ARKANSAS BILL ADVANCES TO HELP RESTART EXECUTIONS

(AP) - Arkansas House members have endorsed a bill aimed at helping restart executions in the state by allowing different drugs to be used in lethal injections and shielding the drugs' source.

Lawmakers advanced the bill to the Senate Thursday in a 73 to 3 vote. It would allow the Department of Corrections to either use a barbiturate or a combination of three drugs for executions. The agency would also be barred from releasing who makes or supplies the drugs.

A lawyer for some death row inmates say the secrecy provision in the bill violates a 2013 agreement with the Arkansas attorney general's office and would open the state up to a lawsuit if passed.

A spokesman for the attorney general's office says the agreement shouldn't prevent the Legislature from amending the law.