Brief⁽¹⁾

The bill would amend existing law regarding death penalty procedures. Specifically, the bill would:

• �Prohibit disclosure of the identity of witnesses, executioners, and others involved in carrying out a death sentence.



• �Increase from six to ten the maximum number of official witnesses appointed by the Secretary of Corrections, and require the Secretary of Corrections to consider designating family members of victims as potential witnesses. Family members would include the spouse, child, stepchild, parent, grandparent, grandchild, sibling, or the spouse of any of them.



• �Require that all witnesses be at least 18 years of age.



• �Authorize the Secretary of Corrections to deny attendance of any witness, if the Secretary determines it is necessary for reasons of security and order of the institution.



• �Require death warrants to be issued only by the Kansas Supreme Court.



• �Require that the Supreme Court designate the week during which the execution would occur, and authorize the Secretary of Corrections to set the execution date and time. The Secretary would have to give at least seven days' notice of the execution date to the Supreme Court, the convicting district court, the convict, the convict's counsel, and the Attorney General. The Secretary would be able to carry out the execution at any time on the specified date.



• �Repeal the requirement for establishment of a three-person medical panel to assist with selection of the lethal substances. The bill provides instead that the Secretary will choose the substances which will have to be certified by the Secretary of Health and Environment as capable of causing death in a swift and humane manner.



• �Repeal existing law regarding donating the organs of executed persons.

Background

The bill is identical to 1999 H.B. 2093 which was introduced by the Joint Committee on Corrections and Juvenile Justice as a result of its work during the 1998 interim. The Committee's report can be viewed on the Internet at:

The House bill was in the House Judiciary Committee when the Senate Committee took action on S.B. 343.

The Secretary of Corrections presented testimony in support of the bill at the Senate Committee's hearing. No opponents to the bill presented testimony at the hearing.

The Senate Committee's amendments were technical and clarifying in nature.

The Senate on Final Action amendments change the reason for which an execution witness may be excluded by the Secretary of Corrections and clarify when a new execution week would have to be designated following suspension of an execution by a court.

The Division of the Budget's fiscal note on the bill states that enactment would result in reduced expenditures by the Department of Corrections, but does not provide an estimate of the extent of any savings. The Division also states that enactment of the bill would impact court personnel, but that a cost estimate would not be available until after the bill is enacted.

1. *Supplemental notes are prepared by the Legislative Research Department and do not express legislative intent. The supplemental note and fiscal note for this bill may be accessed on the Internet at http://www.ink.org/public/legislative/bill_search.html