2018 Legislation

Alabama*

1. SB272 would autho­rize exe­cu­tions by nitro­gen hypox­ia if lethal injec­tion is unavail­able or found to be uncon­sti­tu­tion­al and would give a death-sen­tenced pris­on­er one oppor­tu­ni­ty to choose to be exe­cut­ed by nitro­gen hypox­ia or the elec­tric chair, so long as he or she des­ig­nates the method of exe­cu­tion with­in 30 days of the Alabama Supreme Court’s affir­mance of the sen­tence of death imposed in the case. If the pris­on­er does not des­ig­nate a method of exe­cu­tion, the default method of exe­cu­tion remains lethal injection.

2. SB118 would estab­lish pro­ce­dures for deter­min­ing if death-penal­ty defen­dants have intel­lec­tu­al dis­abil­i­ty.

3. SB119 would pro­hib­it the impo­si­tion of a death sen­tence on any­one younger than 18 at the time of the crime, bring­ing Alabama law into agree­ment with Roper v. Simmons(2005).

4. SB106 would retroac­tive­ly apply the 2017 law that end­ed the abil­i­ty of judges to over­ride jury ver­dicts in death-penal­ty cas­es.

5. SB104 would repeal the death penal­ty.

6. SB103 would place a mora­to­ri­um on the death penal­ty for a peri­od of three years until cer­tain pro­ce­dures are imple­ment­ed to ensure that death penal­ty cas­es are admin­is­tered fair­ly and impartially.

1. Introduced and referred to Senate Judiciary Committee on January 9, 2018. The com­mit­tee approved the bill by a vote of 11 – 1 on February 14, 2018. The bill PASSED the Senate on February 22 by a vote of 29 – 0. PASSED the House on March 20 by a vote of 75 – 23. SIGNED into law by Governor Kay Ivey on March 22, 2018.

2. Referred to Judiciary Committee on January 9, 2018

3. Referred to Judiciary Committee on January 9, 2018

4. Referred to Judiciary Committee on January 9, 2018

5. Referred to Judiciary Committee on January 9, 2018

6. Referred to Judiciary Committee on January 9, 2018

January 9, 2018-April 23, 2018

Arizona

January 8, 2018-April 21, 2018

Arkansas

February 12, 2018-March 14, 2018

California

AB 1443 would require the per­ma­nent reten­tion of court records in cap­i­tal felony cas­es in which the defen­dant is sen­tenced to death, ​“includ­ing records of the cas­es of any code­fen­dants and any relat­ed cas­es, regard­less of the dis­po­si­tion.” Court reporter notes in death penal­ty cas­es would also be retained permanently.

AB 1443 was intro­duced on February 17, 2017. On March 13, 2017 it was referred to the Assembly Judiciary Committee and the Assembly Committee on Public Safety, where it was unan­i­mous­ly approved. On May 18, 2017 the bill unan­i­mous­ly PASSED THE ASSEMBLY by a vote of 69 – 0. 

On June 1, 2017 the bill was referred to the Senate Judiciary Committee, where it unan­i­mous­ly passed (6 – 0) on June 28, 2017. On July 20, 2017 the bill unan­i­mous­ly PASSED THE SENATE by a vote of 38 – 0.

The bill was SIGNED INTO LAW by Governor Jerry Brown on August 7, 2017.

December 5, 2016-November 30, 2018

Colorado

January 10, 2018-May 9, 2018

Connecticut

February 7, 2018-May 9, 2018

Delaware

HB 125 would rein­state the death penal­ty for mur­der or accom­plice mur­der with 22 aggravating circumstances.

The bill was intro­duced and referred to the House Judiciary Committee on April 4. It was approved by the Committee on May 3 and sent to the full House. It PASSED THE HOUSE on May 9 by a vote of 24 – 16.

January 1, 2017-June 30, 2018

Florida*

1. SB870 would apply Hurst v. Florida to all death penal­ty cas­es, not just those that became final after June 24, 2002. 

2. SB1416 would abol­ish the death penal­ty.

1. Filed November 14, 2017 and referred to the Senate Criminal Justice Committee on November 29. It was on the com­mit­tee’s agen­da on January 9, 2018, but not con­sid­ered. It was con­sid­ered and PASSED by the com­mit­tee by a vote of 3 – 2 on February 6, 2018, then referred to the Senate Rules Committee.

2. Filed January 2, 2018 and referred to the Senate Criminal Justice; Judiciary; and Rules Committees on January 12.

January 9, 2018-March 7, 2018

Georgia

January 9, 2017-March 2, 2018

Idaho

January 8, 2018-March 23, 2018

Illinois

HB 1468 was a bill that would have required a 72-hour wait­ing peri­od for the sale of assault rifles. Following its pas­sage, Gov. Raumer issued an amenda­to­ry veto, seek­ing to rein­tro­duce the death penal­ty for the mur­der of police offi­cers or two or more vic­tims. The penal­ty for ​“death-penal­ty mur­der” is osten­si­bly a manda­to­ry death penal­ty. However, mit­i­gat­ing cir­cum­stances may be pre­sent­ed to a judge who could impose a life sentence.

HB 1468 passed the leg­is­la­ture with no men­tion of the death penal­ty. On May 14, 2018, Gov. Rauner issued an amenda­to­ry veto adding an unre­lat­ed set of death penal­ty pro­vi­sions. On May 31, 2018, the final day of the leg­isla­tive ses­sion, the leg­is­la­ture passed a revised gun-con­trol bill with no men­tion of cap­i­tal pun­ish­ment. Gov. Rauner has 60 days from pas­sage to act on the bill.

January 11, 2017-January 9, 2019 (recess June 1, 2018-November 15, 2018)

Indiana

January 8, 2018-March 21, 2018

Iowa

1. Senate File 335 would rein­state the death penal­ty for offens­es in which a minor is kid­napped, raped, and murdered.

2. House Study Bill 569 would rein­state the death penal­tyfor mur­der in the first degree.

1. Introduced and referred to the Senate Judiciary Committee on February 23, 2017. The bill advanced out of a sub­com­mit­tee by a 3 – 2 vote on February 12, 2018, but on February 13 was PULLED FROM CONSIDERATION by the Committee chairman.

2. Introduced and referred to House sub­com­mit­tee on Public Safety on January 23, 2018. After a sub­com­mit­tee hear­ing, the bill passed a pub­lic safe­ty sub­com­mit­tee, but pro­po­nents of the mea­sure indi­cat­ed they did not have suf­fi­cient sup­port to move for­ward with the bill in committee.

January 9, 2017-January 13, 2019

Kansas*

HB2167 would prospec­tive­ly repeal the death penal­ty and replace it with life with­out pos­si­bil­i­ty of parole.

The bill, spon­sored by 8 Republicans and 7 Democrats, was intro­duced on January 25, 2017 and referred to the House Committee on Corrections and Juvenile Justice. A hear­ing was held on the bill on February 13, 2017.

January 9, 2017-April 7, 2018

Kentucky*

1. SB54 and HB155 would abol­ish the death penal­ty.

2. SB107 would exempt per­sons with severe men­tal ill­ness from the death penal­ty.

3. HB316 would make the mur­der of a vic­tim aged 12 years old or younger or a men­tal­ly or phys­i­cal­ly dys­func­tion­ing adult in need of pro­tec­tive ser­vices an aggravating circumstance.

1. SB54 referred to Judiciary Committee on Jan. 4, 2018.

2. SB107 was intro­duced on January 23, 2018. The bill was amend­ed in com­mit­tee on March 1 to remove Posttraumatic Stress Disorder from the list of con­di­tions that would bar appli­ca­tion of the death penal­ty against severe­ly men­tal­ly ill indi­vid­u­als. The bill was favor­ably report­ed out of com­mit­tee, as amend­ed, but recom­mit­ted to the Judiciary Committee on March 15.

3. HB316 was intro­duce­don February 6, 2018 and referred to the House Judiciary Committee.

January 2, 2018-April 15, 2018

Louisiana*

SB51 and HB 162 would abol­ish the death penal­ty for offens­es com­mit­ted on or after August 1, 2018

SB51 was Prefiled on February 21, 2018 and pro­vi­sion­al­ly referred to the Senate Judiciary Committee. The bill passed the com­mit­tee by a vote of 4 – 1 on April 10, 2018.

