On the final day of special session, Senate Republicans passed an agreed-upon set of police reforms.

Last special session, the Senate passed several bills to ban chokeholds, require a duty to intervene, report the use of excessive force by a fellow police officer, and require consideration of the sanctity of life before using force. The Senate also added community members to the POST board (Police Officer Standards and Training) and required the POST Board to create a uniform use of force policy for the state’s law enforcement agencies. To support peace officers, the Senate previously included more training on crisis response and flexibility to seek help from a variety of resources.

“This is an important bipartisan bill,” said Senator Scott Jensen (R-Chaska). “It pivots police training away from a warrior culture and establishes a more facilitative approach. I was pleased to see this legislation received support from numerous police and sheriff groups as well as the public. Reform this substantial takes a group effort and we are headed in the right direction!”

The agreed-upon legislation starts with 10 of the 11 provisions originally supported by the Senate in the previous special session, and includes five additional major reforms to policing:

• Ban the use of “warrior” style training
• POST Board membership changes to create the Ensuring Police Excellence and Improving Community Relations Advisory Council; adds a member from the public to the POST board Complaint Investigation Committee
• Create a POST board database of public, anonymized peace officer data
• Authorizes local municipalities to provide residency incentives for peace officers to live in the communities they serve
• Establishes an independent investigatory unit in the Bureau of Criminal Apprehension