2012 — Proposed or passed leg­is­la­tion (* indi­cates states with bills to abol­ish death penalty)

State

Alabama*

Description

SB 68 and HB 116 would impose a mora­to­ri­um on exe­cu­tions
SB 69 would pro­hib­it judges from over­rid­ing juries’ sen­tenc­ing ver­dicts
SB 70 would estab­lish pro­ce­dures for deter­min­ing if a defen­dant is intel­lec­tu­al­ly dis­abled
SB 392 would repeal the death penalty

Satus

None passed in 2012.

California*

Description

1. A coali­tion called Taxpayers for Justice has begun col­lect­ing sig­na­tures to place a death penal­ty repeal ini­tia­tive on the bal­lot in November 2012. The ini­tia­tive calls for using mon­ey saved by abo­li­tion for solv­ing cold cas­es and assist­ing vic­tims fam­i­lies.

2. SB 1514 would attempt to short­en the appeals process by hav­ing cap­i­tal cas­es reviewed by the the Courts of Appeal rather than the state Supreme Court. It would also elim­i­nate automatic appeals.

Satus

1. Defeated. Almost 800,000 sig­na­tures were col­lect­ed, more than enough to qual­i­fy for the bal­lot in Nov. On April 23, all coun­ties cer­ti­fied that enough valid sig­na­tures had been sub­mit­ted, mean­ing the ini­tia­tive will appear on the bal­lot. The ini­tia­tive was defeat­ed in the gen­er­al elec­tion on Nov. 6, 2012 by a nar­row mar­gin 53%-47%.

2. The Senate Public Safety Committee reject­ed the bills to lim­it cap­i­tal appeals. Defeated.

Connecticut*

Description

Abolition bill intro­duced in 2012. Replaces death penal­ty with a sen­tence of life with­out parole for future cases.

Satus

Approved for con­sid­er­a­tion on Feb. 22 by the Assembly’s Judiciary Com. (23 – 15).

Public hear­ing on bill March 14.

On March 21, the Judiciary Committee passed (24 – 19) the repeal bill. The bill will now move on to votes in the Senate and House.

PASSED IN SENATE ON APRIL 5 (20 – 16). BILL AMENDED TO PROVIDE SPECIAL CONFINEMENT CONDITIONS FOR THOSE CONVICTED OF CAPITAL-LEVEL CRIMES.

PASSED THE HOUSE (86 – 62) ON April 11. GOVERNOR SIGNED BILL on April 25.

Florida*

Description

1. SB 772, SB 352, and HB 29 would require una­nim­i­ty for a jury to rec­om­mend a death sen­tence
2. HB 4051 would repeal the death penalty

Satus

Neither passed in 2012.

Georgia*

Description

SB 342 would repeal the death penal­ty

SB 442 would dis­al­low the death penal­ty in cas­es which rely sole­ly on eyewitness testimony

Satus

Neither passed in 2012.

Idaho

Description

Bill to lim­it ram­i­fi­ca­tions for health care offi­cials involved in executions

Satus

Approved by Senate Judic. & Rules Com.

Illinois

Description

Rep. Dennis Reboletti intro­duced a bill to rein­state the death penalty.

Satus

Did not pass in 2012.

Iowa

Description

Sen. Jerry Behn intro­duced S 2095 to rein­state death penal­ty for mur­ders of minors in the course of rape or kidnapping

Satus

Bill unlike­ly to receive a hear­ing. Did not pass in 2012.

Kansas*

Description

HB 2323 and SB 239 would repeal the death penalty

Satus

HB 2323 in House Com. on Federal & State Affairs
SB 239 in Senate Judiciary Committee. A March hear­ing will be held in the House Courts & Juvenile Justice Com.

Did not pass in 2012.

Kentucky*

Description

1. Legislative pro­pos­al to form a death penal­ty study task force: House Concurrent Resolution 173. Would study ways of imple­ment­ing ABA Assessment Report on KY.

2. HB 145 would exempt the severe­ly men­tal­ly ill from the death penal­ty.

3. SB 63 would abol­ish the death penalty.

Satus

1. Passed House on Mar.22 by vote of 73 – 18. Did not pass in Senate.

2. Did not pass in 2012.
3. Hearing held in Senate Judic. Com. Mar. 1. A House bill to abol­ish the death penal­ty received a hear­ing in the Federal & State Affairs Com. on June 7. Did not pass in 2012.

