More than one hun­dred bills have been intro­duced this year in 34 states and in Congress to expand and lim­it use of the death penal­ty, abol­ish and rein­state the death penal­ty, mod­i­fy exe­cu­tion pro­to­cols and secret the infor­ma­tion about them, and alter aspects of cap­i­tal tri­als. Thus far, nine bills in five states have been enact­ed, with Florida enact­ing the most leg­is­la­tion thus far. Of the bills that have been signed into law, three mod­i­fy exe­cu­tion pro­to­cols; two expand the cir­cum­stances for death eli­gi­bil­i­ty; one expands aggra­vat­ing cir­cum­stances; one law makes a death sen­tence manda­to­ry; one mod­i­fies the process and low­ers the legal stan­dard for intel­lec­tu­al dis­abil­i­ty claims; and one mod­i­fies the process to deter­mine men­tal com­pe­ten­cy for exe­cu­tion. The major­i­ty of enact­ed bills have been spon­sored by Republican legislators. 

Enacted Death Penalty Related Legislation
StateBill NameDescriptionTypeDate Effective
ArkansasHB 1489Adds exe­cu­tion by nitro­gen gas as an exe­cu­tion method. The bill also extends the secre­cy pro­vi­sions and immu­ni­ty pro­tec­tion pro­vi­sions pre­vi­ous­ly applic­a­ble to lethal injec­tion exe­cu­tions to include nitro­gen gas executions.Modifies Execution ProtocolMid-July 2025 (90 days after the end of the legislative session)
FloridaHB 693Expands death-eli­gi­ble aggra­vat­ing cir­cum­stances to include cir­cum­stances where the vic­tim was gath­ered with one or more per­sons for a school activ­i­ty, reli­gious activ­i­ty, or pub­lic government meeting.” Expands Aggravating CircumstancesOctober 12025
FloridaHB 903Expands the state’s avail­able method of exe­cu­tions to include any method not deemed unconstitutional.” Modifies Execution ProtocolJuly 12025
FloridaSB 4CRequires a death sen­tence for a defen­dant who is an unau­tho­rized alien” con­vict­ed of a capital felony.OtherFebruary 132025
GeorgiaHB 123Provides for pre­tri­al hear­ings for cap­i­tal defen­dants to raise intel­lec­tu­al dis­abil­i­ty claims; low­ers the stan­dard of proof from beyond a rea­son­able doubt” to a pre­pon­der­ance of evi­dence,” in line with other states. Limits Death EligibilityMay 132025
IdahoHB 380Expands death-eli­gi­ble crimes to include lewd con­duct with a minor child age 12 or under.Expands Death EligiblityJuly 12025
IdahoHB 37Makes fir­ing squad the pri­ma­ry method of execution.Modifies Execution ProtocolJuly 12026
OklahomaSB 599Makes defen­dants con­vict­ed of forcible anal or oral sodomy, rape, rape by instru­men­ta­tion, or lewd molesta­tion of a child under four­teen (14) years of age” eli­gi­ble for a death sentence.Expands Death EligiblityNovember 12025
OklahomaHB 1693Modifies the process to deter­mine men­tal com­pe­ten­cy for exe­cu­tion, includ­ing requir­ing the tri­al court to ren­der a deci­sion before the sched­uled exe­cu­tion date unless the Court of Criminal Appeals issues a stay of execution. OtherNovember 12025

Legislation to Modify Execution Protocols 

States are increas­ing­ly propos­ing changes to exe­cu­tion pro­to­cols. Of the nine bills enact­ed so far this year, three mod­i­fy exe­cu­tion pro­to­cols, includ­ing bills to add new, large­ly untest­ed exe­cu­tion meth­ods and rein­tro­duce pre­vi­ous­ly abandoned ones. 

Introduced by Representatives Jeff Wardlaw (R) and Blake Johnson (R), Arkansas enact­ed HB 1489, which adds suf­fo­ca­tion by nitro­gen gas as an exe­cu­tion method, on March 18, 2025. The bill passed both cham­bers of the state leg­is­la­ture by wide mar­gins, with a vote of 67 to 23 in the House and 26 to 9 in the Senate. Joining Alabama, Louisiana, and Mississippi as the fourth state to adopt this exe­cu­tion method, Arkansas will be able to start using nitro­gen gas in mid-July, or 90 days after the session’s end. Both Alabama and Louisiana have used nitro­gen gas in exe­cu­tions over the past year, with wit­ness­es report­ing anom­alies dur­ing the exe­cu­tions, includ­ing signs of dis­tress from the prisoners. 

