Omnibus bill would fund public safety with $1.8 billion

The omnibus public safety and criminal justice reform finance bill unveiled Tuesday proposes to spend $1.8 billion to fund the Department of Public Safety, the Department of Corrections and other public safety agencies and commissions through the 2022-23 biennium.

The omnibus bill, HF1078 as amended by a delete-all amendment, got a walkthrough before the House Public Safety and Criminal Justice Reform Finance and Policy Committee Tuesday by the nonpartisan House Research Department staff.

Rep. Carlos Mariani (DFL-St. Paul), the committee chair and bill sponsor, said public testimony on the bill will be taken Wednesday, with the committee scheduled to consider amendments and vote on final approval Thursday.

The bottom line represents a $71.1 million overall increase from the current biennium.

[MORE: See the spreadsheet]

The Department of Corrections would be funded with $1.3 billion, including:

• $933 million to run the state’s 11 prisons;
• $280 million for community services, such as conditional release programs; and
• $61.6 million in operations funding.

The Department of Public Safety would receive $448.9 million, to be distributed among its various divisions including:

• $157.2 million for the Bureau of Criminal Apprehension;
• $135.8 million for emergency communication networks;
• $108.6 million for Office of Justice Programs;
• $28.8 million for the fire marshal and the Board for Firefighter Training;
• $12.4 million for homeland security and emergency management; and
• $5.2 million for gambling and alcohol enforcement.

The bill also funds other public safety agencies and programs in the state and would spend:

• $26.5 million for the Board of Peace Officer Standards and Training;
• $1.5 million for the Sentencing Guidelines Commission; and
• $570,000 for the Board of Private Detective and Protective Agent Services.

Other notable provisions would appropriate:

• $12 million for survivor support grants, managed by the Office of Justice Programs;$6 million for emergency readiness grants;
• $5.6 million for 11 new full-time cybersecurity employees at the Bureau of Criminal Apprehension;
• $1.7 million for law enforcement salary increases; and
• $252,000 for a Missing and Murdered African Women Task Force.

Policy provisions in the omnibus bill

While all omnibus bills specify detailed proposals on how and where to spend state money, they often contain a slew of policy proposals, too.

The omnibus public safety bill is no exception, because it was constructed with more than two-dozen policy bills.

Notable policy provisions include proposals would:

• provide emergency paid sick leave for essential workers unable to work or telecommute due to COVID-19;
• eliminate the existing statutes of limitations that apply to sex trafficking and first- through fourth-degree criminal sexual conduct offenses, which would allow criminal charges for those offenses to be brought any time after commission of the offense;
• modify the definition of “mentally incapacitated” for purposes of the criminal sexual conduct statutes, allowing a person to be prosecuted for assaulting a person who was intoxicated through voluntary consumption to the point where they could not give reasoned consent;
• require state prison and local jail inmates to be housed only in publicly owned and operated facilities;
• require a person whose driver’s license was revoked for a second DWI in 10 years or third lifetime DWI to get an ignition interlock device installed in order to get back on the road;
• limit the use of no-knock search warrants to cases involving first-degree murder, hostage taking, kidnapping, terrorism and human trafficking;
• require the Peace Officer Standards and Training Board to develop a comprehensive model policy and learning objectives addressing the use of confidential informants by law enforcement;
• require the board to modify the peace officer code of conduct to prohibit peace officers from affiliating with, supporting, or advocating for white supremacist groups, causes, or ideologies or participation in, or active promotion of, an international or domestic extremist group;
• prohibit the use of restraints on children appearing in court unless the court finds there are no less restrictive alternatives available and the use is necessary to prevent physical harm to the child or another person, or to prevent the child from fleeing;
• require law enforcement agencies to release body camera recordings of deadly force incidents to the deceased’s family and representatives within 48 hours of the incident;
• increase the maximum sentence of imprisonment for a person who commits sex trafficking in the first degree from 20 years to 25 years, and increase the maximum sentence of imprisonment for a person who commits sex trafficking in the first degree when any of four aggravating factors are present from 25 years to 30 years; and
• establish the Minnesota Rehabilitation and Reinvestment Act to reduce the length of incarceration for offenders who demonstrate their rehabilitation.

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What’s in the bill?

The following are selected bills that have been incorporated in part or in whole into the omnibus public safety and criminal justice reform finance bill:

• HF28 (Youakim)
• HF41 (Frazier)
• HF167 (Stephenson)
• HF218 (Wolgamott)
• HF237 (Quam)
• HF295 (Moller)
• HF401 (Hansen)
• HF416 (Edelson)
• HF478 (Feist)
• HF499 (Marquart)
• HF515 (Igo)
• HF553 (Koegel)
• HF593 (Thompson)
• HF613 (Pinto)
• HF640 (Gomez)
• HF707 (Moller)
• HF730 (Mariani)
• HF861 (Hollins)
• HF922 (Long)
• HF952 (Richardson)
• HF1097 (O’Neill)
• HF1103 (Thompson)
• HF1121 (Hollins)
• HF1152 (Long)
• HF1162 (Pinto)
• HF1199 (Klevorn)
• HF1309 (Mueller)
• HF1369 (Mariani)
• HF1374 (Frazier)
• HF1378 (Becker-Finn)
• HF1403 (Becker-Finn)
• HF1762 (Hollins)
• HF2349 (Becker-Finn)