Louisiana

Description

HB 120: No longer require an elec­tri­cian to attend exe­cu­tions now that Louisiana uses lethal injec­tion instead of the electric chair.

Allow any­one, includ­ing employ­ees of the state Department of Public Safety and Corrections, to opt out of attend­ing exe­cu­tions with­out fear of disciplinary action.

Prevent licens­ing boards from tak­ing action against peo­ple who par­tic­i­pate in executions.

Allow the state to keep secret the name of a physi­cian sum­moned by the war­den to wit­ness the exe­cu­tion. State law requires a physi­cian to be present.

Satus

Passed 90 – 0 in House (April 2); moves to Senate

Maryland*

Description

Abolition bills SB 872 and HB 949. Key vote will be in Senate Judicial Proceedings Com.

Satus

Hearing March 7. House Judic. Com. hear­ing on Mar. 20. Session end­ed; bill did not pass.

Minnesota

Description

Rep. Glenn Gruenhagen pro­posed bill to rein­state the death penalty

Satus

Legislators con­sid­er passage unlikely

Did not pass in 2012.

Mississippi

Description

SB 2606 would allow the state to house death row pris­on­ers in the Wilkinson County Correctional Facility, a private prison

Satus

Passed both leg­isla­tive hous­es, lat­er died in com­mit­tee on a motion to reconsider

Missouri*

Description

1. Bill to abol­ish death penal­ty

2. Bill to con­duct an audit of death penal­ty costs.

3. Bill to pre­vent race dis­crim­i­na­tion in the death penal­ty, sim­i­lar to North Carolina’s Racial Justice Act: #1625.

Satus

None passed in 2012.

Nebraska*

Description

LB 276 would repeal the death penalty

Satus

Measure pulled after debate on Jan. 26. Might be recon­sid­ered lat­er in session

Did not pass in 2012.

New Hampshire

Description

1. A bill to expand the death penal­ty for all mur­ders (HB 162). Sponsor would rec­om­mend repeal­ing death penal­ty if it is too restricted.

Satus

1. Passed Crim. Justice & Pub. Safety Com., (Oct. 2011) rec­om­mend­ing pas­sage in Jan. 2012. Same Committeevot­ed unan­i­mous­ly to kill the bill in January, mak­ing passage unlikely.

New Mexico

Description

Rep. Dennis Kintigh pro­posed a con­sti­tu­tion­al amend­ment to restore the death penalty

Satus

Amendment would have to be approved by vot­ers. Bills to restore the death penal­ty were to be heard in com­mit­tee the week of Feb. 6. The spon­sor acknowl­edged that there is lit­tle chance of passage.

Did not pass in 2012.

North Carolina

Description

1. HB 615 would effec­tive­ly repeal the state’s Racial Justice Act by requir­ing proof of intentional discrimination.

2S416 would effec­tive­ly repeal the state’s RJA by stat­ing that sta­tis­tics alone can­not be the basis for a find­ing of racial bias. It restricts sta­tis­ti­cal stud­ies to race of defen­dant, allows data only with­in a coun­ty or pros­e­cu­to­r­i­al dis­trict, and with­in a nar­row time frame around the trial.

Satus

1. Defeated. Repeal of RJA passed by both Houses in a spe­cial ses­sion. Vetoed by the gov­er­nor on Dec. 14, 2011. Legislature had an oppor­tu­ni­ty to over­ride veto on Jan. 4. 2012, but over­ride failed. RJA remains the law.

House Select Com. on Racial Discrimination in Capital Cases meets Feb. 10 to dis­cuss changes to RJA.

2. Passed Hse. Judic. Subcom. on June 6 by par­ty-line vote of 8 – 6. PASSED in House (73 – 47) on June 13.PASSED the Senate (30 – 18) on June 20. Sent to gov­er­nor. (At least 60% of those vot­ing in each house is need­ed to over­ride a gov­er­nor’s veto.) Gov. vetoed bill, but both hous­es OVERRODE THE VETO, there­by pass­ing the bill into law.

