Public safety committee policy bill heads to House Floor

A public safety policy bill receiving committee approval Friday would have a very wide reach, from requiring private companies transporting prisoners to be licensed to prohibiting the sale of human remains for commercial purposes.

Rep. Kelly Moller (DFL-Shoreview) sponsors HF3614, which would make policy changes affecting crime victims and their rights, make criminal justice reforms, modify predatory offender restrictions, and modify some duties of the Department of Corrections.

“There’s a lot of good bipartisan work that’s actually in this bill,” Moller said. “And I’m really appreciative of the collaboration that we’ve had in crafting this language.”

The House Public Safety Finance and Policy Committee, which she chairs, approved the bill, which was replaced by a delete-all amendment and further amended, and sent it to the House Floor.

Crime victims and criminal justice reform

The bill would prohibit a domestic abuse advocate from disclosing information in court about a victim that the advocate acquired in a professional capacity unless the victim consents to the disclosure.

Serving a petition for an order for protection or any other issued order could be served electronically or by mail if a respondent appears remotely for a hearing and the respondent is informed that the court will issue an order for protection against the respondent.

The bill would establish that the two-year limit on when a person can bring a petition for postconviction relief does not apply if newly discovered evidence provides the factual predicate for one or more claims for relief. It would also remove a requirement that newly discovered evidence must meet a clear and convincing standard to prove in court that a petitioner is innocent of an offense.

Predatory offenders

The Department of Corrections would be required to make a good faith effort to notify a victim of an end-of-confinement review process for a predatory offender and require notice of the victim’s right to submit written input.

Law enforcement agents and victims would be allowed to submit written material relevant to an offender’s risk level to the chair of an end-of-confinement review committee.

The bill would remove the offense of false imprisonment of someone else’s child from the list of offenses that require registration as a predatory offender, and clarify that disseminating a pornographic work involving a minor requires registration.

General public safety

Notable general public safety provisions include:

• establishing that railroad peace officers have the powers and duties of other peace officers on railroad property;
• prohibiting the sale of human remains for commercial purposes, and making violations a felony offense;
• amending Minnesota’s “Good Samaritan” law related to assisting someone experiencing a drug-related overdose to include immunity for individuals acting in concert with the person who makes the emergency call;
• requiring a company providing guards or other personnel to transport a person arrested on a warrant to have a protective agent license and to revoke the license of any employee who commits an act of criminal sexual conduct; and
• prohibiting the Peace Officer Standards and Training Board from granting continuing education credit to a course that includes training on the detection or use of the term, “excited delirium.”

Amendments

Nine amendments were approved by the committee. Changes to the bill included:

• establishing liability for the actions of a railroad peace officer;
• adding medical and scientific companies to the legal recipients of human remains;
• adding nurse practitioners to the possible members of a health care peer review committee;
• removing possession of drug paraphernalia from the reasons for immunity from prosecution for a person providing assistance to someone experiencing a drug overdose;
• providing sufficient time for an end-of-confinement recommendation to be considered;
• removing senior citizens with certain cognitive impairments from the definition of “missing endangered” because of a related cost that couldn’t be in a policy bill;
• making several changes to state policy on DNA analysis; and
• adding details to residence requirements for level III offenders.

An amendment from Rep. Paul Novotny (R-Elk River) that would have added detail to a prohibition on training related to “excited delirium” was withdrawn and replaced by an oral amendment that removed the original amendment’s language about specific behaviors exhibited by a person in crisis. 

Moller is troubled by the amendment’s reference to “apparent immunity to pain,” saying she believes it only applies to one very rare genetic condition. She also said that the National Alliance on Mental Illness Minnesota advised her there is language in statute regarding peace officer training requirements for dealing with people in crisis.

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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 public safety policy bill:

• HF229 (O’Driscoll)
• HF310 (Nash)
• HF1718 (Huot)
• HF2400 (Frazier)
• HF3063 (Fischer)
• HF3369 (Long)
• HF3416 (Moller)
• HF3490 (Becker-Finn)
• HF3509 (Moller)
• HF3554 (Moller)
• HF3555 (Rarick)
• HF3599 (Tabke)
• HF3614 (Moller)
• HF3620 (Moller)
• HF3650 (Kozlowski)
• HF3812 (Acomb)
• HF3937 (Curran)
• HF3958 (Frazier)
• HF4019 (Moller)
• HF4020 (Moller)
• HF4048 (Tabke)
• HF4101 (Urdahl)
• HF4118 (Hanson)
• HF4387 (Pinto)
• HF4414 (Novotny)
• HF4538 (Pinto)
• HF4591 (Tabke)
• HF4641 (Long)

— Session Daily writer Rob Hubbard contributed to this story.