07 February 2018 :

Senate Corrections and Penology Committee advances execution bills to the floor. SB871 would make confidential any identifying information about the execution team, including suppliers of lethal-injection drugs. SB872 would make electrocution the default method of execution. Death-row prisoners would be offered the option of lethal injection if it is available. Bills are now headed to the Senate floor. The panel approved an amendment by Sen. Karl Allen, a Democrat, that would allow a judge "for good cause" to allow lawyers to discover the identity of provider of the lethal injection drugs after the state's prison director said the proposal might bring balance to the process. Both bills were proposed by Sen. William Timmons, a Republican, who has said he wants to bring more certainty to the state's death penalty. The committee voted 9-5 to approve the shield law, as amended, the most contentious of the 2 bills. The committee voted 14-3 to advance the bill requiring the electric chair if the prison system's director certifies that lethal injection in not available. Similar bills did not even make it out of committee in 2015.