Arkansas Gov. Sanders signs execution bill

• Louisiana legalized the method, along with electrocution, during a criminal justice-focused legislative special session last year. Its nitrogen gas protocol mirrors Alabama's, Axios' Chelsea Brasted reports.
• Mississippi and Oklahoma lawmakers have also authorized its use.

The big picture: A shortage of the drugs commonly used in lethal injections has slowed the rate of U.S. executions in recent years, according to The Marshall Project.

• Nitrogen hypoxia could be an alternative for states that can't access the right combination of drugs.

Zoom in: Four Arkansas inmates were executed in seven days in 2017 as the state ran low on its stockpile of drugs. None have taken place since, but 25 inmates are on the state's death row.

What they're saying: "We have … a governor who is regulating something that she knows absolutely nothing about," Hood told Axios. "She's forcing horror on the employees of the Department of Corrections with … no sensitivity, that they're actually going to be the ones that carry this out."

• "It's a level of trauma that's indescribable," he added, noting witnessing such an execution has stuck with him.

• Hood said he'd prefer a firing squad over a nitrogen execution, because the nitrogen execution he witnessed in Alabama lasted 23 minutes.

The other side: "Gov. Sanders is committed to building a safer, stronger Arkansas and holding Arkansas' worst criminals accountable for their crimes," a spokesperson said in a statement emailed to Axios.

• A spokesperson for the state Department of Corrections said it did not have a comment on Sanders' signing of the bill.

What we're watching: There are no executions scheduled in Arkansas.

Editor's note: This story has been updated with comments from Gov. Sanders' administration.