Texas State Senator Eddie Lucio Jr Files Bill to Abolish Texas Death Penalty

Texas State Senator Eddie Lucio, Jr has again filed a bill (SB 597) to abolish the death penalty in Texas. This is the second session he has filed his abolition bill. When Senator Lucio filed similar legislation in 2015, it was the first time a state senator had ever filed legislation to completely abolish the death penalty in Texas.

Senator Lucio fill his abolition bill in 2015 because organizations in Texas held the Statewide Texas Lobby Day to Abolish the Death Penalty on March 3, 2015 and death row survivors Ron Keine and Sabrina Butler from Witness to Innocence met with Senator Lucio’s general counsel, shared their stories of innocence, and requested that Senator Lucio file a bill to abolish the death penalty.

(There was an abolition bill filed in the Texas Senate in 1969, but it would not have completely abolished the death penalty.)

In 2014, Senator Lucio attended the Democrats Against the Death Penalty caucus at the Texas Democratic Party state convention. He spoke to the DADP caucus meeting at the 2016 state convention. The caucus has been held every year since 2004 and has proven to be an effective method for persuading Texas Democrats to make abolishing the death penalty a higher priority among both elected officials and ordinary people in the Texas Democratic Party.

Here is the link to the abolition bill filed by Senator Lucio: (SB 597).

Thank you also to State Rep. Harold Dutton, who has filed an abolition bill in the Texas House of Representatives every session since 2003, including the current session. Rep. Dutton’s 2017 abolition bill in the House is HB 64.

If anyone would like to thank Senator Lucio for filing his abolition proposals, you can contact him through this form on his website.

You can also contact Rep Dutton and thank him by emailing him on the form on his legislative page.