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.)

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, referred to Judiciary Committee.
SB 29	Would make trafficking of fentanyl a capital offense	Filed December 31, 2020, referred to Judiciary Committee.
SB 284	Would create the crime of “capital rape,” making the rape of someone under age 14 punishable by death. This law would violate the U.S. Supreme Court’s 2008 decision Kennedy v. Louisiana, which barred the death penalty for crimes against an individual in which the victim did not die.	Filed February 3, 2021, referred to Judiciary Committee.

ARIZONA* (Session dates: 01/11/2021 - 05/28/2021)
Bill number	Bill Description	Status
SB 1548	Would change capital sentencing law to state that a trier of fact “may” impose a death sentence if they find aggravating factors outweigh mitigating factors, instead of saying they “shall” impose a death sentence	Introduced February 1, 2021. Referred to Rules and Judiciary Committees.
SB 1695	Would repeal the death penalty	Introduced February 3, 2021. Referred to Rules and Judiciary Committees.
SB 1696	Would prohibit the death penalty for defendants with serious mental illness	Introduced February 1, 2021. Referred to Rules and Judiciary Committees.

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.

CONNECTICUT (Session dates: 01/06/2021 - 06/03/2021)
Bill number	Bill Description	Status
HB 5370/SB 322	Would reinstate the death penalty.	Referred to Joint Committee on Judiciary.

FLORIDA* (Session dates: 01/04/2021 - 04/23/2021)
Bill number	Bill Description	Status
SB 568/HB 6019	Would abolish the death penalty.	SB 568 filed January 12, 2021 and referred to Committees on Criminal Justice, Appropriations Subcommittee on Criminal and Civil Justice, and Appropriations. HB 6019 filed January 11, 2021 and referred to Judiciary Committee, Criminal Justice & Public Safety Subcommittee and Justice Appropriations Subcommittee.

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. PASSED committee by a vote of 8-0 on February 4.

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 and referred to Judiciary Committee

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 and referred to Judiciary Committee
HB 2300	Would abolish the death penalty for crimes committed after July 1, 2021	Introduced February 9, 2021 and referred to Committee on Corrections and Juvenile Justice

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.

MONTANA* (Session dates: 01/04/2021 - 04/28/2021)
Bill number	Bill Description	Status
HB 244	Would change the lethal-injection law to allow execution by “an intravenous substance…sufficient to cause death.” Under current law, Montana may only use an ultra-fast-acting barbiturate in combination with a paralytic	Introduced January 26, 2021, referred to Judiciary Committee. Hearing was held February 3. PASSED the Judiciary Committee February 12 by a vote of 11-8. PASSED the full House February 16 by a vote of 56-44 and re-referred to the Appropriations Committee. Hearing was held February 17.
HB 335	Would abolish the death penalty and replace it with life without possibility of parole	Introduced February 8, 2021. Referred to Judiciary Committee February 9. Hearing was held February 23 and the bill was TABLED by a vote of 11-8.

NEW YORK (Session dates: 01/06/2021 - 01/01/2023)
Bill number	Bill Description	Status
AB 3741	Would reinstate the death penalty	Referred to Codes on January 28, 2021

OKLAHOMA (Session dates: 02/01/2021 - 05/29/2022)
Bill number	Bill Description	Status
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 Judiciary Committee.

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.

SOUTH DAKOTA (Session dates: 01/12/2021 - 03/29/2021)
Bill number	Bill Description	Status
SB 98	Would restrict the death penalty to first-degree murder of a police officer, corrections officer, or firefighter	First read and referred to Judiciary Committee, January 25, 2021. PASSED the Judiciary Committee 5-1 on February 4. FAILED in the Senate by a 13-20 vote on February 8.

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/SB 226	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	House bill filed for introduction, December 16, 2020. Senate bill filed January 19, 2021.

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. HB 1779 was incorporated into HB 2263. Subcommittee on Criminal Courts recommended reporting by a 6-2 vote on January 29, 2021. PASSED Committee on Courts of Justice by a 15-6 vote on February 3. PASSED the House by a vote of 57-41 on February 5.

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. PASSED the Committee on Finance and Appropriations by a 12-4 vote on January 26. PASSED the Senate by a vote of 21-17 on February 3.

The Senate PASSED the House bill by a 22-16 vote and the House PASSED the Senate bill by a 57-43 vote on February 22. The bill goes to Governor Northam, who has pledged to sign it.

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

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…

News & Developments

Feb 24, 2021

Virginia Death Penalty Repeal Bill Gains Final Legislative Approval, Moves to Governor’s Desk

Death-penalty repeal legislation in Virginia will move to Governor Ralph Northam’s desk, after both houses approved the bill passed earlier in the session in the opposite chamber. Virginia’s legislative rules required the House of Delegates to pas…

Feb 23, 2021

Ohio Legislators Launch Bipartisan Effort to Repeal State’s Death Penalty

A bipartisan group of legislators has announced the introduction of a bill to repeal Ohio’s death penalty. In a virtual press conference on February 18, 2021, four Republican and four Democratic legislators spoke about the latest effort to end cap…

Feb 04, 2021

Virginia Senate Passes Bill to Abolish the Death Penalty

The Virginia Senate moved the commonwealth one step closer to becoming the first Southern state to abolish capital punishment, voting 21 – 17 on February 3, 2021 to approve a bill that would end the state’s death penalty and resente…

Jan 26, 2021

Former South Dakota Prosecutor and Judge Introduces Bill to Limit the State’s Death Penalty

A South Dakota state senator who previously served as a prosecutor and a state court judge has introduced a bill to limit the breadth of the state’s death penalty statute.

Jan 25, 2021

Death Penalty Opponents Hold Vigils at Virginia Lynching Sites in Push for Abolition

As the Virginia General Assembly considers legislation to abolish the death penalty, opponents of capital punishment gathered at lynching sites across the state to emphasize the historical link between lynchings and executions. G…

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…

Recent Legislative Activity