HB162 was referred to the House Committee on the Administration of Criminal Justice, which held a hear­ing and vot­ed 10 – 8 to defeat the bill on April 11, 2018.

March 12, 2018-June 4, 2018

Mississippi

1. HB244 would bar the death penal­ty in cas­es where a con­vic­tion is based sole­ly on circumstantial evidence

2. HB923 would revise penal­ties for attempt­ed cap­i­tal offens­es, clar­i­fy­ing that the death penal­ty shall not be imposed for an attempted offense

3. SB2200 would elim­i­nate the death penal­ty for indi­vid­u­als with intel­lec­tu­al dis­abil­i­ties, bring­ing Mississippi law into agree­ment with Atkins v. Virginia (2002)

1. Referred to Judiciary Committee on Jan. 2, 2018

2. Referred to Judiciary Committee on Jan. 11, 2018

3. Referred to Judiciary Committee on Jan. 9, 2018

January 2, 2018-April 2, 2018

Missouri*

1. SB595 and HB1433 would abol­ish the death penalty

2. SB1081 and HB2509 would pro­hib­it impos­ing the death penal­ty upon a per­son who was suf­fer­ing from a seri­ous men­tal ill­ness at the time of the offense.

1. SB595 referred to General Laws Committee on Jan. 9, 2018

2. SB1081 was intro­duced on March 1, 2018 and referred to the Senate General Laws Committee. A hear­ing on the bill is sched­uled for April 11, 2018.

HB2509 was intro­duced on February 20, 2018 and referred to the House Committee on Health and Mental Health Policy on March 5. A hear­ing on the bill is sched­uled for April 11, 2018.

January 3, 2018-May 31, 2018

Nebraska*

1. LB446 would abol­ish the death penal­ty.

2. LB661 would exempt records from pub­lic dis­clo­sure that con­tain ​“any infor­ma­tion rea­son­ably cal­cu­lat­ed to lead to the iden­ti­ty of any per­son or enti­ty that man­u­fac­tures, sup­plies, com­pounds, or pre­scribes the sub­stance or sub­stances, med­ical sup­plies, or med­ical equip­ment uti­lized to per­form a lethal injection.”

1. The death penal­ty abo­li­tion bill was intro­duced on January 17, 2017 and referred to the Judiciary Committee on January 19, 2017. The Committee con­duct­ed a hear­ing on the bill on March 22, 2017.

2. The exe­cu­tion secre­cy bill was intro­duced with 11 spon­sors on January 18, 2017 and referred to the Government, Military and Veterans Affairs Committee. A motion to instead refer it to the Judiciary Committee failed and the bill is sched­uled for a hear­ing in the Government com­mit­tee February 9, 2017.

January 4, 2017-April 13, 2018

New Hampshire*

1. HB351 would expand the death penal­ty to include know­ing­ly caus­ing the death of a per­son who is less than 18 years of age.

2. SB593 would abol­ish the death penal­ty and replace it with a max­i­mum penal­ty of life without parole.

1. The bill was intro­duced on January 5, 2017 and referred to the House Criminal Justice and Public Safety Committee. The Committee held a hear­ing on the bill on February 7, 2017. On March 1, 2017, the com­mit­tee deemed the bill ​“inex­pe­di­ent to leg­is­late” by a vote of 17 – 3. On March 8, 2017, the full House upheld the com­mit­tee deci­sion and REJECTED THE BILL by a vote of 305 – 46.

2. Introduced on February 15, 2018 and referred to Judiciary Committee. The com­mit­tee con­duct­ed a hear­ing on the bill on March 12, 2018 and rec­om­mend­ed by a vote of 3 – 1 that the bill ​“ought to pass.” The bill PASSED the full Senate on March 15, 2018 by a vote of 14 – 10 and moved to the House.

SB593 was referred to the House Criminal Justice and Public Safety Committee, which held a hear­ing on the bill on April 4. On April 26, the com­mit­tee rec­om­mend­ed by a vote of 12 – 6 that the bill ​“ought to pass,” and it PASSED the full House that day by a vote of 223 – 116.

