2021 - 05/27/2022) | ||
|---|---|---|
| Bill number | Bill Description | Status |
| SB 136 | Would abolish the death penalty | Introduced February 3, 2021 by the Committee on Ways and Means and referred to Judiciary Committee |
| HB 2300 | Would abolish the death penalty for crimes committed after July 1, 2021 | Introduced February 9, 2021 by a bipartisan coalition of 34 sponsors and referred to Committee on Corrections and Juvenile Justice |
| KENTUCKY (Session dates: 01/04/2022 - 03/30/2022) | ||
|---|---|---|
| Bill number | Bill Description | Status |
| MISSOURI* (Session dates: 01/05/2022 - 05/30/2022) | ||
|---|---|---|
| Bill number | Bill Description | Status |
| HB 1612/HB 2028 | Would abolish the death penalty and resentence death-row prisoners to life without parole. | HB 1612 prefiled December 1, 2021 by Rep. Tony Lovasco (R). HB 2028 prefiled December 20, 2021 by Rep. Sarah Unsicker (D). |
| NEW YORK (Session dates: 01/06/2021 - 01/01/2023) | ||
|---|---|---|
| Bill number | Bill Description | Status |
| AB 3741 | Would reinstate the death penalty | Sponsored by Assemblyman Joe DeStefano (R). Referred to Codes on January 28, 2021 |
| OHIO* (Session dates: 01/04/2021 - 12/31/2022) | ||
|---|---|---|
| Bill number | Bill Description | Status |
| SB 103/HB 183 | Would abolish the death penalty | SB 103 introduced March 2, 2021 by Sens. Nickie Antonio (D) and Stephen Huffman (R) and referred to Judiciary Committee. HB 183 introduced March 4, 2021 by Reps. Jean Schmidt (R) and Adam Miller (D) and referred to Government Oversight Committee. Re-referred to Criminal Justice Committee on April 15. Four hearings were held in the Criminal Justice Committee throughout 2021. |
| OKLAHOMA (Session dates: 02/01/2021 - 05/29/2022) | ||
|---|---|---|
| Bill number | Bill Description | Status |
| HB 1551 | Would create a Conviction Integrity Review Unit within the Oklahoma Board of Pardon and Parole to review capital cases in which the defendant has presented a plausible claim of actual innocence (Bill substituted) | Conviction Integrity Review Unit bill substituted for prior version of HB 1551 and approved by the House Criminal Justice and Corrections Committee on March 9, 2021. Sponsored by Rep. Kevin McDugle (R) and Sen. Shane Jett (R). |
| HB 2219 | Would require all Oklahoma district attorney’s offices and the Office of the Attorney General to allow open-file discovery at all stages of a capital case | First reading February 1, 2021, referred to House Judiciary Committee. Sponsored by Rep. Kevin McDugle (R) and Sen. Shane Jett (R). |
| HB 2220 | Would create a Prosecutorial Disclosure Review Panel to review prosecution files and prosecutor conduct in death penalty cases | First reading February 1, 2021, referred to House Judiciary Committee. Sponsored by Rep. Kevin McDugle (R) and Sen. Shane Jett (R). |
| PENNSYLVANIA* (Session dates: 01/05/2021 - 11/30/2022) | ||
|---|---|---|
| Bill number | Bill Description | Status |
| SB 499/HB 999 | Would abolish the death penalty | SB 499 sponsored by Sen. Katie J. Muth (D) and referred to Judiciary Committee on July 26, 2021. HB 999 sponsored by Rep. Christopher M. Rabb (D) and referred to Judiciary Committee on April 1, 2021. |
| SOUTH CAROLINA* (Session dates: 01/12/2021 - 06/15/2022) | ||
|---|---|---|
| Bill number | Bill Description | Status |
| S 52 | Would abolish the death penalty | Prefiled and referred to Committee on Judiciary, December 9, 2020 |
| S 200/H 3755 | Would make electrocution the default method of execution, add firing squad as an option for the method of execution, and alter the process by which prisoners may elect lethal injection as their method of execution | H 3755 introduced and referred to Committee on Judiciary, January 27, 2021. PASSED committee by a 14-7 vote on February 23. S 200 prefiled and referred to Committee on Corrections and Penology, December 9, 2020. PASSED committee by 11-6 vote on February 2. PASSED the full Senate by a vote of 32–11 on March 3. PASSED the House Judiciary Committee by a vote of 13-9 on April 27. PASSED the House by a vote of 66-43 on May 5. SIGNED by the governor on May 14. |
| SOUTH DAKOTA (Session dates: 01/11/2022 - 03/28/2022) | ||
|---|---|---|
| Bill number | Bill Description | Status |
| TENNESSEE (Session dates: 01/12/2021 - 05/07/2022) | ||
|---|---|---|
| Bill number | Bill Description | Status |
| HB 1/SB 1236 | Would allow a defendant who has been sentenced to the death penalty and whose conviction is final to petition the trial court for a determination of whether the defendant is ineligible for the death penalty because of intellectual disability. Defines intellectual disability as “significant limitations in both intellectual functioning and adaptive behavior, including many everyday social and practical skills; and … [t]hat originated prior to the person’s eighteenth birthday.” | Filed for introduction November 4, 2020 and introduced on January 12, 2021. Referred to the House Criminal Justice Committee on January 13 and assigned to the Criminal Justice Subcommittee January 27.
