Proposition 66, approved by the people of California in 2016, eliminated the requirement that execution protocols be established through the lengthy and cumbersome Administrative Procedure Act process.
On January 30, the California Department of Corrections announced a new protocol (see this post) and sent it to the Office of Administrative Law for publication under the "File and Print" procedure, which does not involve substantive OAL review or a public notice and comment procedure.
OAL today filed the regulations with the Secretary of State for publication in the California Code of Regulations. The office notes, "This action is exempt from the Administrative Procedure Act pursuant to Penal Code section 3604.1."
On January 30, the California Department of Corrections announced a new protocol (see this post) and sent it to the Office of Administrative Law for publication under the "File and Print" procedure, which does not involve substantive OAL review or a public notice and comment procedure.
OAL today filed the regulations with the Secretary of State for publication in the California Code of Regulations. The office notes, "This action is exempt from the Administrative Procedure Act pursuant to Penal Code section 3604.1."
So we are now 16 months since the people of California voted to retain the death penalty and speed up executions. Can you provide any guess as to when the state might have a real execution date in place? Will there likely be any executions in 2018?
I will observe Berra's Rule on predictions in this matter.
Certainly, both the state court and the federal courts should now lift their injunctions/stays. The legal basis of the state court injunction was eliminated by Proposition 66, and the state has now adopted the alternative method proposed by the plaintiffs in the federal case and found by the court to remove the constitutional objection.
But judges don't always do what they should do.