South Carolina lawmakers are considering a bill that would allow inmates on death row to be electrocuted.

Lawmakers reviewed a proposal this week that would grant the department of corrections the ability to execute inmates using the electric chair, if the lethal injection option is not available.

South Carolina has not executed a prisoner since 2011, due in part to a shortage of lethal injection drugs.

Department of Corrections director Bryan Stirling says many pharmaceutical companies refuse to provide the drugs to South Carolina, for fear of retribution by the public.

Other states have laws that shield the identities of companies that supply the drugs. Stirling and Governor Henry McMaster have lobbied lawmakers to introduce a shield law.

This week, lawmakers introduced such a bill.

Under the proposed law, companies that provide the drugs needed for a lethal injection would be shielded from the public. In the event that the state still does not have the drugs, the proposed law permits officials to execute using the electric chair.

Currently, under state law, electrocutions can take place if an inmate elects that form of capital punishment.

There are 36 inmates that are currently on Death Row in South Carolina.