Idaho Senate OKs bill to boost secrecy about execution drugs

BOISE – The Idaho Senate on Friday has passed a bill that would dramatically increase the secrecy surrounding Idaho’s execution drugs.

The bill passed 21-14 and goes to the governor’s desk.

The legislation would prohibit Idaho officials from revealing where they obtain the drugs used in lethal injections, even if they are ordered to do so by the courts.

The legislation drew passionate debate from Republican and Democratic opponents who said it would certainly be challenged in court, that executions require more transparency rather than less, and that it would reduce the public trust in the state’s execution process.

But supporters said the bill was the only way that the state would be able to continue to carry out lawful executions, because no suppliers of lethal injection chemicals will sell the drugs to the state without guaranteed confidentiality.

Sen. Todd Lakey, a Republican from Nampa and the bill’s sponsor, said anti-death penalty advocates have “organized aggressive social justice campaigns” that “dox” lethal injection chemical suppliers as a way to stop executions.

“We need this bill to maintain the death penalty in Idaho,” Lakey said. “Frankly, their social justice war has been effective.”

Sen. Christy Zito, a Republican from Hammett, said lawmakers shouldn’t approve a bill that would make it harder to determine the quality and effectiveness of the lethal injection drugs. She said based on historical data, there is a 7% chance a lethal injection execution may be botched.

“Each and every one of us here today will have responsibility for that result,” if the bill is approved and an execution goes awry, Zito said. “Would you sit by the condemned and inject a substance into their bodies, not knowing what it was? … Today, we decide what level of transparency and accountability that we want to live with.”

But Lakey said the drugs are tested for efficacy before they are used and that the Idaho Department of Correction takes executions seriously. Nineteen other states have similar confidentiality provisions, he said.