ST. PAUL, Minn. (WCCO) – Minnesota’s $880 million public safety package is moving on to Gov. Tim Walz after it passed in the state House of Representatives early Tuesday morning following eight hours of floor debate.
The governor has said he will sign the bill when it comes to his desk.
The biggest issues were two gun safety measures that were added to the bill in conference committee last week.
One of those provisions require universal background checks for handgun sales.
The other enacts new laws on extreme-risk protection orders that allows the courts to take away firearms from a person found to pose a significant danger to themselves or others.
“We have extremely important investments in public safety,” said DFL Rep. Kelly Moller. “This bill has transformational and historic investments that cover everything from violence prevention to rehabilitation to everything in between.”
While Democrats are touting how the bill makes Minnesota safer, Republicans are still fuming about what they feel was a one-sided effort to tack on the gun safety items by a conference committee that included only Democratic lawmakers.
“This is pretty arrogant work,” said Rep. Anne Neu Brindley. “This is very one-sided work. It is work that chose to shut out 48% of Minnesotans’ viewpoints.”
Gov. Walz has made gun safety a top priority in his second term in office.
The bill sets aside $3.6 billion in the 2024-25 biennium to fund the Department of Public Safety, Department of Corrections, Minnesota courts, civil legal services, Guardian ad Litem Board, Tax Court, Uniform Laws Commission, Board on Judicial Standards, Board of Public Defense, Human Rights Department, and Peace Officers Standards and Training Board.
The entire bill can be found here.
The measure passed 69-63, with all but one Democrat voting in favor.
