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With less than three weeks left in the current legislative session, lawmakers called for police reform and accountability legislation to be the priority; during a press conference on April 29, Gov. Tim Walz and Minnesota lawmakers came together to urge the state Senate to take action on police reform and accountability legislation. Rep. Tim Miller (R-Prinsburg) was the only Republican to join Democrats in calling for lawmakers to come together on the issue.
The Minnesota House has already passed several police reform and accountability bills, but none have had any hearings in the Senate. The House bills passed this session would reform the use of no-knock warrants, prohibit traffic stops for certain minor violations, strengthen civilian oversight of police departments, create a more robust Minnesota Board of Peace Officer Standards and Training (POST) to regulate and train peace officers, and invest in both community response teams for mental health crisis calls and community healing for those impacted by deadly encounters with police.
Senate Majority Leader Paul Gazelka (R-East Gull Lake) previously announced the Senate would hold fact-finding hearings and receive public input on police reform and accountability before the end of session—but last week he withdrew that offer, and said he would prefer to see those reforms debated during a joint House-Senate conference committee.
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Minnesota Narrowly Maintains 8 U.S. House Seats
Minnesota will not lose a congressional seat following the 2020 U.S. Census. The 2020 census found Minnesota had 5,709,752 residents as of April 1, 2020. That placed Minnesota 89 people, or 0.0016 percent of its population, ahead of New York state for the 435th and final seat in the U.S. House of Representatives. Many experts thought Minnesota would lose one of its seats because other states were growing faster; instead, it held on to the last seat in Congress by the narrowest margin recorded since 1940.
Even with no change in the number of seats, Minnesota’s congressional map must be redrawn to account for changes in population within the state. The Twin Cities metro area has been growing more quickly than rural Minnesota, so lines need to be redrawn to equalize the districts’ populations. Census officials did not release any population data below the state level Monday. They have promised to release that data by Sept. 30, for states to use in the redistricting process. Minnesota had the highest response rate in the nation to the Census.
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Conference Committee Guidelines
In a legislative session where COVID-19 precautions have limited legislators’ ability to work in person, upcoming conference committees will also depart from the norm. In a letter on Monday, House Speaker Melissa Hortman (DFL-Brooklyn Park) and Senate Majority Leader Paul Gazelka (R-East Gull Lake) stated how this sessions conference committees will be held:
"In the spirit of Joint Rule 2.06, a bill's first conference committee hearing will be chaired by the bill's house of origin using the chair's preferred meeting format (remote vs. hybrid). The chair shall rotate each calendar day, again using the meeting format preferred by that chair," the letter states. "…If a chair does not convene a hearing on the day they hold the gavel, the gavel switches to the other chair at the end of the day."
Meetings will be capped at three hours. To ensure webcasting, chairs are to work with their respective chief of staff to secure a meeting time. Conferees need not meet every day; however, conference committees are expected to meet in accordance with the following schedule: House chairs will hold the gavel Monday, Wednesday and Friday; Senate chairs will hold the gavel Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday for the following bills:
For the following bills, Senate chairs will hold the gavel Monday, Wednesday and Friday; House chairs will hold the gavel Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday:
No date to begin the meetings has been announced; the current legislative session is scheduled to end May 17.
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They Said It...
“Public safety is perhaps the most important role of government, and many people across the state have lost confidence in our system. I am confident under the leadership of Chairs [Rep. Carlos] Mariani (DFL-St. Paul) and [Sen. Warren] Limmer (R-Maple Grove) we can restore faith in our system. My role will be to bring balance to the discussions.” – Rep. Tim Miller (R-Prinsburg), on police reform and accountability legislation
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Ewald Government Relations Team
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