Minnesota House Passes Public Safety Deal Without Some DFL Police Accountability Demands

CBS Minnesota

June 30, 2021

A group of DFL lawmakers vowed to amend a public safety budget deal to include more police accountability measures left out of a final deal between leaders. But on Tuesday, they dropped their push for some of those provisions and accepted fewer, more narrow changes, paving the way for the bill to pass in time to keep government services operating.

The DFL-controlled House on Tuesday amended the bill to allow “sign and release” warrants for certain low-level offenses, which means a person would sign a notice of the need to appear in court and a police officer would let him or her go under limited circumstances. The policy was drafted following the death of Daunte Wright, who was shot and killed during a traffic stop.

But that change reflects only one of the provisions the People of Color and Indigenous Caucus on Monday vowed to put back into the bill. The DFL lawmakers said the deal struck by legislative leaders, which left out many police reform measures supported by Democrats, falls drastically short of what’s needed to hold law enforcement accountable for their actions.

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