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An Ohio House committee has approved a bill shielding the source of the state's lethal injection drugs for a minimum of 20 years.

 

The GOP-led House Policy and Legislative Oversight Committee voted 9-4 in favor of the secrecy provision over the objection of opponents who say it will lead to further lawsuits challenging executions.

 

Changes to the bill that passed Wednesday require a drug maker to specifically ask for anonymity, rather than receive it automatically.

 

The bill, headed next to the full House, would also allow the release of the company's name 20 years after it last provides the drugs to the state.

 

Co-sponsor Rep. Matt Huffman, a Lima Republican, says the state prisons agency can't get lethal injection drugs without the assurance it can shield companies' names.