Governor Chris Sununu vetoed the bill on June 21. 

On September 13, the Senate vot­ed 14 – 10 to over­ride the veto, falling two votes short of the two-thirds super­ma­jor­i­ty nec­es­sary for an override.

January 4, 2017-June 30, 2018

New Mexico

HB155 would rein­state the death penal­ty for the mur­der of a police offi­cer, a prison employ­ee or con­trac­tor, or any vic­tim under age 18.

The bill was intro­duced on January 22, 2018 and referred to the House Consumer and Public Affairs Committee, which REJECTED THE BILL by a vote of 3 – 2 on February 3, 2018.

January 16, 2018-February 3, 2018

North Carolina*

HB604 would repeal the death penal­ty and replace it with life with­out pos­si­b­li­ty of parole. The repeal also would apply to pris­on­ers cur­rent­ly under sen­tence of death.

The bill was intro­duced on April 5, 2017 and referred to the House Committee on Rules, Calendar, and Operations on April 6, 2017.

January 11, 2017-July 1, 2018

Ohio*

1. HB38 would expand the death penal­ty to include the mur­der of a first respon­der or mem­ber of the mil­i­tary.

2. SB12 would pro­vide that a defen­dant can­not be exe­cut­ed if the death penal­ty can­not be sought or imposed if deci­sions in pur­su­ing the death penal­ty were based on the defen­dan­t’s race. It would per­mit the use of sta­tis­ti­cal evi­dence to demon­strate that deci­sions were based on race. If rever­sal of a death sen­tence would oth­er­wise make the defen­dant eli­gi­ble for parole, the defen­dant would have to agree to accept a sen­tence of life without parole.

3. SB40 and HB81 would pro­hib­it impos­ing the death penal­ty upon a per­son who was suf­fer­ing from a seri­ous men­tal ill­ness at the time of the offense.

4. SB94 and HB389 would abol­ish the death penal­ty.

1. HB38, which has 14 co-spon­sors, was intro­duced on February 7, 2017 and referredto the House Criminal Justice Committee, where it received a hear­ing on February 21, 2017. On May 17, 2017, the bill was favor­ably report­ed out of com­mit­tee by a vote of 11 – 0. On May 17, 2017, it PASSED THE HOUSE by a vote of 96 – 0.

On May 18, 2017, the bill was intro­duced in the Senate and referred to the Senate Judiciary Committee on May 24, 2017.

2. SB12 was intro­duced on January 31, 2017 with 2 co-spon­sors and referred to the Senate Judiciary Committee on February 1, 2017. 

3. SB40 was intro­duced with two spon­sors and 7 co-spon­sors on February 8, 2017. It was referred to the Senate Judiciary Committee on February 15, 2017. The com­mit­tee has held three hear­ings on the bill.

HB81 was intro­duced with two spon­sors and 11 co-spon­sors on February 22, 2017. It was referred to the House Criminal Justice Committee on February 28, 2017. The com­mit­tee held six hear­ings on the bill between March 7, 2017 and December 4, 2018, when the com­mit­tee vot­ed 9 – 3 in favor of pass­ing the bill. A vote in the full House is expect­ed in early December. 

4. SB94 was intro­duced on March 7, 2017 and referred to the Senate Judiciary Committee on March 15, 2017.

HB389 was intro­duced on October 23, 2017 and referred to the House Criminal Justice Committee on October 31, 2017.

January 2, 2017-December 31, 2018

Oklahoma

HB 1679, authored by House Speaker Pro Tempore Harold Wright, would elim­i­nate the elec­tric chair as a mode of exe­cu­tion and cre­ate the fol­low­ing hier­ar­chy for exe­cu­tion meth­ods in the state:

1. Lethal injec­tion
2. Nitrogen hypox­ia
3. Firing squad
4. ​“Any method not pro­hib­it­ed by the United States Constitution.”

The bill was intro­duced on January 19, 2017 and was referred to the House Judiciary — Criminal Justice and Corrections Committee on February 7, 2017. The Committee sub­sti­tut­ed a new ver­sion of the bill on February 9, 2017, which passed the Committee that day by a vote of 10 – 1. The Committee sub­sti­tute PASSED THE HOUSE by a vote of 74 – 22 on February 16, 2017.

