RICHMOND, Va. (AP) — Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe has proposed making significant changes to a bill that sought to allow the state to force condemned inmates to die in the electric chair when lethal injection drugs aren’t available.
The Democratic governor’s amendment to the bill aims to make it easier for the state to obtain lethal injection drugs by keeping secret the identities of the compounding pharmacies that supply them.
The Republican-controlled General Assembly would have to approve McAuliffe’s amendment when it returns April 20. A similar bill pushed by the governor failed last year.
Drug companies have protested the use of their products in executions, forcing lawmakers across the country to consider alternative methods of capital punishment to deal with the shortage.
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