USA - Kentucky

USA - Kentucky. Bill to resume executions passed the Senate

April 1, 2026:

April 1, 2026 - Kentucky. (SB 251) Bill to resume executions passed the Senate.

SB 251 now goes to the Governor for signature. A bill that would pave the way for the resumption of executions was passed by the Senate on 1 April and now goes to Governor Andy Beshear for approval.

SB 251 was initially passed by the Senate on 16 March by a vote of 24 to 11. After passing to the House, it was approved 68 to 23 on 31 March, with the addition of an amendment regarding the transparency of execution protocols. On 1 April, the Senate re-voted on the bill, accepting the amendment.

SB 251 does not directly ‘restore’ executions, but removes the requirement for formal regulations governing execution protocols (which are usually required by law), allowing the Department of Corrections to establish them independently. It is a way of circumventing years of litigation over execution procedures.

Senate Bill 251 — sponsored by Sen. Stephen West, R — would allow the Department of Corrections to “prescribe and implement execution protocols and procedures” through internal policies, rather than going through a previously established administrative regulations process.

It passed in the Senate by a 27-9 vote, with all 6 Democrats — joined by Sens. Julie Raque Adams, R, Shelley Funke Frommeyer, R, and Robin Webb, R — opposing the bill.

Gov. Andy Beshear now has until April 13 to veto the legislation, sign it into law or let it become law without his signature. If he chooses to veto it, the Republican-controlled legislature will have the opportunity to override that decision when lawmakers return to Frankfort for 2 days.

Though Kentucky has a death penalty, executions have been paused since 2010 when a Franklin Circuit Court judge issued an injunction over concerns about the state’s lethal injection protocol. The last death row inmate to be executed was Marco Allen Chapman in 2008. Twenty-four inmates are currently on death row in Kentucky, according to the Department of Corrections.

Democratic lawmakers, joined by a number of pro-life Republicans, have voiced their opposition to the bill.

The bill passed with an amendment, introduced by Rep. James Tipton, R, that would require public transparency about death penalty protocols.

In a statement, the Kentucky Innocence Project, which helps wrongly convicted individuals and works to prevent future wrongful convictions, “strongly” objected to SB 251, which they said “accelerates the path to a final, irreversible, unjust punishment.”
“Our work with exonerees, both past and present, exposes the flaws of our criminal legal system and the systemic factors that lead to wrongful convictions — such as eyewitness misidentification, coerced false confessions, and official misconduct — and demonstrates that the risk of executing an innocent person is too great,” the organization said.
Instead, the organization encouraged lawmakers to provide state resources toward those who were wrongfully incarcerated, including by passing Senate Bill 131, which would establish a wrongful conviction compensation fund.
“We should not be speeding up the process of taking lives while stalling the process of repairing them,” the statement said. “If the Commonwealth values justice and efficiency, it must no longer ignore the debt it owes to those it has already failed.”

https://eu.courier-journal.com/story/news/politics/2026/04/03/kentucky-senate-bill-251-death-row-executions/89424448007/