The bill was referred to the Senate Judiciary Committee on March 20, 2017.

February 6, 2017-May 25, 2018

Pennsylvania*

SB703 and HB166 would prospec­tive­ly repeal the death penal­ty.

SB703 was intro­duced on May 8, 2017 and referred to the Senate Judiciary Committee.

HB1466 was intro­duced on May 31, 2017 and referred to the House Judiciary Committee.

January 3, 2017-November 30, 2018

Rhode Island

H5208 would autho­rize the death penal­ty for the ambush mur­der of a first respon­der.

H5208 was intro­duced on January 26, 2017 and referred to the House Judiciary Committee.

January 3, 2017-June 30, 2018

South Carolina

1. SB871 would make con­fi­den­tial any iden­ti­fy­ing infor­ma­tion about the exe­cu­tion team, includ­ing sup­pli­ers of lethal-injection drugs.

2. SB872 would make elec­tro­cu­tion the default method of exe­cu­tion. Death-row pris­on­ers would be offered the option of lethal injec­tion if it is available.

1. SB 871 was intro­duced on January 9, 2018 and referred to the Senate Committee on Corrections and Penology. Favorably referred out of com­mit­tee on February 6.

2. SB872 was intro­duced on January 9, 2018 and referred to the Senate Committee on Corrections and Penology. Favorably referred out of com­mit­tee with amend­ment on February 6. The amend­ed bill PASSED the Senate by a vote of 26 – 12 on March 6.

SB872 was sent to the House on March 7 and referred to the House Judiciary Committee on March 8.

January 10, 2017-June 7, 2018

South Dakota

HB1123 would exempt from the death penal­ty per­sons with severe mental illness.

HB1123 was intro­duced on January 23, 2018 and referred to the House State Affairs Committee. The com­mit­tee held a hear­ing on the bill on January 31, 2018, amend­ed the bill, and vot­ed 9 – 4 in favor of pas­sage as amended.

The bill PASSED THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES on February 2, 2018, but was tabled by a vote of 5 – 2 in the Senate Judiciary Committee on February 20.

January 9, 2018-March 26, 2018

Tennessee

1. HB7 and& SB27 would pro­vide for auto­mat­ic direct review by the Tennessee supreme court of& cap­i­tal con­vic­tions and death sen­tences and removes an inter­me­di­ate lev­el of direct appeal to the court of crim­i­nal appeals in death penalty cases.

2. HB345 and SB378 would pro­hib­it impos­ing the death penal­ty upon a defen­dant who was suf­fer­ing from severe men­tal ill­ness at the time of the offense

1. HB7 was filed for intro­duc­tion January 5, 2017 and offi­cial­ly intro­duced on January 10, 2017. It was referred to the House Criminal Justice Committee on January 12, 2017 and assigned to the the Subcommittee on Criminal Justice on January 24, 2017. It was placed on the sub­com­mit­tee’s cal­en­dar for February 7, 2017.

SB27 was filed for intro­duc­tion on January 11, 2017 and offi­cial­ly intro­duced on January 12, 2017. It was referred to the Senate Judiciary Committee and placed on the cal­en­dar for February 7, 2017.

2. HB345 was filed for intro­duc­tion on February 1, 2017 and offi­cial­ly intro­duced on February 2, 2017. It was referred to the House Criminal Justice Committee on February 6, 2017 and assigned to the Criminal Justice Subcommittee on February 7, 2017.

SB378 was filed for intro­duc­tion on February 2, 2017. It was referred to the Senate Judiciary Committee on February 8, 2017.

January 10, 2017-April 16, 2018

Utah*

1. HB379 would prospec­tive­ly repeal Utah’s death penal­ty.

2. HB70 would direct the Legislative Auditor General to con­duct an audit of the com­par­a­tive costs of the death penal­ty cap­i­tal offens­es and non­death penal­ty cap­i­tal cas­es.

