There is a moratorium item on the agenda of the House Criminal Jurisprudence Committee for next Tuesday, April 24 at 2 PM in E2.016. Unfortunately, so far it is only the constitutional amendment (HJR 23) that would give the governor the power to call a moratorium, which seems unlikely to be a power used by Perry even if he had it. So far, Dutton’s moratorium bill, HB 809, which is a much better moratorium bill since it would not require a constitutional amendment and would also create a study commission, is not yet on the agenda. HJR 23 does not have a study commission. Ideally, the committee should hear both bills on the same day.

Duttons’s bill is HB 809. Please write a letter to the chair of the committee, Aaron Pena, asking him to add HB 809 to the agenda of the committee meeting by filling out his email form here:

or by using this action alert to send an already written email to Pena laying out the reasons why HB 809 is important.

Everyone who supports a moratorium on executions should plan to come by and sign in in favor of whatever moratorium bill is on the agenda.

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