Little policy, even less money in omnibus public safety bill

With a supplemental budget target of zero, the omnibus public safety policy and finance bill is comprised of just four policy provisions and one monetary transfer.

Sponsored by Rep. Tony Cornish (R-Vernon Center), HF291, as amended, was approved Thursday by the House Public Safety and Crime Prevention Policy and Finance Committee and referred to the House Ways and Means Committee.

“The theory behind this bill is that this was not a funding year, and we were fairly generous last year, so we did not provide any funding per se to the agencies,” said Cornish, the committee chair. The Senate target released Wednesday has $45 million in new judiciary and public safety spending. The Senate Judiciary Committee was scheduled to vote on its plan Thursday afternoon. In his supplemental budget, Gov. Mark Dayton seeks $34.3 million in additional funding for the Department of Corrections and $650,000 for eight new forensic scientists at the Bureau of Criminal Apprehension.

Rep. Debra Hilstrom (DFL-Brooklyn Center), the committee’s DFL lead, lamented the poor target given by House leadership.

“I’m disappointed that, at a time when we do have a budget surplus, that public safety was not considered a priority,” she said. “I’m hoping between now and the end of the legislative session that we have the ability to work with the governor on his budget priorities and attempt to fund some of the critical needs that we have here in Minnesota.”

WATCH Committee discussion of the bill on YouTube

Corrections Commissioner Tom Roy echoed those comments by noting none of the department’s supplemental funding requests are included in the proposal.

“They certainly reflect some important initiatives and operating necessities for the department, including employee compensation. We would like to expand the Challenge Incarceration Program to deal with our overcrowding issue; the support of health services and 24/7 nursing for institutions … we have some archaic information technologies that need attention; and we just completed a very intensive staffing analysis that indicates we are short security staffing in a number of areas and a number of facilities,” he said.

The lone financial provision  in the bill is a onetime $1 million transfer from MINNCOR Industries to the General Fund for Fiscal Year 2017. A self-sufficient part of the Corrections Department, MINNCOR provides inmates an opportunity to learn manufacturing and other skills while getting paid. Products made — such as office furniture — are sold with proceeds used for offender education, among other things.

A successfully added amendment provides that money allocated last year from the Department of Public Safety’s disaster contingency account to fight the avain flu emergency response through Fiscal Year 2017 be extended through June 30, 2019, and clarifies that other potential animal disease emergencies could be funded, if needed. 

Policy provisions included in the bill

Sponsored by Rep. Josh Heintzeman (R-Nisswa), HF3385 would increase penalties for driving unlicensed, making it a gross misdemeanor — punishable by up to one year in jail and a fine of up to $3,000 — if in the course of driving without a license, there is a collision that results in substantial bodily harm or someone’s death; or someone is convicted of driving without a valid license for at least a third time. Those are now generally misdemeanors, with a maximum penalty of 90 days in jail.

Fines would also increase under the proposal, with a $750 minimum fine for a second conviction of driving without a license, and $1,500 for a third or subsequent conviction. A provision would exist for community service in cases of financial hardship.

Sponsored by Rep. Dean Urdahl (R-Grove City), HF1948 would increase the fine for failure to stop for school bus displaying its stop arm and illegally passing on the right side of a school bus flashing its amber lights from $300 to $500. The crime would remain a gross misdemeanor.

Also included is a plan that would assist a business in the St. Croix River Valley by allowing sensory testing services to possess and serve alcohol as a part of their business. It comes from HF3369, sponsored by Rep. Kathy Lohmer (R-Stillwater). A license to provide the service would be acquired through the Department of Safety, which could assess a fee to cover oversight costs.

Noting the committee bipartisanship of past years, Hilstrom questioned the lack of any DFL-sponsored proposals in the omnibus bill.

“There wasn’t a concentrated plan or strategy on how that developed,” Cornish said. “There are bipartisan bills that have got through the committee that are still alive and well on the House Floor and that I would support.”

What’s in the bill?

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

• HF1948 (Urdahl)
• HF3369 (Lohmer)
• HF3385 (Heintzeman)