This is not in any way lessening due process for those who are convicted and are facing the death penalty,” said Rep. Bruce Skaug, R-Nampa, the bill’s lead sponsor.

Idaho House lawmakers quickly – and relatively quietly – adopted a bill making the firing squad the state’s primary execution method.

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.

The Idaho Department of Corrections is taking steps to reconfigure a portion of the state's largest prison to prepare to execute inmates by firing squad.

House lawmakers will soon decide whether to ditch lethal injection as the state’s primary execution method in favor of the firing squad.

With very little debate, the Idaho House overwhelmingly voted to pass HB 37, which would make the firing squad the state's primary method of execution.

This bill is not about whether the death penalty is good or bad,” Idaho Republican Representative Bruce Skaug stated. “Our job is to carry it out in the most efficient manner under the bounds of our constitutional requirements.