Ohio*

Description

1. Chief Justice of Sup. Ct. estab­lished a blue-rib­bon com­mis­sion to study all aspects of the death penal­ty.

2. H.B. 160 would repeal the death penal­ty; Senate ver­sion SB 270

Satus

1. Commission hold­ing reg­u­lar meet­ings

2. Hearing on Feb. 14. Did not pass in 2012.

Oregon

Description

Governor declared a mora­to­ri­um on all exe­cu­tions for remain­der of his term.

Pennsylvania*

Description

1. SB 6 Resolution to ini­ti­ate a study of death penalty.

Satus

1. Passed in Senate in 2011. To be imple­ment­ed in 2012.

Rhode Island

Description

Sen. John Tassoni pro­posed bill to restore the death penalty.

Satus

Passage unlike­ly; and if passed, like­ly to be vetoed by gov­er­nor. Did not pass in 2012.

South Carolina

Description

Bill to expand death penal­ty to specif­i­cal­ly cov­er mud­er in the course of a home invasion.

Satus

Bill has met oppo­si­tion because SC law already cov­ers this crime.

South Dakota

Description

SB 42 aimed at speed­ing up and restrict­ing appeals in crim­i­nal cas­es, includ­ing cap­i­tal cas­es. Bill would gen­er­al­ly lim­it defen­dants to one post-con­vic­tion peti­tion and impose a dead­line on filing.

Satus

Passed House Judiciary Com. Passed leg­is­la­ture and is expect­ed to be signed by governor.

Virginia

Description

Del. Todd Gilbert’s bill would allow non-shoot­ers” to be eli­gi­ble for the death penal­ty if they are an acces­so­ry to mur­der and exhib­it­ed an intent to kill. HB 502

Satus

Criminal Subcommittee of House Courts of Justice Committee report­ed bill to the full com­mit­tee. Bill passedHouse 72 – 28, Feb. 15.

Senate ver­sion of bill defeat­ed in the Courts of Justice Com. on Feb. 8 by vote of 7 – 7, mak­ing pas­sage of mea­sure unlike­ly this year. Senate Courts Com. defeat­ed House ver­sion 8 – 6 on Feb. 22. Did not pass in 2012.

Washington*

Description

Sen. Debbie Regala has intro­duced a bill to repeal the death penal­ty: SB 6283HB 2468

Satus

Hearing in Sen. Judiciary Com. on Jan. 25.

Did not pass in 2012.

StateDescriptionSatus

Alabama*

SB 68 and HB 116 would impose a mora­to­ri­um on exe­cu­tions
SB 69 would pro­hib­it judges from over­rid­ing juries’ sen­tenc­ing ver­dicts
SB 70 would estab­lish pro­ce­dures for deter­min­ing if a defen­dant is intel­lec­tu­al­ly dis­abled
SB 392 would repeal the death penalty

None passed in 2012.

California*

1. A coali­tion called Taxpayers for Justice has begun col­lect­ing sig­na­tures to place a death penal­ty repeal ini­tia­tive on the bal­lot in November 2012. The ini­tia­tive calls for using mon­ey saved by abo­li­tion for solv­ing cold cas­es and assist­ing vic­tims fam­i­lies.

2. SB 1514 would attempt to short­en the appeals process by hav­ing cap­i­tal cas­es reviewed by the the Courts of Appeal rather than the state Supreme Court. It would also elim­i­nate automatic appeals.

1. Defeated. Almost 800,000 sig­na­tures were col­lect­ed, more than enough to qual­i­fy for the bal­lot in Nov. On April 23, all coun­ties cer­ti­fied that enough valid sig­na­tures had been sub­mit­ted, mean­ing the ini­tia­tive will appear on the bal­lot. The ini­tia­tive was defeat­ed in the gen­er­al elec­tion on Nov. 6, 2012 by a nar­row mar­gin 53%-47%.

2. The Senate Public Safety Committee reject­ed the bills to lim­it cap­i­tal appeals. Defeated.

Connecticut*

Abolition bill intro­duced in 2012. Replaces death penal­ty with a sen­tence of life with­out parole for future cases.

Approved for con­sid­er­a­tion on Feb. 22 by the Assembly’s Judiciary Com. (23 – 15).

Public hear­ing on bill March 14.

