Public safety bill that ‘scratched the surface’ gets House, Senate approval and heads to governor

The contentious omnibus judiciary and public safety finance bill passed the House after 2:15 a.m. Saturday with kudos for an improved agreement from the bill that left the House in the regular session. Still, there were plenty of comments focused on the long-standing divisions that have followed it throughout the process.

The House vote on the bill was 87-39; the Senate passed the bill earlier in the one-day special session 67-0. It now heads to the governor. Rep. Carlos Mariani (DFL-St. Paul) and Sen. Warren Limmer (R-Maple Grove) are the sponsors.

Mariani spoke highly of some provisions in the bill, but also lamented some lost opportunities on issues like cannabis reform, probation reform and a pair of highly contentious gun-control provisions that the House wanted, but were removed by a conference committee.

“This session, through a community-centered lens, we’ve heard from many Minnesotans about the impact of our criminal justice system, and have highlighted numerous ways in which we can reimagine public safety in our state. I feel like we’ve only scratched the surface in these efforts,” Mariani said in a statement. “There’s still a great deal of work to do, especially regarding senseless gun violence, the need to decriminalize poverty and fixing the flaws in our probation system. The work on these and other issues is not over as we build a safer, more just state.”

What’s in the bill?

The bill details how the state will spend $2.48 billion during the 2020-21 biennium to fund corrections, public safety programs and courts across the state.

[MORE: View the spreadsheet]

House provisions retained in the omnibus bill include (dollar amounts are for the biennium):

• a 2.5 percent salary increase for judges;
• hiring an additional 78 corrections officers for prisons;
• reforming prison solitary confinement rules;
• salary increases for public defenders;
• $12.77 million to hire new public defenders and support staff (about half of House request);
• creating an ombudsperson office for prisons;
• a Minnesota School Safety Center;
• a Task Force on Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women;
• a criminal sexual conduct statutory reform working group;
• 911 dispatcher CPR training;
• $612,000 for five drug treatment courts;
• $10.04 million for the Department of Human Rights; and
• changing the definition of criminal sexual conduct to include touching clothing “covering the immediate area of the buttocks.”

What’s not in the bill?

House provisions omitted in the omnibus bill include:

• a cannabis task force;
• reducing or eliminating bail for low-risk offenders;
• felons voting rights restored upon release from prison;
• establishing standards on law enforcement photo line ups;
• elimination of statute of limitations on criminal sexual offenses;
• probation reform, including a five-year cap on length of probation;
• an alternative sentencing option for veterans with service-connected trauma;
• extended background checks and red-flag gun-control provisions; and
• a change in the definition of sexual harassment to clarify that sexually offensive behavior need not be “severe or pervasive.”

Funding for the disaster assistance contingency account that was in the House omnibus public safety and criminal justice reform finance bill is not included in the final agreement, but is included in the omnibus transportation finance and policy division bill.

“Ensuring Minnesotans can remain safe in their communities is one of our core responsibilities of state government, and our Public Safety and Judiciary budget makes the necessary investments to provide for this,” Rep. John Lesch (DFL-St. Paul) said in a statement.