Many supporters said as hard as it is to support executions, they see it as the Legislature’s responsibility to ensure that the death penalty can continue in Florida.
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Both sponsor Sen. Mike Wilson (R-Bowlling Green) and Senate President Robert Stivers (R-Manchester) have been vocal about their support for the bill that would ultimately do away with Kentucky’s Academic Common Core Standards, which is also favored by Republican Gov. Matt Bevin.
The Legislature is rewriting the death penalty law after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled last month that the current method is unconstitutional because it allows judges to reach a different decision than juries, which has only an advisory role in recommending death. But others hope it will be enough to satisfy the Supreme Court.
Georgia’s state Senate is set to vote Friday on a bill allowing faith-based organizations to refuse services to same-sex couples without government penalties, including loss of taxpayer funding.
That change would require jurors to unanimously find that at least one aggravating factor exists before a defendant can be eligible for a death sentence. Kentucky officials revised the standards to put the state’s imprint on them. A judge could not impose a death sentence if the jury had recommended life in prison.
House Speaker Steve Crisafulli praised the legislation, saying lawmakers have complied with the Supreme Court ruling. Ann Rivers, R-La Center, offered a version of the measure that stuck with the original 2017 deadline and lined up with a similar bill in the House of Representatives. Others pointed out inequities in the state system in which more blacks than whites are sentenced to death.
“This bill is cloaked in procedure but soaked in a hateful policy”, said state Rep. Darryl Rouson, D-St.
Rouson, a lawyer, said he had devoted years to learning about the death penalty.
He added: “It seems to me they want to be obstructionists”. It is a surrender to the worst that is in us. “All states should do as the bold few have done and officially outlaw this form of punishment”, he said.
House Bill 2573, passed on a vote of 92-6 on Wednesday, would require the Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction to create a statewide plan to bring in more teachers.
But Biggs said he’s unlikely to block the desire of House members to get their claim to fame.
The idea of requiring a unanimous jury recommendation was strongly opposed by Florida prosecutors who argued that some of the state’s most notorious murderers – including serial killer Ted Bundy – did not receive a unanimous jury recommendation. “We need to make sure they have that free time”.
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House Judiciary Chairman Charles McBurney, a Jacksonville Republican who proposed the compromise amendment, said Florida likely wont have a death penalty unless lawmakers take action.
