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Legislative News and Views - Rep. John Lesch (DFL)

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Lesch calls on Legislature to reexamine state ‘payable’ offense list

Monday, November 16, 2015

 

State Rep. John Lesch (DFL – St. Paul) is calling on the Minnesota Legislature to take a fresh look at the Statewide Payables List of offenses amid a DNR investigaton of alleged deer herding on western Minnesota property owned by Dr. Walter Palmer, the Bloomington dentist who killed Cecil the Lion in Zimbabwe this summer.
 
“Under the principle of separation of powers, the Legislature decides what is a crime and what is not,” Lesch said. “By its inclusion on the Statewide Payables List, the judicial branch has unilaterally decided that Palmer’s alleged actions are not criminal, and they’ve done this without consulting the Legislature. This is a problem.”
 
The list includes offenses – misdemeanors as well as gross misdemeanors – the Minnesota Judicial Council has decided can be addressed simply with the payment of a fine, without any court appearance or the possibility of jail time. When this happens, and the fine is less than $300, the charge becomes a “minor offense;” it is not a “crime" in Minnesota.
 
The offense for which Dr. Palmer is being investigated, the use of a motor vehicle to chase wild animals, is on the payables list and is punishable by a $287 fine and court costs.

Lesch wants the House Public Safety Committee to convene a hearing on the topic before the 2016 Legislative Session begins in March.
 
“Adding to the payables list was intended as a solution for mundane offenses without victims, whose unnecessary court appearances were clogging up the court system,” Lesch said. “If there are crimes whose nature, or whose violators, require closer scrutiny, then the practice of their inclusion on the statewide payables list must stop.”
 
The lists of payable offenses can be viewed here: http://www.mncourts.gov/JusticePartners/Statewide-Payables-Lists.aspx.
 
 
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