Omnibus public safety bill calls for more spending; gun, protester changes

More funding would be headed to state’s courts and Corrections and Public Safety departments, peace officers would be able to carry guns at a sporting venue, and penalties would be toughened for protesters who block freeways.

Sponsored by Rep. Tony Cornish (R-Vernon Center), HF896, as amended, the omnibus public safety bill calls for almost $2.28 billion in spending during the 2018-19 biennium, an increase of $111.5 million over current base.

Introduced Thursday to the House Public Safety and Security Policy and Finance Committee, which Cornish chairs, there was no member discussion of the overall package. Amendments are expected to be offered and the bill finalized March 28.

The $2.22 billion Senate proposal, SF803, as amended, contains just over $59 million in new spending and has little in the way of policy changes. Sen. Warren Limmer (R-Maple Grove) is its sponsor. The plan proffered by Gov. Mark Dayton calls for $2.43 billion in spending, $271.1 million over forecast base.

MORE Compare the House and Senate spreadsheets

Monetary changes

Dayton’s proposal initially contained 1 percent annual inflationary salary increases for state agencies, but the governor later added money on a case-by-case basis depending on needs and requests. The House bill reflects the 1 percent each year and covers increases to employee health care costs.

As directed by House leadership, pension fund changes are to be contained in the omnibus pension bill. However, the governor funds those increases in his agency requests.

Among the General Fund changes in the bill are:

• $9.2 million in Fiscal Year 2017 to cover a deficiency — current funding is to be depleted in April 2017 — in the base budget for the Corrections Department health care contract;
• $4.1 million for the Bureau of Criminal Apprehension to build a predatory offender registration system to replace the current one that has been around for 15 years;
• $2.01 million to comply with requirements of the federal Prison Rape Elimination Act, including lowering staff-to-offender ratios at the juvenile facility in Red Wing;
• $1.7 million for two new District Court units, which includes a judge, court reporter and law clerk;
• $1.57 million to expand mental health services at the Oak Park Heights maximum-security prison;
• $360,000 to combat sex trafficking;
• $300,000 to add an additional scientist to the BCA’s drug chemistry lab to reduce the current processing time of 75-80 days, which is more than double that deemed acceptable by judges and prosecutors;
• $250,000 in Fiscal Year 2018 to combat terrorism recruitment;
• $150,000 to create a nonprofit security grant program to supplement current federal dollars to nonprofit organizations deemed to be at high risk of a terrorist attack;
• increase from $5,000 to $15,000 the small claims jurisdiction limit for state tax claims; and
• income eligibility requirements would be eliminated for farmers seeking assistance from an organization that provides legal services.

To maintain three emergency response teams under jurisdictions of the Duluth, Moorhead and St. Cloud fire departments, $552,000 is to be appropriated each year from the Fire Safety Account.

Guns

The committee heard a trio of gun provisions this year, but only one is included in the omnibus bill.

The bill would clarify statute so that off-duty peace officers have the right to carry firearms in — and cannot be prohibited from entering — private establishments.

WATCH Committee discussion of the omnibus public safety bill 

Not included is the so-called “Defense of Dwelling and Person Act of 2017,” that would provide Minnesotans greater rights to use deadly force while defending themselves or their home.

Under current law, a person may not carry a firearm in a public place unless they are in possession of a "permit to carry.” A bill to eliminate the requirement and increase the penalty for unlawfully carrying a firearm is absent from the omnibus bill.

Criminal/corrections policy

Two of the most high-profile bills heard by the committee are in its proposed product.

Stacks of the omnibus public safety bill, bill summaries and spreadsheets sit at the back of the room as committee members go through provisions of the bill March 23. Photo by Paul Battaglia

Criminal provisions would increase the penalty from a misdemeanor to a gross misdemeanor for someone who intentionally obstructs traffic “that is entering, exiting, or on a trunk highway or that is entering or exiting an airport.” It would also add restricting passenger access to the statute regarding unlawful interference with transit.

Supporters previously emphasized the change would not stop a legal, lawful protest nor would it have anything to do with civil penalties.

The bill would also allow the Corrections Department to house offenders in non-publicly owned facilities, and require the department to enter into a contract to purchase and operate or  lease-to-own and operate a prison in Appleton when the department determines it has an insufficient number of prison beds to house the current or projected prison population and needs to expand an existing facility or build a new facility. All employees who supervise inmates would be state employees.

Other proposed changes include:

• requiring 16 continuing education credits within an officer’s three-year licensing cycle that cover crisis intervention and mental health crisis, conflict management and mediation, and recognizing and valuing community diversity and cultural awareness;
• establishing a felony offense for soliciting, collecting or providing material support or resources to further an act of terrorism;
• establishing a misdemeanor penalty for someone subject to a geographic restriction order who enters the restricted area;
• expanding who can serve a harassment restraining order from just the county sheriff to any peace officer;
• adding felony assault by strangulation against a family member to the list of crimes a parent has been convicted of that shift the burden for determining parent and custody time;
• requiring the sheriff of each county to provide receptacles for the collection of non-controlled substances, pharmaceutical drugs and other legend drugs;
• prohibiting the use of stays of adjudication and imposition in criminal sexual conduct cases;
• increasing penalties for child pornography offenses and establishing mandatory minimums; and
• enhancing penalties for driving without a license in some circumstances, including causing a crash resulting in substantial bodily harm or death.

Controlled substances

The state’s controlled substance schedules would be amended to add nine synthetic drugs to Schedule I, including cannabinoids, stimulants, hallucinogens, psychedelics and opioids. The Board of Pharmacy has determined drugs at that level can be abused, are potentially addictive and have no approved medical use. Most offenses involving Schedule I drugs are felonies.

Additionally, the bill would permit drug scheduling changes made at the federal level to be automatically adopted and aligned in Minnesota until the board or Legislature schedules the affected drugs differently.

What’s in the bill?

The following are selected bills that have been incorporated in part or whole into the omnibus public safety bill:

• HF192 (Heintzeman)
• HF251 (Loonan)
• HF390 (Zerwas)
• HF916 (Hilstrom)
• HF1148 (O’Neill)
• HF1159 (Cornish)
• HF1179 (Newberger)
• HF1429 (Clark)
• HF1475 (Franke)
• HF1510 (Miller)
• HF1601 (Lucero)
• HF1654 (O’Neill)
• HF1572 (Grossell)
• HF1802 (Christensen)
• HF1932 (Theis)
• HF2068 (Daniels)
• HF2337 (Becker-Finn)