SAINT PAUL, Minn. - Today, the Minnesota House of Representatives passed SF 2909, the Judiciary and Public Safety budget conference committee report, on a 69-63 vote. The public safety portion of the report invests in a diverse set of tools to improve public safety. It prioritizes a holistic approach to gun violence prevention, funding for law enforcement and victims of crime, juvenile justice reform, and more. This report will create a safer Minnesota while working to break cycles of crime and violence.
Rep. Cedrick Frazier (DFL—New Hope) released the following statement,
“Red flag laws are preventative tools for law enforcement, family members, household members, mental health professionals, city and county attorneys, or a guardian when somebody is clearly at high risk of causing harm or violence with a firearm. Gun violence in the United States is an urgent, complex, and multifaceted problem. We need to enact gun violence prevention measures to protect our citizens, and most importantly, our children. As a state, we need to implement policies to address the risk of someone potentially causing harm to themselves or others with a firearm, and my bill providing for Extreme Risk Protection Orders will do just that.”
The conference committee report also includes Rep. Frazier's bills to establish a process for people convicted of aiding and abetting felony murder to petition to have that conviction vacated if they did not actually cause the death of a human being. It also includes his provision to require body camera footage of an officer’s use of deadly force to be made accessible to the deceased’s family within five days and to be released to the public within 14 days. Finally, the report includes Rep. Frazier’s provision to ban Hate/Extremist Group Membership in Law Enforcement.
Video of today’s House Floor debate can be found here.