Introduced by Representative Bruce Skaug (R), Idaho enact­ed HB 37 on March 12, 2025, mak­ing fir­ing squad the state’s pri­ma­ry exe­cu­tion method, replac­ing lethal injec­tion. The bill, which doesn’t take effect until July 1, 2026, passed by wide mar­gins in both cham­bers: 58 to 11 in the House and 28 to 7 in the Senate. Although five oth­er states allow exe­cu­tions by fir­ing squad (Idaho, Mississippi, Oklahoma, South Carolina, and Utah), this bill makes Idaho the only state to autho­rize it as its pri­ma­ry exe­cu­tion method. On March 7, 2025, the U.S. had its first fir­ing squad exe­cu­tion in fif­teen years with South Carolina’s exe­cu­tion of Brad Sigmon. His lawyer report­ed con­cerns about use of the new pro­ce­dure. South Carolina sub­se­quent­ly used a fir­ing squad on April 11 to exe­cute Mikal Mahdi. Mr. Mahdi’s lawyers have also recent­ly expressed con­cerns that his exe­cu­tion was botched

Florida’s HB 903 is the lat­est leg­is­la­tion expand­ing the meth­ods of exe­cu­tion avail­able to a state. It was signed by Governor Ron DeSantis on May 22, 2025, and is effec­tive July 1, 2025. Unlike the bills passed in Arkansas and Idaho, HB 903 autho­rizes the state to use any exe­cu­tion method not deemed uncon­sti­tu­tion­al.” In explain­ing his rea­son­ing for spon­sor­ing the bill, Representative Berny Jacques (R) com­plained that weak sen­tenc­ing guide­lines and bureau­crat­ic inef­fi­cien­cies have allowed vio­lent offend­ers to escape real consequences.” 

Sixteen more bills to mod­i­fy or aug­ment exe­cu­tion meth­ods are still pend­ing in 11 states. Both Nebraska (LB 432) and Ohio (HB 36) have pend­ing bills to autho­rize nitro­gen gas as an exe­cu­tion method; North Carolina’s bill (HB 270) seeks to intro­duce both elec­tro­cu­tion and the fir­ing squad; Tennessee unique­ly (SB 0491 /​HB 1022) has bills seek­ing to add phar­ma­ceu­ti­cal fen­tanyl as an exe­cu­tion method. Additional efforts to mod­i­fy exe­cu­tion pro­to­cols include autho­riz­ing wit­ness­es who may be present at exe­cu­tions, for exam­ple mem­bers of the leg­is­la­ture (HB 198 /​SB 1214 in Tennessee) or the state attor­ney gen­er­al (S 0267, 0308, 3852 in South Carolina), as well as requir­ing states to main­tain records and report annu­al­ly on the drugs stocked by the state to use in exe­cu­tions, includ­ing expi­ra­tion dates (SB 1690 in Texas).

Unique bills in both Connecticut and Delaware — both states with­out the death penal­ty — have sought to set restric­tions on phar­ma­ceu­ti­cal com­pa­nies incor­po­rat­ed in their respec­tive states from sup­ply­ing drugs used in exe­cu­tions. First intro­duced as SB 430, and now rolled into SB 1355, the Connecticut bill pro­hibts per­sons who are licensed, reg­is­tered or doing busi­ness in this state from man­u­fac­tur­ing, com­pound­ing, sell­ing, test­ing, dis­trib­ut­ing, dis­pens­ing, or sup­ply­ing any drug or med­ical device for the pur­pose of exe­cut­ing the death penal­ty. The pro­posed penal­ty is revo­ca­tion of license. HB 61 in Delaware has sim­i­lar pro­hi­bi­tions but goes far­ther to cre­ate crim­i­nal, in addi­tion to civ­il, lia­bil­i­ties for cor­po­ra­tions or oth­er busi­ness­es in the state that vio­late the pro­vi­sions. For exam­ple, HB 61 pro­pos­es that the high­est-rank­ing offi­cer of an enti­ty that knew or should have known” that the firm’s prod­ucts would be used in any capac­i­ty” to an exe­cu­tion, the firm’s char­ter will be revoked, and that offi­cer will be guilty of a class A felony and sub­ject to a civ­il penal­ty of up to $50,000

Legislation to Expand Secrecy Provisions Concerning Executions 

In addi­tion to adding exe­cu­tion by nitro­gen gas as an exe­cu­tion method, Arkansas’s HB 1489 pro­tects from dis­clo­sure infor­ma­tion about the indi­vid­u­als involved in nitro­gen gas exe­cu­tions or the sup­pli­ers of the gas, chem­i­cals and equip­ment used in the exe­cu­tion. Likewise, pend­ing Ohio bill HB 36, in addi­tion to intro­duc­ing exe­cu­tion by nitro­gen hypox­ia, would also pro­hib­it dis­clo­sure of exe­cu­tion identifying information.” 

Legislation to Abolish or Limit the Death Penalty 

Bills seek­ing to abol­ish the death penal­ty have been intro­duced in at least 12 states (Arizona, Delaware, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Missouri, Nebraska, North Carolina, Ohio, Oregon, Pennsylvania and Texas). Efforts to lim­it use of the death penal­ty include Georgia’s HB 682, which sought to pro­hib­it the death penal­ty in cas­es where the only evi­dence of guilt was the tes­ti­mo­ny of a sin­gle eye­wit­ness. In Texas, the leg­is­la­ture is tak­ing steps to cod­i­fy the Supreme Court’s 2002 deci­sion in Atkins v. Virginia, where the Court found that exe­cut­ing indi­vid­u­als with intel­lec­tu­al dis­abil­i­ties vio­lat­ed the 8th Amendment’s pro­hi­bi­tion on cru­el and unusu­al pun­ish­ments (HB 688 /​SB 432). A bill was also intro­duced in Texas that would exempt a defen­dant with severe men­tal ill­ness at the time of the cap­i­tal crime from death penal­ty eli­gi­bil­i­ty (HB 2777). A sep­a­rate Texas bill (HB 2055) would extend the Supreme Court’s 2005 deci­sion in Roper v. Simmons, which held the impo­si­tion of the death penal­ty on juve­niles uncon­sti­tu­tion­al, to those under age 21 at the time the crime occurred.

Georgia Legislation Related to Defendants with Intellectual Disability  

Sponsored by five Republicans and one Democrat, HB 123 in Georgia pro­vides pre­tri­al hear­ings for cap­i­tal defen­dants to raise intel­lec­tu­al dis­abil­i­ty claims and low­ers the stan­dard of proof for those claims from beyond a rea­son­able doubt” to a pre­pon­der­ance of evi­dence,” bring­ing the state stan­dard in line with the oth­er 26 states that retain the death penal­ty. Although sim­i­lar bills have been intro­duced in the past1, none had ever received a com­mit­tee vote before the leg­isla­tive ses­sion end­ed. This time, HB 123 unan­i­mous­ly passed the House (172 in favor and 3 non-vot­ing) and near­ly unan­i­mous­ly passed in the Senate (53 to 1) with amend­ments, which the House then agreed to (150 in favor, 3 against, and 13 non-vot­ing) on March 31, 2024. Republican Governor Brian Kemp signed the bill on May 13, 2025, effective immediately. 

Legislation to Reinstate or Expand Use of the Death Penalty, Including to Non-Homicide Crimes 

Bills to rein­state the death penal­ty have been intro­duced in at least nine states and bills seek­ing to expand use of the death penal­ty have been intro­duced in at least 12 states and the fed­er­al gov­ern­ment. Two bills, one in Idaho (HB 380) and one in Oklahoma (SB 599), have been enact­ed, expand­ing the death penal­ty to per­sons con­vict­ed of non-lethal sex-relat­ed crimes with minors. These two states join Florida, which was the first to enact such leg­is­la­tion in 2023, and Tennessee, which enact­ed sim­i­lar leg­is­la­tion in 2024

In Idaho, Representative Bruce Skaug (R) intro­duced HB 380, which specif­i­cal­ly makes aggra­vat­ed lewd con­duct with a minor child age 12 or under a death eli­gi­ble offense. The bill passed unan­i­mous­ly in the House (63 in favor, 7 absten­tions) and near­ly unan­i­mous­ly in the Senate (35 votes in favor, 5 against). Governor Brad Little signed the bill on March 27, 2025, and it goes into effect July 12025.

In Oklahoma, Representative Warren Hamilton (R) intro­duce SB 599, which specif­i­cal­ly makes any per­son con­vict­ed of forcible anal or oral sodomy, rape, rape by instru­men­ta­tion, or lewd molesta­tion of a child under four­teen (14) years of age” eli­gi­ble for a death sen­tence. The bill passed by wide mar­gins in both cham­bers, with a vote of 39 to 5 in the Senate and 80 to 8 in the House, then a final vote in the Senate of 36 to 6. Governor Kevin Stitt signed the bill on June 2, 2025, and it goes into effect November 12025

Bills to make non-lethal sex crimes or human traf­fick­ing death-eli­gi­ble offens­es, in vio­la­tion of the Supreme Court deci­sion in Kennedy v. Louisiana (2008), have been intro­duced in Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Kentucky, Mississippi, Missouri, Oklahoma, South Carolina, and the fed­er­al gov­ern­ment. In Florida, SB 1804 has passed both cham­bers. Bills in sev­er­al states have also intro­duced leg­is­la­tion to crim­i­nal­ize abor­tion in cer­tain cir­cum­stances as homi­cide, thus mak­ing abor­tions death-penal­ty eli­gi­ble offens­es in states which retain the death penalty. 

Legislation Mandating Death Sentences for Undocumented Persons Convicted of Capital Felonies 

Passed in Florida’s spe­cial ses­sion, SB 4C pro­vides that the court must sen­tence to death a defen­dant who is an unau­tho­rized alien” and who is con­vict­ed of a cap­i­tal felony. Although Supreme Court prece­dent estab­lished in Woodson v. North Carolina (1976) pro­hibits manda­to­ry death sen­tence, SB 4C passed in the Senate 25 to 11 and in the House 85 to 29. Governor Ron DeSantis signed the bill on February 13, 2025, and it became effec­tive imme­di­ate­ly. Similar bills have been intro­duced in both Pennsylvania and Oklahoma. At the fed­er­al lev­el, on May 8, 2025, Senator John Cornyn (TX) intro­duced 1675, which would add to the list of death-eli­gi­bil­i­ty aggra­vat­ing fac­to­ra per­son who is an ille­gal alien” and who has been con­vict­ed of killing, attempt­ing to kill, or con­spir­ing to kill a United States citizen.” 

Citation Guide
Footnotes