On March 21, the Judiciary Committee passed (24 – 19) the repeal bill. The bill will now move on to votes in the Senate and House.

PASSED IN SENATE ON APRIL 5 (20 – 16). BILL AMENDED TO PROVIDE SPECIAL CONFINEMENT CONDITIONS FOR THOSE CONVICTED OF CAPITAL-LEVEL CRIMES.

PASSED THE HOUSE (86 – 62) ON April 11. GOVERNOR SIGNED BILL on April 25.

Florida*

1. SB 772, SB 352, and HB 29 would require una­nim­i­ty for a jury to rec­om­mend a death sen­tence
2. HB 4051 would repeal the death penalty

Neither passed in 2012.

Georgia*

SB 342 would repeal the death penal­ty

SB 442 would dis­al­low the death penal­ty in cas­es which rely sole­ly on eyewitness testimony

Neither passed in 2012.

Idaho

Bill to lim­it ram­i­fi­ca­tions for health care offi­cials involved in executions

Approved by Senate Judic. & Rules Com.

Illinois

Rep. Dennis Reboletti intro­duced a bill to rein­state the death penalty.

Did not pass in 2012.

Iowa

Sen. Jerry Behn intro­duced S 2095 to rein­state death penal­ty for mur­ders of minors in the course of rape or kidnapping

Bill unlike­ly to receive a hear­ing. Did not pass in 2012.

Kansas*

HB 2323 and SB 239 would repeal the death penalty

HB 2323 in House Com. on Federal & State Affairs
SB 239 in Senate Judiciary Committee. A March hear­ing will be held in the House Courts & Juvenile Justice Com.

Did not pass in 2012.

Kentucky*

1. Legislative pro­pos­al to form a death penal­ty study task force: House Concurrent Resolution 173. Would study ways of imple­ment­ing ABA Assessment Report on KY.

2. HB 145 would exempt the severe­ly men­tal­ly ill from the death penal­ty.

3. SB 63 would abol­ish the death penalty.

1. Passed House on Mar.22 by vote of 73 – 18. Did not pass in Senate.

2. Did not pass in 2012.
3. Hearing held in Senate Judic. Com. Mar. 1. A House bill to abol­ish the death penal­ty received a hear­ing in the Federal & State Affairs Com. on June 7. Did not pass in 2012.

Louisiana

HB 120: No longer require an elec­tri­cian to attend exe­cu­tions now that Louisiana uses lethal injec­tion instead of the electric chair.

Allow any­one, includ­ing employ­ees of the state Department of Public Safety and Corrections, to opt out of attend­ing exe­cu­tions with­out fear of disciplinary action.

Prevent licens­ing boards from tak­ing action against peo­ple who par­tic­i­pate in executions.

Allow the state to keep secret the name of a physi­cian sum­moned by the war­den to wit­ness the exe­cu­tion. State law requires a physi­cian to be present.

Passed 90 – 0 in House (April 2); moves to Senate

Maryland*

Abolition bills SB 872 and HB 949. Key vote will be in Senate Judicial Proceedings Com.

Hearing March 7. House Judic. Com. hear­ing on Mar. 20. Session end­ed; bill did not pass.

Minnesota

Rep. Glenn Gruenhagen pro­posed bill to rein­state the death penalty

Legislators con­sid­er passage unlikely

Did not pass in 2012.

Mississippi

SB 2606 would allow the state to house death row pris­on­ers in the Wilkinson County Correctional Facility, a private prison

Passed both leg­isla­tive hous­es, lat­er died in com­mit­tee on a motion to reconsider

Missouri*

1. Bill to abol­ish death penal­ty

2. Bill to con­duct an audit of death penal­ty costs.

3. Bill to pre­vent race dis­crim­i­na­tion in the death penal­ty, sim­i­lar to North Carolina’s Racial Justice Act: #1625.

None passed in 2012.

Nebraska*

LB 276 would repeal the death penalty

Measure pulled after debate on Jan. 26. Might be recon­sid­ered lat­er in session

Did not pass in 2012.

New Hampshire

1. A bill to expand the death penal­ty for all mur­ders (HB 162). Sponsor would rec­om­mend repeal­ing death penal­ty if it is too restricted.