3. SB30 would expand the death penal­ty to add as an aggra­vat­ing cir­cum­stance the killings of cor­rec­tion­al offi­cers, spe­cial func­tion offi­cers, search and res­cue per­son­nel, emer­gency med­ical per­son­nel, ambu­lance per­son­nel, and secu­ri­ty offi­cers; and clar­i­fy that all peace offi­cers and emer­gency respon­ders as defined in Utah Code are also to be des­ig­nat­ed as poten­tial vic­tims of aggravated murder.

1. Introduced February 13, 2018 and referred to the House Judiciary Committee. Favorably report­ed out of com­mit­tee by a vote of 7 – 4 on February 22. Subsequently with­drawn from consideration.

2. Introduced on January 22, 2018

3. Introduced on January 22, 2018. Senate Judiciary, Law Enforcement, and Criminal Justice Committee gave it a favor­able rec­om­men­da­tion (5 – 1 vote, with one absent) on January 29, 2018.

January 22, 2018-March 8, 2018

Virginia

1. HB758 and SB802 would elim­i­nate the death penal­ty for defen­dants with severe mental illness

2. HB762 and SB772 would grant resti­tu­tion for the Norfolk Four

1. HB758 referred to Committee for Courts of Justice on January 9, 2018. SB802 referred to Committee for Courts of Justice on January 10, 2018. SB802 was passed by indef­i­nite­ly on January 17, 2018, mean­ing that the com­mit­tee may recon­sid­er the bill at a later date.

2. HB762 referred to Committee on Appropriations on January 9, 2018. SB772 referred to Committee on Finance on January 10, 2018.

January 10, 2018-March 10, 2018

Washington*

1. 2017 leg­isla­tive ses­sion bills HB1935 and SB5354 would prospec­tive­ly repeal the death penal­ty.

2. SB6052 would prospec­tive­ly repeal the death penal­ty.

1. HB1935 was intro­duced on February 3, 2017 and referred to the House Committee on Judiciary. The bill had a hear­ing, but no vote was tak­en dur­ing any of the 2017 leg­isla­tive ses­sions and, by res­o­lu­tion, it was ​“rein­tro­duced and retained in present sta­tus” on January 8, 2017.

SB5354 was intro­duced on January 20 by 12 Senators ​“by request of Attorney General” and referred to the Senate Committee on Law & Justice. No action was tak­en on the bill dur­ing any of the 2017 leg­isla­tive ses­sions and, by res­o­lu­tion, it was ​“rein­tro­duced and retained in present sta­tus” on January 8, 2017.

2. SB6052 was pre­filed for intro­duc­tion on December 22, 2017 and referred to the Senate Law & Justice Committee on January 8, 2018. A pub­lic hear­ing was con­duct­ed on January 22. The bill PASSED THE SENATE by a vote of 26 – 22 on February 14.

The House Judiciary Committee held a hear­ing on the bill on February 20. The com­mit­tee vot­ed 7 – 6 on February 22 to advance the bill to the full House with a ​“do pass” recommendation.

NOTE: On October 11, 2018, the Washington Supreme Court declared the state’s death penal­ty statute uncon­sti­tu­tion­al, say­ing that it was applied in an arbi­trary and racial­ly discriminatory manner. 

Regular Session:

January 9, 2017-March 8, 2018

Wyoming

February 12, 2018-March 9, 2018

Federal

1. HR 115 (the ​“Thin Blue Line Act”) would expand the fed­er­al death penal­ty to make the killing of state and local police offi­cers an aggravating circumstance.

2. HR 4493/​S 2389 (“Eric’s Law”) would per­mit a sec­ond death-sen­tenc­ing hear­ing before a new jury in the event of a non-unan­i­mous sen­tenc­ing deci­sion in the first death-penalty trial.

1. The bill was intro­duced in the U.S. House of Representatives on January 3, 2017 and referred tp the House Judiciary Committee. The Committee advanced the bill on April 27, 2017 by a vote of 19 – 12. The House of Representatives PASSED the bill by a vote of 271 – 143 on May 18, 2017.

2. HR 4493 intro­duced in the House on November 30, 2017, referred to the Judiciary Committee. S. 2389 intro­duced on February 7, 2018.

January 3, 2017-October 30, 2018