Minnesota SRO bill signed into law

ST. PAUL, Minn. (FOX 9) - Clarifications to a law passed last year restricting the force a School Resource Officer (SRO) can use when restraining students in Minnesota schools have now been signed into law.

The latest version clarifies the wording of the law, most notably stating that officers are not school employees and, therefore, not subject to the tighter restrictions on force. However, restrictions such as a ban on chokeholds will remain in place.

Initially passing the House and Senate, the bill then headed to a Conference Committee earlier this week, where lawmakers from both chambers hashed out differences in each to come to a final piece of legislation.

Lasting less than 10 minutes, a final version was approved by the committee, with an amendment that would have allowed SROs to use force, "to prevent theft, damage, or destruction of property" failing to gain approval.

The final version then re-passed the House by a vote of 119-9 on Wednesday and passed the Senate 61-3 on Thursday. On Thursday evening, Governor Walz's office said he had signed the bill into law.