Call to action - SB 534

From our friends at Kansas Coalition Against The Death Penalty.

Tell Your Senator : No to Hypoxia and Executions! Yes to Ending the Death Penalty!

SB 534 was introduced on March 4, 2024 by Senate Federal and State Affairs. It has been referred to Senate Judiciary.

What the bill does:

• The bill would provide for an option of hypoxia as an alternative execution method in Kansas.

Hypoxia suffocates a person due to a lack of oxygen. When using a gas like nitrogen, the recent execution in Alabama shows the problems that can be associated with it. However, the bill doesn’t even specify what kind of hypoxia could be allowed. People could be suffocated by any means under this law.

• It would also change legal process around death warrants and the timing of the same.

Expedited legal process does not allow attorneys to raise critical issues that may need to be reviewed by the courts prior to execution.

• Finally, it changes responsibility for lethal injection drug selection.

Current law requires the Secretary Kansas Department of Health and Environment to certify the lethal injection drugs. This bill would put that duty on the secretary of corrections who would have sole authority for what drugs are used and the authority to change the drugs used.

This bill is designed to enable Kansas to kill people and kill them faster.

Action Needed:

Contact your Senator ASAP and urge them to oppose hypoxia and expedited executions.

Urge your Senator to instead end the Kansas death penalty.

For contact information for Kansas Senators, click here.

For information on the Kansas death penalty and its many related issues, see the Kansas Coalition Against the Death Penalty information page.