1. Passed Crim. Justice & Pub. Safety Com., (Oct. 2011) rec­om­mend­ing pas­sage in Jan. 2012. Same Committeevot­ed unan­i­mous­ly to kill the bill in January, mak­ing passage unlikely.

New Mexico

Rep. Dennis Kintigh pro­posed a con­sti­tu­tion­al amend­ment to restore the death penalty

Amendment would have to be approved by vot­ers. Bills to restore the death penal­ty were to be heard in com­mit­tee the week of Feb. 6. The spon­sor acknowl­edged that there is lit­tle chance of passage.

Did not pass in 2012.

North Carolina

1. HB 615 would effec­tive­ly repeal the state’s Racial Justice Act by requir­ing proof of intentional discrimination.

2S416 would effec­tive­ly repeal the state’s RJA by stat­ing that sta­tis­tics alone can­not be the basis for a find­ing of racial bias. It restricts sta­tis­ti­cal stud­ies to race of defen­dant, allows data only with­in a coun­ty or pros­e­cu­to­r­i­al dis­trict, and with­in a nar­row time frame around the trial.

1. Defeated. Repeal of RJA passed by both Houses in a spe­cial ses­sion. Vetoed by the gov­er­nor on Dec. 14, 2011. Legislature had an oppor­tu­ni­ty to over­ride veto on Jan. 4. 2012, but over­ride failed. RJA remains the law.

House Select Com. on Racial Discrimination in Capital Cases meets Feb. 10 to dis­cuss changes to RJA.

2. Passed Hse. Judic. Subcom. on June 6 by par­ty-line vote of 8 – 6. PASSED in House (73 – 47) on June 13.PASSED the Senate (30 – 18) on June 20. Sent to gov­er­nor. (At least 60% of those vot­ing in each house is need­ed to over­ride a gov­er­nor’s veto.) Gov. vetoed bill, but both hous­es OVERRODE THE VETO, there­by pass­ing the bill into law.

Ohio*

1. Chief Justice of Sup. Ct. estab­lished a blue-rib­bon com­mis­sion to study all aspects of the death penal­ty.

2. H.B. 160 would repeal the death penal­ty; Senate ver­sion SB 270

1. Commission hold­ing reg­u­lar meet­ings

2. Hearing on Feb. 14. Did not pass in 2012.

Oregon

Governor declared a mora­to­ri­um on all exe­cu­tions for remain­der of his term.

Pennsylvania*

1. SB 6 Resolution to ini­ti­ate a study of death penalty.

1. Passed in Senate in 2011. To be imple­ment­ed in 2012.

Rhode Island

Sen. John Tassoni pro­posed bill to restore the death penalty.

Passage unlike­ly; and if passed, like­ly to be vetoed by gov­er­nor. Did not pass in 2012.

South Carolina

Bill to expand death penal­ty to specif­i­cal­ly cov­er mud­er in the course of a home invasion.

Bill has met oppo­si­tion because SC law already cov­ers this crime.

South Dakota

SB 42 aimed at speed­ing up and restrict­ing appeals in crim­i­nal cas­es, includ­ing cap­i­tal cas­es. Bill would gen­er­al­ly lim­it defen­dants to one post-con­vic­tion peti­tion and impose a dead­line on filing.

Passed House Judiciary Com. Passed leg­is­la­ture and is expect­ed to be signed by governor.

Virginia

Del. Todd Gilbert’s bill would allow non-shoot­ers” to be eli­gi­ble for the death penal­ty if they are an acces­so­ry to mur­der and exhib­it­ed an intent to kill. HB 502

Criminal Subcommittee of House Courts of Justice Committee report­ed bill to the full com­mit­tee. Bill passedHouse 72 – 28, Feb. 15.

Senate ver­sion of bill defeat­ed in the Courts of Justice Com. on Feb. 8 by vote of 7 – 7, mak­ing pas­sage of mea­sure unlike­ly this year. Senate Courts Com. defeat­ed House ver­sion 8 – 6 on Feb. 22. Did not pass in 2012.

Washington*

Sen. Debbie Regala has intro­duced a bill to repeal the death penal­ty: SB 6283HB 2468

Hearing in Sen. Judiciary Com. on Jan. 25.

Did not pass in 2012.