PUNTA GORDA, Florida–The state Senate on March 7 approved a bill that would add to the existing secrecy around state executions,  sending the measure to the desk of Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis. Florida’s current law is a public-records exemption that shields information about people such as executioners and prescribers of the drugs used for lethal injections. The bill (HB 873), if signed into law, would expand the protections to include people and entities or drugs involved in any step of the process needed to carry out an execution. The Republican Senate and the bill’s sponsor Doug Broxson told committee members that additional protections are needed because drug manufacturers and distributors refuse to allow their pharmaceuticals to be used to “put people to death.” The bill was designed to ensure that the corrections department “will be able to obtain the drugs necessary to carry out executions in the future,” Broxson, said …