Filed for introduction and introduced on February 11, 2021. Referred to the Senate Judiciary Committee February 22. |
| HB 1062/SB 1349 | Would allow a defendant who has previously been sentenced to death penalty and whose conviction is final to petition the trial court for a determination of whether the defendant ineligible for the death penalty because of intellectual disability. Would conform the definition of intellectual disability to the diagnostic criteria contained “in the current edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM) of the American Psychiatric Association.” | House bill 1062 filed for introduction February 10, 2021, introduced February 11, and referred to the Criminal Justice Subcommittee of the House Criminal Justice Committee on February 22. Recommended for passage by a voice vote of the subcommittee on April 7. PASSED the Criminal Justice Committee by a voice vote on April 14. PASSED the House by a vote of 89-4 on April 26. PASSED the Senate by a vote of 28-1 on April 26. Transmitted to the governor on May 4. SIGNED by the governor on May 11.
Senate bill 1349 filed for introduction and introduced February 11, 2021 and referred to the Senate Judiciary Committee on February 22. Passed the Senate Judiciary Committee calendar by a vote of 7-1 on April 14 [Note, legislative website erroneously says 4/13.] |
| HB 47/SB 226 | Would make a defendant convicted of first degree murder eligible for the death penalty if the victim was a Good Samaritan helping, protecting, or providing emergency care to a person and the defendant knew the victim was acting as a Good Samaritan. | House bill filed for introduction December 16, 2020, introduced January 12, 2021, and referred to House Criminal Justice Committee on January 13. Assigned to Criminal Justice Subcommittee January 27 and recommended for passage February 24. Recommended for passage by the Criminal Justice Committee on March 3. PASSED the House by a vote of 84-0 on March 15. Senate bill filed January 19, 2021 and referred to Senate Judiciary Committee on February 10. Recommended for passage by the committee by a vote of 7-2 on March 30. The Senate moved to substitute SB 226 with HB 47 and PASSED the House bill by a vote of 26-6 on April 8. SIGNED by the governor on April 22. |
| UTAH* (Session dates: 01/18/2022 - 03/04/2022) | ||
|---|---|---|
| Bill number | Bill Description | Status |
| HB 147 | Would abolish the death penalty and add a sentencing option of 45 years to life for aggravated murder | Introduced on January 18, 2022 by Rep. V. Lowry Snow (R) and Sen. Daniel McCay (R). |
| VIRGINIA (Session dates: 01/12/2022 - 03/08/2022) | ||
|---|---|---|
| Bill number | Bill Description | Status |
| HB 661/SB 379 | Would reinstate the death penalty for murder of a police officer | HB 661 prefiled by Del. William Wampler (R) on January 11, 2022. SB 379 prefiled by Sen. Bill DeSteph (R) on January 11, 2022. |
| WASHINGTON* (Session dates: 01/11/2021 - 04/30/2022) | ||
|---|---|---|
| Bill number | Bill Description | Status |
| SB 5047 | Would remove the death penalty from Washington’s laws, bringing it in line with the 2018 Washington Supreme Court ruling striking down the death penalty. | Prefiled December 31, 2020. First reading January 11, 2021, referred to Committee on Law & Justice. |
| SB 5099 | Would reinstate the death penalty for people who commit murder while incarcerated. | Prefiled January 7, 2021. First reading January 11, 2021, referred to Committee on Law & Justice. |
| WYOMING* (Session dates: 01/12/2021 - 04/02/2022) | ||
|---|---|---|
| Bill number | Bill Description | Status |
| SF 150 | Would repeal Wyoming’s death penalty. | Introduced March 1, 2021. Referred to Senate Revenue Committee. Hearing scheduled for March 4. PASSED Committee by a 4-1 vote on March 4. FAILED in the Senate by a 11-19 vote on March 18. |
| U.S. FEDERAL GOVERNMENT* (Session dates: 01/03/2021 - 10/30/2022) | ||
|---|---|---|
| Bill number | Bill Description | Status |
