for the second year in a row, a state Senate committee has voted...

for the second year in a row, a state Senate committee has voted to place a moratorium on executions in Alabama.
On Wednesday, the Senate Judiciary Committee voted 5-3 for a bill by Sen. Hank Sanders, D-Selma, that would institute a 3-year moratorium while procedures are implemented "to eliminate discrimination in capital sentencing on the basis of race of either the victim or defendant."
Sanders' bill now goes to the Senate.
Sanders got the Judiciary Committee to approve a similar bill last year, but it died without ever coming to a vote in the Senate. Sanders says interest is growing in the issue this year, and one reason is that the state's largest newspaper, The Birmingham News, took a stand against capital punishment.
The Judiciary Committee also voted 8-1 for a bill by Sanders that would bring Alabama's death penalty law in line with a U.S. Supreme Court decision that barred the execution of anyone who was younger than 18 when they committed their crime.