At least two Missouri senators will once again attempt to scrutinize or abolish the death penalty during the 2016 legislative session.
Sen. Paul Wieland, R-Imperial, was elected to the Senate in 2014 and previously served in the Missouri House. He doesn't expect the bill to abolish the death penalty he's introducing in the this upcoming session to pass, but he said he hopes it'll be heard in committee.
Wieland has filed similar legislation for at least the past four sessions, according to the Missouri House and Senate websites. None of the bills were taken up for committee discussion.
"I file it every year and talk about the issue because I think it needs to be discussed," Wieland said. "The more we talk about it the more people become educated on the issue."
Missouri has executed 18 inmates since November 2013, according to the Associated Press.
Wieland is refiling a version of his 2015 bill, but he's significantly revamping the text. He's removing a provision that would have created the Death Penalty Costs Reinvestment Fund. With the fund, the money used to fund public defenders who represent death row inmates could have been reallocated to violence prevention programs in the state.
"I just don't see how we could enforce it," Wieland said.
For at least the past four sessions, Sen. Joe Keaveny, D-St. Louis, has filed bills to require the state auditor to compare the costs of death penalty cases and first-degree murder cases in which prosecutors don't seek the death penalty.
Two of the bills were passed out of a committee but were never discussed on the Senate floor. The other received a committee hearing but was not voted on.
However, Keaveny isn't giving up - he's filing the legislation again for the upcoming legislative session.
Keaveny said the state auditor has never commissioned an investigation comparing the taxpayer cost of death penalty cases against the alternative, life without parole cases. The state auditor's office didn't respond to repeated requests to verify this information.
"I am an opponent of the death penalty," Keaveny said. "Until we have some facts and figures, we're not going to get into a serious discussion about it."