House Judiciary Committee advances bill authorizing nitrogen hypoxia as execution method

The House Judiciary Committee voted to advance House Bill 1489, a proposal that would add nitrogen hypoxia as an authorized method of execution in Arkansas, after extended testimony and a roll-call vote in committee.

Representative Jeff Wardlaw (R-94), who sponsored the bill, told the committee he and others approached the attorney general’s office seeking options after the state has been unable to obtain drugs commonly used for lethal injection. “This is probably the hardest bill I've ever run in my career,” Wardlaw said, arguing nitrogen is “readily available,” less expensive than injectable drugs and has been used by other states in statutes or practice.

The bill drew sustained questioning from committee members about whether nitrogen hypoxia is humane, how executions using the method would be carried out, what grade of nitrogen would be required and how the Department of Corrections (ADC) would handle protocols and public disclosure. Dylan Jacobs, deputy solicitor general in the Arkansas Attorney General’s Office, told the committee that the primary practical constraint for the state has been the lack of availability of drugs used in lethal injection protocols and that Alabama has conducted…