House committee weighs death penalty-related bill March 26, 2026 Sen. Stephen West, R-Paris, testifies on Senate Bill 251 during Thursday’s House State Government Committee meeting. The bill would change how the state Department of Corrections can prescribe and implement execution protocols. A high-res version is available here. FRANKFORT — — The House State Government Committee advanced Senate Bill 251 on Thursday. Sponsored by Sen. Stephen West, R-Paris, the legislation would allow the state Department of Corrections to prescribe and implement execution protocols and procedures for inmates on death row by internal policy, memorandum or other forms of action. The department is currently required to promulgate administrative regulations to prescribe and implement execution protocols. West said SB 251 is not a death penalty bill. “This bill is less about the death penalty and more about the rule of law and the powers between the branches in Kentucky,” West said. West told the committee the legislation is needed due to the lengthy administrative regulations process that often leads to litigation. “You have this revolving door of litigation, and so this bill attempts to address that issue,” West said. “… All this does is allows the administration, the Department of Corrections, to implement execution protocols if they choose to.” Wil Schroder, senior counsel in the Kentucky Attorney General’s Office, shared a letter of support from a family member who is related to both victims of Ralph Baze. Baze has been on Kentucky’s death row for more than 30 years. “I wholeheartedly support anything, including Senate Bill 251, that will cut down on the intolerable delay in seeing that justice is served for my brother and brother-in-law. My family and I want justice. My family and I need justice, and we have been waiting on it for over three decades,” the individual wrote in the letter. Members of the House State Government Committee carefully considered the legislation, with several members sharing their moral opposition to the death penalty. Rep. James Tipton, R-Taylorsville, said he’s filed legislation multiple times to abolish the death penalty in Kentucky. He expressed sympathy for the victims, but said his concern about wrongful convictions and his personal pro-life, Christian beliefs are the reasons why he’s against the death penalty. “Sometimes the courts, the juries make mistakes, and I know Rep. Nemes had a bill a few years ago to provide for people who are wrongfully convicted – to provide them benefits. I don’t know what you could do for someone who is wrongfully executed,” Tipton said. Additionally, Tipton asked West if there is another way to address the length of time it takes to promulgate administrative regulations. “I know one of the concerns that has been raised to me is that if we go with this process, it will not be transparent … Would it not be just as simple to require the Department of Corrections to issue regulations in a more timely manner to prevent these delays from happening in the future?” Tipton asked. Jack Heyburn from the Kentucky Attorney General’s Office said that would not fix the issue. He shared an example of a recent Department of Corrections regulation that will become final in two weeks nearly a year after Franklin County Circuit Court found part of the regulation unlawful. “I think that the bill addresses that because it gives DOC more flexibility to respond quickly and expeditiously to a court order like that,” Heyburn said. On the transparency issue, Schroder said a defendant’s attorney would still have the right to review and challenge the department’s policies if SB 251 becomes law. “It can be a much quicker process, but they’ll still be transparent in the sense that they’ll have that access to see what it is and challenge it if they feel that there is a legal challenge to do so,” he added. Rep. Anne Gay Donworth, D-Lexington, said she still has transparency concerns when she voted “no” on SB 251. “We are talking about life and death, and of all times when we need to be open about what we are doing here as a government, I think this is the most critical time we can possibly do it,” she said. Rep. Wade Williams, R-Earlington, who is a retired police chief, said he’s personally witnessed heinous crimes, which is why he supports the legislation. “I do believe that that person could have everlasting life, but there’s also an amount of accountability that we society and those victims are owed too,” he said. SB 251 is now before the full House for consideration after a 13-6 vote. The post House committee weighs death penalty-related bill appeared first on The Lexington Times. ...read more read less