ST. PAUL – With 44 Democrat lawmakers declaring they do not support a fix to law that has left dozens of schools without school resources officers, state Rep. Walter Hudson, R-Albertville, is urging those Democrats who remain undecided to join Republicans in asking Gov. Tim Walz to call a special session and work together on a solution.
Hudson said new state law changes what SROs are allowed to do to de-escalate aggressive or violent situations, taking away tools they can use to keep students and teachers safe. In response, over 40 law enforcement agencies have pulled SROs from schools across Minnesota.
“It is shameful to see 40 percent of Democrat legislators are on the record as refusing to address the SRO crisis,” Hudson said. “It's time for Governor Walz and the less radical among his legislative caucuses to bring Republicans to the table so we can conduct a special session to fix this dangerous problem in state law as soon as possible.”
House and Senate Republicans have urged Walz to call a special session to clarify the SRO language that is now in law. In response, 44 Democrat lawmakers stated they do not support a special session, preferring to leave the law alone.
Hudson said political games should not be played with student and teacher safety, and urged Democrats to do the right thing and join Republicans in addressing law enforcement’s concerns with the new law and brining SROs back to the schools that have lost them.
“The same radical crowd that caused the violence we're seeing on the streets of Minnesota today are now holding up an urgently needed fix to the school resource officer crisis,” Hudson said. “This issue is too important to play party politics. Kids are without protection. For goodness sake, let’s stand up to the radical left by doing the right thing and fixing this law just like the overwhelming majority of Minnesotans want.”
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