A state House committee plans to consider two bills from opposite sides of the aisle to abolish the state death penalty next week.

The Judiciary Committee is scheduled to meet Monday with HB99 sponsored by state Rep. Christopher Rabb, D-Philadelphia, and House Bill 888 sponsored by state Rep. Russ Diamond, R-Lebanon, on the voting agenda.

The committee action signals another chapter with Pennsylvania’s long and involved history using capital punishment for certain convicted criminals.

Rabb and Diamond sponsored similar bills. Their bills would convert existing death sentences to life in prison. They cite a number of reasons to abolish the death penalty statute on the books since 1978.

These include upholding the value of life, risk of executing an innocent convict, bias in application of the death penalty and the death penalty not being a deterrence to crime.

HB99 and HB888 fit a pattern where lawmakers across the ideological spectrum have introduced bills to abolish the death penalty.

A 2018 legislative study found systematic flaws in the state’s death penalty system, including a risk of executing innocent persons.

Rockview closing

The new push comes as the state prison long associated with executions closed its doors. The last inmates left Rockview State Correctional Institution in Centre County in March. Rockview closed as a cost-saving move.

The state execution chamber last used in 1999 is now under the jurisdiction of the adjoining State Correctional Institution at Benner Township. The chamber is outside Rockview’s perimeter.

Pennsylvania executed three inmates with lethal injection in the late 1990s.

Pennsylvania’s use of the death penalty dates to colonial times.

Rockview opened in 1915 and 350 inmates were transported there for execution in the electric chair between 1915 and 1962.

The U.S. Supreme Court declared existing state death penalty laws unconstitutional in the 1970s.

Pennsylvania enacted a new death penalty law in 1978. A 1990 state law changed the execution method to lethal injection.

Gov. Josh Shapiro and former Gov. Tom Wolf issued moratoriums on applying the death penalty. Shapiro called for abolishing the death penalty when he took office in 2023.