Public safety policy package heads for governor's desk

A public safety policy containing potential changes ranging from banning predictive market wagering to requiring inmates to complete court-ordered restitution payments before they can be considered for supervised release is headed to the governor.

The House passed a conference committee report on HF3990/SF4760* Tuesday evening on a 100-32 vote, hours after the Senate did so 57-9.

[MORE: Conference committee report]

Sponsored by Rep. Paul Novotny (R-Elk River) and Sen. Ron Latz (DFL-St. Louis Park), the package also contains policy-only provisions from HF1082, sponsored by Rep. Kelly Moller (DFL-Shoreview).

Moller said the package would increase the public safety of all Minnesotans, but she singled out the many changes that would aid victims of sexual assault and domestic violence.

She said the bill would give peace officers 14 days to arrest a person accused of committing domestic assault. If a suspect flees the scene of an assault, peace officers now only have 72 hours to make an arrest without a warrant, Moller said.

“Offenders knew they could just escape or hide out for that short period of time,” she said.

[MORE: ‘One and done’: Conference committee wraps up public safety policy bill]

Rep. Sandra Feist (DFL-New Brighton) is disappointed that language from a Senate bill prohibiting law enforcement agencies from obtaining “reverse warrants” is not in the conference committee report.

Unlike traditional warrants that focus on a known suspect, reverse warrants compel technology companies such as Google to identify all users who were within a certain location or who searched for specific keywords during a set timeframe.

“In doing so, they are surveilling a lot of private, law-abiding citizens,” she said.

Rep. Pete Johnson (DFL-Duluth) lauded a provision that would add certain cancers and infectious diseases to the conditions that qualify as duty-related deaths for peace officers and firefighters.

Johnson, a firefighter, said those provisions are “some of the most impactful stuff for every firefighter in your communities.”

“We have an opportunity to tell all those firefighters and those families that because of their sacrifice and their willingness to commit to their communities, we’ll have their backs if the worst thing happens,” he said.