USA - Louisiana. Joe Lopinto killed his HB 328 unilaterally.

With just hours to go before the end of the assembly's legislative session its proposer, Joe Lopinto, killed his HB 328 unilaterally. Rep. Lopinto, R-Metairie, said today that he was scrapping HB 328, which already had received the backing of the House and Senate and awaited one last House vote, because he wanted to see how similar provisions in other states weather court challenges. He told reporters from local papers that he had decided in the wake of the recent uproar over botched executions in other states to play a longer game. “My bill is dead. We passed a resolution today to study this issue. There's no reason for us to rush through and pass piecemeal legislation that will only be a short-term fix for something that needs a long-term solution." He added: "Why make Louisiana spend a whole bunch of money defending court cases when other states are doing that as we speak?" Lopinto had said the changes would help Louisiana access the drugs to carry out its death penalty, since companies have stopped selling them for fear of attracting public condemnation. Corrections Secretary Jimmy LeBlanc had pushed for the bill’s passage. But today, Lopinto said he’d rather see what courts decide in other states to resolve concerns about getting the execution drugs and allowing other forms of execution outside of lethal injection. As amended in the Senate, the bill also would have let the state Department of Corrections buy lethal injection drugs from compounding pharmacies.