| HR 72 | Would provide additional aggravating factors for the imposition of the federal death penalty | Introduced January 4, 2021 |
| HR 97/HR 262 | Would abolish the federal death penalty | Introduced January 4, 2021 |
Feb 05, 2021
Virginia Legislature Votes to Abolish the Death Penalty
With two historic votes, the Virginia General Assembly has moved the commonwealth to the cusp of becoming the first Southern state to abolish capital punishment, approving separate bills that would end the state’s death penalty an…
Read MoreNews & Developments
Recent Legislative Activity
Jan 19, 2022
Republican Legislators Introduce Bill to Repeal and Replace Utah’s Death Penalty
Two conservative Republican legislators, both former supporters of capital punishment, have introduced legislation that would end death-penalty prosecutions in Utah. On January 18, 2022, the first day of the three-month 2…
Innocence
Jan 07, 2022
“Random and Unjust,” “Barbaric” and “Ineffective”: Editorials Call for End to Death Penalty
As 2021 came to a close, editorial writers in four death penalty states called for legislative and executive action to end capital punishment or further limit its use. Editorial boards for the St. Louis Post-Dispatch
Recent Legislative Activity
Dec 02, 2021
New Podcast: Republican State Representative Jean Schmidt on Her Efforts to Abolish the Death Penalty in Ohio
In the December 2021 episode of Discussions with DPIC, Death Penalty Information Center Deputy Director Ngozi Ndulue interviews State Representative Jean Schmidt (pictured) about her work as a primary sponsor of a bill in…
Arbitrariness
Nov 23, 2021
California Penal Code Committee Recommends Repealing State’s Death Penalty
The Committee on Revision of the Penal Code, created by the California state legislature to review the state’s criminal laws, has issued a report unanimously recommending that the state repeal its death penalty. T…
Capital Case Development
Oct 22, 2021
Second Ohio Prisoner Taken Off Death Row Under New Serious Mental Illness Law
A second Ohio death-row prisoner has been resentenced to life without parole under a new state law that makes individuals who were seriously mentally ill at the time of their crime ineligible for the death penalty.
Recent Legislative Activity
Oct 08, 2021
Oregon Supreme Court Overturns Death Sentence in Decision that Could Clear the State’s Entire Death Row
In a decision that advocates say could clear the state’s death row, the Oregon Supreme Court (justices pictured) has overturned death-row prisoner David Ray Bartol’s death sentence because the crime he committed i…
Costs
Sep 15, 2021
Four Utah Prosecutors Urge Legislature to Repeal and Replace Death Penalty
Four Utah district attorneys, representing counties that comprise 57.5% of the state’s population, have urged the state legislature and Utah Governor Spencer Cox to enact legislation to repeal and replace Utah’s d…
Deterrence
Sep 08, 2021
Legislators Plan New Attempt to Repeal Utah Capital Punishment Law, as Prominent County Attorney Announces He Will No Longer Seek the Death Penalty
Efforts to end the death penalty in Utah edged forward on September 8, 2021 as two Republican legislators revealed plans to introduce legislation to “repeal and replace” the state’s capital punishment law and the prosecuting attor…
Mental Illness
Jun 24, 2021
Ohio Prisoner David Braden Becomes First Person Taken Off Death Row Under New Mental Illness Law
An Ohio trial court has resentenced death-row prisoner David Braden (pictured) to life without parole, making him the first person in the nation taken off death row by a state law barring capital punishment for pe…
Innocence
Jun 08, 2021
Ohio Black Churches and Legislative Black Caucus Join Push to Abolish the State’s Death Penalty
Building on what they describe as growing momentum to end capital punishment and greater awareness of racial justice concerns, a coalition of Ohio African-American church and legislative leaders are putting their weight behind
