Signed by Governor John Kasich

Vote Smart's Synopsis:

Vote to concur with Senate amendments and pass a bill that requires death penalty information to be confidential.

Highlights:

• Specifies that an individual’s record or information pertaining to activity including, but not limited to, the manufacturing, distribution or administration of a drug used in the application of a lethal injection is confidential and therefore not subject to disclosure as public record or by a judicial hearing (Sec. 1). 

• Exempts an individual’s record or information from the non-disclosure protections of this bill in the following circumstances (Sec. 1): 
• If the record is communication between a client and his or her attorney in a capital case and is relevant to a claim of subsequent ineffective assistance;
• If a court finds that the individual acted unlawfully with respect to his or her involvement in the administration of a lethal injection; or 
• If the record is that of the director of rehabilitation and correction or the warden of the state correctional institution in which the death sentence takes place.

• Specifies that the non-disclosure protections provided under this bill shall be in effect for 20 years after the individual ceases the activity related to lethal injections (Sec. 1).

• Prohibits a licensing authority from suspending, or revoking an individual’s license or taking disciplinary action against said individual if he or she participates in the administration of or provides expert testimony regarding a lethal injection (Sec. 1). 

• Authorizes an individual whose identity is disclosed in violation of the provisions of this bill to file a cause of action against the individual who disclosed his or her identity (Sec. 1).

Full Bill Text

Vote Smart's Synopsis:

Vote to pass a bill that requires death penalty information to be confidential.

Highlights:

• Specifies that an individual’s record or information pertaining to activity including, but not limited to, the manufacturing, distribution or administration of a drug used in the application of a lethal injection is confidential and therefore not subject to disclosure as public record or by a judicial hearing (Sec. 1). 

• Exempts an individual’s record or information from the non-disclosure protections of this bill in the following circumstances (Sec. 1): 
• If the record is communication between a client and his or her attorney in a capital case and is relevant to a claim of subsequent ineffective assistance;
• If a court finds that the individual acted unlawfully with respect to his or her involvement in the administration of a lethal injection; or 
• If the record is that of the director of rehabilitation and correction or the warden of the state correctional institution in which the death sentence takes place.

• Specifies that the non-disclosure protections provided under this bill shall be in effect for 20 years after the individual ceases the activity related to lethal injections (Sec. 1).

• Prohibits a licensing authority from suspending, or revoking an individual’s license or taking disciplinary action against said individual if he or she participates in the administration of or provides expert testimony regarding a lethal injection (Sec. 1). 

• Authorizes an individual whose identity is disclosed in violation of the provisions of this bill to file a cause of action against the individual who disclosed his or her identity (Sec. 1).

Full Bill Text