NASHVILLE (AP) — The House has passed a bill to allow the state to electrocute death row inmates if lethal injection drugs are unavailable.
The chamber voted 68-13 on Wednesday to approve the measure sponsored by Rep. Dennis Powers of Jacksboro.
The bill would keep lethal injection as the preferred method for executions but would allow a return to the electric chair if the state were unable to obtain the necessary drugs or if lethal injections were found unconstitutional.
Tennessee’s lethal injection protocol uses a sedative commonly used to euthanize animals, but states are exhausting supplies.
The Senate, which approved its version on a 23-3 vote last week, would have to agree to House changes before sending the bill to the governor’s desk.
The state’s last electrocution was in 2007.