27 January 2018 :

A subcommittee of the Senate Corrections and Penology Committee advanced 2 bills that would help the state work around a long-running shortage of lethal injection drugs to carry out the death penalty. The bills would make electrocution the alternate form of execution should lethal injection be unavailable or declared unconstitutional, and would make secret the identities of the entities that supply execution drugs to the state. Both bills are sponsored by state Sen. William Timmons, R-Greenville. The committee favorably reported both by a 3-1 vote. The lone objector was Sen. Marlon Kimpson, D-Charleston, who argued the shield law would reduce public transparency. The full committee is scheduled to consider both measures on Feb. 1. If approved there, the bills would head to the Senate floor for a vote.