Minnesota lawmakers near deal on public safety budget bill

Digital Well-Being grant aims to fight impact of screen-time on younger Minnesotans

With just days left to go until a partial government shutdown, lawmakers are working for the second weekend in a row on a state budget during a special session in St. Paul.

ST. PAUL, Minn. (FOX 9) - Minnesota lawmakers say they are close to reaching a deal on the well-debated public safety budget bill on Saturday.

The bill, which will include some policing changes, had become the toughest obstacle to completing the budget. DFL lawmakers had pushed for police oversight changes in the bill but have struggled to find common ground with GOP lawmakers. Lawmakers faced a June 30 deadline to avoid a lapse in funding for courts and prison.

Saturday night in a statement, Senate Majority Leader Paul Gazelka said: "Earlier today we began closing the public safety bill after reaching general, bipartisan agreement. Some small issues are still being worked out, but I am confident we will finish the bill and keep Minnesotans safe."

House Speaker Melissa Hortman also said lawmakers were still working to resolve "minor issues" with the public safety budget bill but had agreed to a list of changes including the following:

Regulating the use of no-knock warrants
Civil asset forfeiture reforms
Grant funding for community violence prevention, survivor support, and sex trafficking prevention and response
Fines and fees reform
Modifications to the POST Board police misconduct database to create an early warning system to keep bad officers off the streets
Creating an Office of Missing & Murdered Indigenous Women
Creating a Task Force for Missing and Murdered African American Women
Funding increases for public defenders & legal aid
Criminal sexual conduct reform
Hardel Sherrell Act - robust jail safety reform
Youth Justice Office
Significant investments in cyber security and crime lab capacity
Travis’ Law - Requires 911 operators to refer calls involving mental health crisis to mental health crisis teams when appropriate
Matthew’s Law - model policy addressing the use of confidential informants

Along with work on the public safety bill deal, the Minnesota House approved the E-12 education budget bill on Saturday while the Senate voted on the health and human services bill and Governor Walz signed five other budget bills already sent to his desk.

The compromised education bill was voted through by a margin of 105 to 20.

In a Saturday evening release, DFL members touted funding included in the bill that they say will help the state work to increase the number of teachers of color in Minnesota, with $5 million per year going to "Grow Your Own" programs, which recruits community members into teaching. Another $2.25 million per year will also go to teacher mentorship programs while a one-time funding of $750,000 will go to the organization Black Men Teach.

Left out of the bill was a voucher program supported by Republicans that would have allowed parents to pull their children from the public school system and use state money to enroll children in charter schools or other non-public schools.

The vote followed Governor Walz signing five other omnibus budget bills, including the legacy, higher education, agriculture, commerce and energy, and transportation bills.