(Idaho State) The Idaho House on Thursday widely approved a bill to make death by firing squad the main death penalty method in Idaho.
If passed into law, Idaho could become the only state to have death by firing squad as the primary death penalty method.
Only five states allow firing squads for executions. But the firing squad isn’t the primary death penalty method in any of those states, a spokesperson for the Death Penalty Information Center told the Idaho Capital Sun.
After less than 10 minutes of debate, the Idaho House approved House Bill 37 on a 58-11 vote Thursday.
Rep. Bruce Skaug, R-Nampa, sponsored the bill, which is co-sponsored by 16 Idaho Republican House lawmakers.
On the House floor, Skaug said he believes death by firing squad is a more humane execution method because it is “quick” and “certain.”
Compared to lethal injection, Idaho’s current main execution method, Skaug says death by firing squad would reduce legal appeal issues and failed execution attempts.
All nine House Democrats opposed the bill, along with two Republican House lawmakers: Rep. Lori McCann, from Lewiston, and a substitute legislator for Rep. Josh Wheeler, from Ammon.
“I do not believe the firing squad to be more humane than a lethal injection if that is available,” McCann told the Sun in an email after the vote.
She said she supported a bill allowing Idaho to use the firing squad in executions as an alternate method, because Idaho’s primary method then — lethal injection — “was not available to the State of Idaho.”
Idaho House Majority Caucus Chair Jaron Crane, R-Nampa, was absent for Thursday’s vote.
The bill now heads to the Idaho Senate. To become law, bills must pass the Idaho House and Senate and avoid the governor’s veto.
Idaho’s firing squad would be ‘mechanized,’ Skaug says. Idaho Department of Correction says that’s on the table, but isn’t final.
Skaug told lawmakers Idaho’s firing squad execution method would be “mechanized,” saying how to carry out the method is up to the Idaho Department of Correction director.
Idaho Department of Correction spokesperson Sanda Kuzeta-Cerimagic on Tuesday confirmed the agency is considering using “a remote-operated weapons system alongside traditional firing squad methods.” But the agency had not finalized its policies and procedures, she said in a Tuesday email to the Sun, and didn’t have specifics to share immediately.
Nine people are on death row in Idaho, according to the Idaho Department of Correction.
Only five states allow firing squads for executions
Lethal injection is the primary execution method in Idaho law.
In 2023, Idaho passed a law — approved by the Idaho Legislature and signed by Gov. Brad Little — to allow firing squads as an execution method. But that law only allowed firing squads as an alternative executive method when lethal injection is unavailable.
Skaug’s bill this year would make lethal injection the alternative execution method. If passed into law, the bill would take effect July 1, 2026.
Only five states — Idaho, Utah, South Carolina, Oklahoma and Mississippi — allow firing squads for execution, according to the Death Penalty Information Center.
In the United States, 144 executions have been carried out by firing squads, according to a 2016 law review article.
Since the death penalty became reinstated in the 1970s, Utah is the only state to have executed people by firing squad, according to the Death Penalty Information Center.
Renovation costs for firing squad facility likely to exceed $1 million, Idaho Department of Correction estimates
In committee, Skaug acknowledged more funds will be needed to develop the firing squad facility. But he said that would come from funds already within the Department of Correction budget — and would not involve another legislative budget request.
The bill’s fiscal note says it would have no fiscal impact.
IDOC spokesperson Kuzeta-Cerimagic also confirmed the agency does not plan to ask for more legislative appropriations to renovate the execution chamber for firing squad executions.
Designing the rework cost $313,915, she told the Sun. But full renovations are initially estimated to cost $952,589, she said.
“Once we’re prepared to proceed with phase two (for full renovations), we will rescope the project and refine the estimate,” Kuzeta-Cerimagic told the Sun in an email. “We have no plans to seek additional appropriation for this project.”
The Idaho Legislature in 2023 appropriated $750,000 to remodel or build a firing squad facility at the Idaho Department of Correction.
Debating against the bill, Rep. John Gannon, D-Boise, said other states “seem to be able to use the lethal injection method successfully.”
“Now, we’re learning that it’s going to cost well over a million dollars for this firing squad facility in Idaho,” Gannon said. “… I really don’t understand what the problem is with the lethal injection versus the firing squad.”
As Skaug closed debate on the bill, he pointed out Idaho’s last attempt at intravenous injection “was a failure. And that is one more reason why we’re having this bill move forward.”
This article first appeared on Idaho Capital Sun.
