Minnesota House, Senate pass public safety bill to fund prisons, courts

The Minnesota House votes to end Gov. Walz's emergency powers

The vote means Walz's emergency powers will end July 1.

ST. PAUL, Minn. (FOX 9) - The Minnesota Legislature sent a $2.6 billion public safety bill to Gov. Tim Walz overnight Wednesday after Democrats backed off two of their top police accountability priorities.

The House approved the bill 75 to 59. The tally was initially much closer but after the bill secured enough votes to pass, several Republicans switched their vote to yes. A couple of Democrats also switched to no during this time.

Lawmakers strike omnibus deals, still have some to go to avoid shutdown Tuesday night

Minnesota lawmakers are poised to pass their public safety budget bill Tuesday night after Democrats backed off two of their top police accountability priorities.

The Senate approved the bill early Wednesday morning on a 45-21 vote after the deal briefly blew up amid a dispute over Walz's COVID-19 emergency powers, which lawmakers ultimately voted to end.

Lawmakers made a trade Tuesday night, adding two provisions onto the bill during House floor debate. Democrats got a new restriction on the use of arrest warrants in some limited cases while making it a misdemeanor crime to post a police officer's home address online, a Republican proposal.

Minnesota lawmakers near passage of public safety bill to fund prisons, courts

Minnesota lawmakers are nearing the passage of a public safety bill.

Paving the way for a deal, Democrats did not offer two of their top priorities as amendments after failing to get them in negotiations. There will be no ban on traffic stops for minor equipment violations, like expired tabs. And police departments will not be required to release body camera video to families within 48 hours of a deadly force incident.

"This is a mighty bill," said House Public Safety committee chairman Carlos Mariani, DFL-St. Paul. "Yet as meaningful as all these provisions are, it also lacks in my opinion the necessary weight and accountability to respond to the persistent use of deadly force by licensed police officers that have produced a steady stream of killings of Black and Brown people in Minnesota."

About a dozen protesters gathered on the first floor of the state Capitol, chanting "Pass our bill!" in the direction of the Republican-controlled Senate. But the public safety bill will almost certainly be sent to Gov. Tim Walz's desk later Tuesday or Wednesday without the police measures activists want. Senate Republicans said they would not support any additional DFL-backed changes to the bill.

State prisons and courts would be without funding on Thursday if lawmakers can't pass the bill by then. Other significant budget areas are also unfinished: K-12 education, and a bill that funds numerous state offices and elections.

House DFL push for amendments ends quickly

House lawmakers had filed 23 amendments, each of which can draw a lengthy debate. Members of the DFL's People of Color and Indigenous Caucus filed several of them, seeking a ban on traffic stops for minor equipment violations, restrictions on arrest warrants, and a 48-hour requirement for the release of body camera video.

But Democratic lawmakers did not offer the amendments on the 48-hour requirement or traffic stop limitations, showing that a final deal had emerged with the Senate.

"We have gone as far as we can go," Senate Judiciary committee chairman Warren Limmer, R-Maple Grove, said on the Senate floor Tuesday.

The bill includes some new restrictions on no-knock warrants, $1.9 million for body cameras, and tougher criminal penalties for people who assault police officers, judges or prosecutors.

It also funds a new Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women's office to research cases, redefines state sexual assault laws to protect victims who were mentally incapacitated because they were drunk, and toughens penalties for people who assault a police officer, judge or prosecutor.

Walz signs three budget bills

Walz signed the health and human services, environment and natural resources, and housing budget bills Tuesday. The governor has already signed the transportation, higher education, agriculture, commerce, and Legacy funding budgets into law.

Lawmakers sent the jobs and economic development budget bill to Walz's desk after negotiators from the House and Senate stripped out an oil refinery safety provision that drew headlines last week.

The bill includes $150 million for business relief, some of which will help rebuild riot-damaged businesses in Minneapolis and St. Paul. It also has $70 million for broadband expansion.

The refinery measure would've forced refinery owners to only bring in workers who have apprenticeship training. The training could be through labor unions, or the refinery company could offer a training program. An amendment was added to the bill in the Senate two weeks ago before Republicans took it out and repassed the legislation. The House then added the same amendment, sending it into negotiations over the weekend.

Two other bills, taxes and bonding, do not have June 30 deadlines but have not passed. The taxes bill includes a tax break that fully forgives business Paycheck Protection Program loans and the first $10,200 in 2020 unemployment benefits.