(AP) A Missouri state senator is calling on Gov. Jay Nixon to consider funding for a gas chamber, citing concerns over the availability of execution drugs.
Republican Sen. Kurt Schaefer of Columbia sent a letter on Thursday asking the Democratic governor to either include gas chamber funding in his fiscal year 2015 budget or propose a statutory change with an alternative method of execution.
Phone messages left with a Nixon spokesman were not returned.
Schaefer’s letter cites reports that the anti-death penalty European Union could limit export of the anesthetic propofol if Missouri moves ahead with plans to use it in an execution on Oct. 23. Missouri has turned to propofol because drugs used for lethal injection in the past are no longer being sold to prisons and corrections departments.