[Deathpenalty] TEXAS DEATH PENALTY-----action item

[Rick Halperin]

please circulate widely


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Call Texas Senators to vote against SB 1697. The vote will be on Tuesday, May 5 
in the Texas Senate.



MESSAGE:



No matter what you think of the death penalty, you care about open and 
transparent government and
accountability of government to the citizens of the Texas. Legislation does not 
need to be made in
the dark. The death penalty and executions in Texas are public policy.



Senate Bill 1697:



1.     Takes information regarding the death penalty from public view and 
undermines open
government. The public has a right to obtain public information. These 
transactions involve the
State paying a private entity for an item or service using taxpayer money to 
perform executions, yet
the Legislature wants to withhold the procedure and substances names from the 
taxpayer.

2.     Transparency is a basic principle of a democracy, yet information 
regarding the substances
and procedures will not be transparent to the public. The bill restricts 
information.

3.     There is an ongoing lawsuit on “credible threats to the supplier,” but 
several sources and
one court have questioned the existence of these threats.

4.     If the State of Texas is going to continue to administer the death 
penalty, it is essential
that the public have confidence that we are doing so in an appropriate manner. 
Cutting the public’s
access to information will only inhibit public confidence.

Call Texas Senators now! Link to all the Texas Senators is located at:

www.capitol.state.tx.us/Members/Members.aspx?Chamber=S



SB 1697 (Huffman) This bill relates to the confidentiality of certain 
information regarding
procedures and substances used in the execution of a convict. The bill allows 
confidentiality of any
person who participates in an execution procedure, including a person who uses 
supplies or
administers a substance during the execution and any person or entity that 
manufactures, compounds,
prescribes, dispenses, or provides a substance or supplies used in an 
execution.