Minnesota Lawmakers Reach Agreement on Police Accountability

Despite contention, Republicans and Democrats reached agreements on police accountability

Minnesota’s top Democratic and Republican lawmakers reached agreement on the highlights of a public safety bill that includes police accountability measures, reports the Associated Press. The Democratic-controlled state House included several policing provisions in its overall public safety budget bill this session in the hopes of building on a package the Legislature approved last summer in the aftermath of the killing of George Floyd. The 223-page bill draft includes provisions regulating the use of no-knock warrants, a police misconduct database to create an early warning system to keep bad officers off the streets, and the creation of an office of missing and murdered indigenous relatives as well as a task force for missing and murdered Black women. 

The agreement includes $2 million for violent crime enforcement teams, a Republican-backed provision. While some details had yet to be finalized, leaders from both parties said the compromise reached over the weekend settled the major issues after months of negotiations.