USA - Utah. Proponents of HB 379 to abolish the death penalty have withdrawn the bill

Citing insufficient votes for passage before the full state House of Representatives, proponents of HB 379 to abolish the death penalty in Utah have withdrawn the bill from consideration this legislative session. The Utah death-penalty repeal effort was led by Republican legislators, and the state’s Republican Governor Gary Herbert had said he would consider signing the bill. In 2016, a bill sponsored by Republican Sen. Steve Urquhart passed the state senate and a house committee, but was not voted on by the full House before the legislative session ended. This year, Republican Rep. Gage Froerer sponsored HB 379, and won the support of Republican House Speaker Greg Hughes. But on March 2, after the bill had passed the House Judiciary Committee, Froerer pulled it from consideration because he believed the bill would lose a close vote in the House.