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:
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.
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:
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: