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 New Hampshire House of Representatives on HB 455, which would abolish the death penalty. (March 7, 2019))
2021 - Proposed legislation
States with bills to abolish death penalty indicated with *
Session dates via StateScape
| ARKANSAS (Session dates: 01/11/2021 - 04/24/2021) | ||
|---|---|---|
| Bill number | Bill Description | Status |
| SB 28 | Would make rape of a child a capital offense | Filed December 31, 2020 |
| SB 29 | Would make trafficking of fentanyl a capital offense | Filed December 31, 2020 |
| 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. |
| INDIANA (Session dates: 01/04/2021 - 04/23/2021) | ||
|---|---|---|
| Bill number | Bill Description | Status |
| HB 1165 | Would make murder committed by a law enforcement officer acting within the scope of the officer’s duty an aggravating circumstance permitting imposition of the death penalty. | First reading and referred to Committee on Courts and Criminal Code, January 7, 2021 |
| SB 252 | Would provide that a person may not be sentenced to death unless: (1) the victim is a specified public safety officer and certain other circumstances apply; or (2) the person commits murder against two or more victims, and would reduce death sentences to life without parole for those sentenced to death for other crimes | First reading and referred to Committee on Judiciary, January 11, 2021 |
| KENTUCKY* (Session dates: 01/05/2021 - 03/31/2021) | ||
|---|---|---|
| Bill number | Bill Description | Status |
| SB 60 | Would abolish the death penalty and resentence current death-row prisoners to life without parole | Introduced January 5, 2021 |
| MISSOURI* (Session dates: 01/06/2021 - 05/30/2021) | ||
|---|---|---|
| Bill number | Bill Description | Status |
| HB 50/HB 127 | Would abolish the death penalty and resentence death-row prisoners to life without parole. | Prefiled December 1, 2020 |
| HB 157 | Would create the Change of Venue for Capital Cases Fund to reimburse a county that receives a capital case from another county for costs associated with the sequestering of jurors | Prefiled December 1, 2020 |
| HB 278 | Would prohibit the death penalty for defendants with serious mental illness | Prefiled December 1, 2020. Read first time January 6, 2021. |
| HB 462 | Would require that a life sentence be imposed if the sentencing jury does not unanimously agree to a death sentence, repealing a provision that treated a non-unanimous vote as a hung jury and allowed the trial judge to determine the sentence. | Prefiled December 14, 2021. Read first time January 6, 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 | Would make electrocution the default method of execution, and alter the process by which prisoners may elect lethal injection as their method of execution | Prefiled and referred to Committee on Corrections and Penology, December 9, 2020. |
| TENNESSEE (Session dates: 01/12/2021 - 05/07/2021) | ||
|---|---|---|
| Bill number | Bill Description | Status |
| HB 1 | 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 due to intellectual disability | Filed for introduction, November 4, 2020 |
| HB 47 | Would make a defendant convicted of first degree murder eligible for the death penalty if the victim was rendering assistance to a person in need at the time of their death | Filed for introduction, December 16, 2020 |
| TEXAS* (Session dates: 01/12/2021 - 05/28/2021) | ||
|---|---|---|
| Bill number | Bill Description | Status |
| HB 77 | Would disallow the death penalty in cases relying only on the testimony of a single eyewitness | Filed November 9, 2020 |
| HB 140 | Would prohibit the death penalty for defendants with serious mental illness | Filed November 9, 2020 |
| HB 215/HB 354/SB 188 | Would abolish the death penalty | House bills filed November 9, 2020, Senate bill filed November 13, 2020. |
| HB 252/SB 189 | Would require jury unanimity in certain sentencing decisions that currently only require agreement among 10 jurors | House bill filed November 9, 2020, Senate bill filed November 13, 2020 |
| HB 679 | Would alter the standards for counsel in capital cases | Filed November 30, 2020 |
| HB 838 | Would repeal Texas’ “law of parties” in capital cases, removing death eligibility for minor participants in capital crimes | Filed December 15, 2020 |
| HB 841 | Would allow clemency hearings to be conducted by telephone or videoconference | Filed December 15, 2020 |
| HB 869/SB 80 | Would update the procedure for determining intellectual disability in capital cases | Filed December 17, 2020 |
| VIRGINIA* (Session dates: 01/13/2021 - 02/13/2021) | ||
|---|---|---|
| Bill number | Bill Description | Status |
| HB 1779/SB 1165/HB 2263 | Would abolish the death penalty and resentence current death-row prisoners to life without parole | House bill 1779 prefiled and referred to Committee for Courts of Justice, December 29, 2020. House bill 2263 introduced January 13, 2021.
