California to release plan to use 1 drug in executions

California is set to release plans to use a single drug to execute condemned prisoners, a change that comes nearly a decade after the state last put an inmate to death.

The single drug would replace the three drugs used in 2006.

Gov. Jerry Brown said three years ago that California would consider a single-drug lethal injection.

However, the process lagged partly due to a nationwide shortage of execution drugs.

The process was jump-started this year after an advocacy group sued on behalf of relatives of murder victims who said they are affected by the long delay in executions.

Corrections officials agreed to propose the new regulations to settle the lawsuit.

The state will publish the proposed regulations Friday, triggering a 62-day public comment period.