Minnesota Legislature Passes Sweeping Police Reform Package After Weeks of Negotiations
The Minnesota Legislature passed a package of police reform measures early Tuesday that includes a ban on neck restraints like the one that was used on George Floyd before his death in Minneapolis.
The sweeping package was said to be one of the most substantial changes to the state’s criminal justice system in years and also bans chokeholds and so-called warrior-style training.
Passage of the measures comes after nearly two months of negotiations that followed Floyd’s death on May 25.
The House approved the measure 102 to 29 just before midnight on Monday. The Senate passed it 60 to 7 and sent the bill to Gov. Tim Walz a couple of hours later.
The legislation also improves data collection around deadly force encounters and creates a new state unit to investigate those cases.
It increases funding for crisis intervention training, creates an arbitration panel to handle police misconduct cases and establishes incentives for officers to live in the communities they police, the Star Tribune reported.
The Democratic governor had to call the special session to give lawmakers a chance to rescind the emergency powers he’s been using. House Democrats blocked a GOP effort to void those powers.
The session also gave legislators another chance to pass the policing measures and a bonding bill, which they were unable to agree on during last month’s special session.
The bonding bill fell to the wayside as legislators worked to pass police reform as time expired on the session.
The Western Journal has reviewed this Associated Press story and may have altered it prior to publication to ensure that it meets our editorial standards.
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