Senate bill 1165 prefiled and referred to Committee on the Judiciary, January 8, 2021. PASSED the Committee on the Judiciary on January 18 by a 10-4 vote. Rereferred to the Committee on Finance and Appropriations. |
| 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. |
| 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 |
Jan 31, 2020
Colorado, Virginia State Senates Move to Abolish, Reform Death Penalty
In legislative votes 1,600 miles apart on January 30, 2020, state senates in Colorado and Virginia took historic steps toward abolishing or reforming their state death-penalty systems. After hours of emotio…
Read MoreNews & Developments
Jan 20, 2021
Democratic Legislators Introduce Death Penalty Repeal Bills, Urge President Biden to Commute Federal Death Sentences
Democratic members of the U.S. House and Senate have called on incoming President Joe Biden (pictured) to take quick action on his campaign pledge to end the federal death penalty. Legislators introduced three bills to abolish the…
Jan 15, 2021
Virginia Legislators Poised to Attempt Death Penalty Repeal as Governor Sponsors Abolition Bill
Legislators in the Virginia House and Senate are poised to attempt a repeal of its capital punishment statute, as Governor Ralph Northam (pictured) announced that he would sponsor a bill to end the commonwealth’s …
Jan 11, 2021
Ohio Bars Death Penalty for People with Severe Mental Illness
Ohio has banned the death penalty for defendants who were severely mentally ill at the time of the offense. On January 9, 2021, Governor Mike DeWine (pictured) signed into law House Bill 136, which prohibits impos…
Sep 04, 2020
California Legislature Passes Racial Justice Package Affecting Death-Penalty Practices
In the closing days of its 2020 legislative session, the California legislature passed a trio of racial justice reform bills expected to reduce the influence of racial, ethnic, and socioeconomic bias in the administration of the d…
Aug 19, 2020
In Move Raising Race, Gender, and Political Issues, Missouri Governor Seeks Authority for Attorney General to Prosecute St. Louis Homicide Cases
In a political maneuver that further injected issues of race, gender, and political disenfranchisement into local law enforcement policy, Missouri’s Republican Governor Mike Parson has asked state lawmakers to grant Republican sta…
Aug 18, 2020
Nebraska Legislature Passes, Governor Vetoes Execution Transparency Bill
Nebraska Governor Pete Ricketts has vetoed a bill that would have increased transparency in the state’s execution process.
Aug 04, 2020
Angela McAnulty, Only Woman on Oregon’s Death Row, Resentenced to Life in Prison
The only woman on Oregon’s death row has been resentenced to life in prison. On August 3, 2020, the Lane County Circuit Court accepted a settlement agreement in which Lane County prosecutors agreed to drop their appeal of a 2019 r…
Jul 29, 2020
Commentary: Repealing Death Penalty ‘Essential to Racial Healing’ in Virginia
Recent police and vigilante killings of Black Americans have ignited a national call for systemic reform of law enforcement across the country, highlighting the link between extrajudicial abuse of force and widespread discriminatory application of…
Jul 21, 2020
Wyoming Governor “Very Seriously” Considering Death Penalty Moratorium
Calling capital punishment a “luxury” that the state can no longer afford, Wyoming Governor Mark Gordon (pictured) told legislators that he is “very seriously” considering imposing a moratorium on the state’s rarely-used death pen…
Jun 18, 2020
Utah Reaches Ten Years With No Executions
Utah has become the latest U.S. state to have gone more than a decade without carrying out an execution. The state last put a prisoner to death on June 18, 2010, when it executed Ronnie Gardner by firing squad. Utah joins…
