16 February 2017 :

Death penalty repeal bill not expected to advance. An effort to abolish the death penalty in Washington state got a new push this year, with strong backing from Gov. Jay Inslee and Attorney General Bob Ferguson, but the measure still won't see a vote in either chamber. HB 1935 will have a public hearing today in the House Judiciary Committee, but it's not scheduled for a vote before a key deadline on Friday. A Senate version of the bill (SB5354) never was scheduled for a hearing, so it appears the measure has suffered the same fate as repeal bills introduced in previous years. The death penalty has been overturned or abolished in 19 states and the District of Columbia. The latest was Delaware, whose Supreme Court last year declared the state's death penalty law unconstitutional. Inslee imposed a moratorium on capital punishment in 2014. (See also January 16, 2017).