The Kansas Legislature passed Senate Bill 77 in 1990. Known as the "hard-40" bill, the bill allowed for a maximum forty-year prison sentence for persons convicted of premeditated murder. In 1972, the U. S. Supreme Court decision in Furman v. Georgia overturned capital punishment laws in many states, including Kansas. A strong supporter of capital punishment, Governor Mike Hayden signed the forty-year bill after efforts to pass a death penalty bill failed in the legislature. Kansas did not reinstate capital punishment until 1994.
Kansas Memory
Kansas Historical Society
An act concerning crimes and punishments and procedures relating thereto - 10