DWI Omnibus
Tragedies like the one that happened last September at the Park Tavern can and should be prevented. The legislature passed a DWI omnibus this year that included important reforms that strengthen Minnesota’s drunk driving laws and ignition interlock program. The bill increases the length of time individuals must use an ignition interlock system to prove they are sober while driving, increases penalties for driving a vehicle without an interlock system if an individual is enrolled in the program, and expands lookback periods for prior DWIs.
Judiciary and Public Safety
The Judiciary and Public Safety Policy and Finance Omnibus bill focused on protecting victims and seniors, addressing crime, supporting law enforcement and first responders, and making the often boring but necessary technical changes to state law to improve Minnesota’s judicial and public safety systems.
Key Provisions:
Stillwater Prison Closure
The 2025 Judiciary and Public Safety Omnibus Bill provided language to start a two- phase closure of the Stillwater Prison over four years. Final closure is expected by June 30, 2029.
The Stillwater Correctional Facility is a 111-year-old facility that can no longer provide safe conditions for prisoners or staff without hundreds of millions of dollars in modernization and refurbishment efforts. The facility fails to meet federal standards for incarcerated individuals, and faces leaks, flooding, dangerously hot temperatures and ongoing structural deterioration. These are unsafe conditions for everyone within that prison and make it difficult to meet the Department of Corrections’ goal of rehabilitation and reducing recidivism.
A recent study priced modernizing the Stillwater prison at $1.3 billion. Closing the facility is the most cost-effective option for the State. The closure will save the state over $40 million a year once it is fully shuttered. Nobody will be released from prison because the Stillwater facility is closing. Individuals will be moved to other facilities. The closure will happen in two phases to ensure there is space across facilities.
Crime Victim Services Funding
The Trump Administration has caused chaos particularly for crime victims and the organizations that support them. Funding for these programs has been cut or frozen and the state can no longer rely on the federal government to be a strong partner in supporting crime victims. The legislature provided over $7 million in one-time funding for crime victim services, and established new permanent funding sources for these programs.
Philando Castile Training Funding
The legislature in 2017 established $12 million in funding for reimbursing law enforcement for various trainings. This fund was later renamed the Philando Castile Training Fund.
The funding is meant to provide reimbursement for training law enforcement in use of force, crisis response, conflict management, cultural diversity, and autism training.
Funding for this account was supposed to sunset in 2026, and law enforcement made it a priority to seek new funding for the account.
The omnibus bill provided more than $9 million in funding for the training fund.
Courts, Agency Funding
The omnibus bill provides essential funding for the state’s judicial branch, and provides additional funding for the Department of Corrections, BCA, Department of Human Rights, and other state agencies and organizations involved in the criminal justice system.
ETrace
The legislature passed a bill requiring law enforcement agencies to register for and use the ATFs eTrace system, which allows law enforcement to identify the purchasers of firearms used in crimes and share that information with police across the state. The requirement will support law enforcement across the state by allowing agencies to better trace firearms used in crimes and identify violent criminal and firearm traffickers.
Senate DFLers have passed gun violence prevention bills in each of the last three sessions, most notably extreme risk protection orders and expanded background checks in 2023. Gun violence, however, continues to tear apart families and threaten communities. On June 14th, 2025, Speaker Melissa Hortman, Mark Hortman and their dog Gilbert were victims of political assassination by firearm on June 14th, 2025. Senator John Hoffman and his wife Yvette were shot a combined 17 times by the same assassin, but survived. These murders will change the future of our state forever, shaking our sense of security and safety, and inflicting trauma on our communities and families. We must acknowledge and address confront the vitriol that has become common place in politics, and must continue to come together in the fight to stop gun violence.
Use of UAVs by Law Enforcement
The Judiciary omnibus bill included provisions that expanded the allowable use of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) by law enforcement.
The use of UAVs aided in the capture of the man suspected of assassinating Melissa and Mark Hortman and attempting to assassinate Senator John Hoffman and his wive Yvette. UAVs continue to be an important tool for law enforcement and this expansion, with guardrails, will continue to allow law enforcement to use them to in searches and investigations.
Protections against Senior Fraud
Included in the omnibus bill was a provision that establishes a tool to protect vulnerable adults from financial exploitation.
The provision creates a court process to allow for potential financial exploitation to paused while a court reviews it to determine whether financial actions being taken by someone on behalf of a vulnerable adult are credible.
This is especially important as Minnesota’s seniors are falling victim to fraud.
Protecting Medical Information
The omnibus bill included language that prevented the creation of medical registries such as the autism registry proposed by the Trump Administration.
Banning of AI Child Sexual Assault Materials
The omnibus bill included language that bans the possession and creation of AI generated child sexual abuse material. The gap between the usage and simulation of AI generated child sexual abuse material and the abuse if children is narrow, and the state has recognized this gap and criminalized AI generated materials.
Reducing Harm in Bong Water Sentencing
Bong water being classified as a controlled substance continues to be an issue. A woman in 2024 was pulled over in Polk County and found to have 8 ounces of bong water containing methamphetamine. She is being charged with first-degree felony possession, which is a 30 year/$1 million felony, as the 8 ounces of bong water is considered the same as 8 ounces of pure methamphetamine. A first-degree felony offense has a 50-gram threshold.
The legislature in 2023 decriminalized drug paraphernalia that contains residue, but bong water was not covered under that bill.
A bill that provides that bong water in any amount nor any of the controlled substance dissolved into it does not count towards the amount thresholds for possession crimes was included in this year’s omnibus bill.
Adding Dementia, TBIs, Alzheimer’s, Autism, Cognitive Impairments to Minnesota’s Missing Child and Endangered Person Program
The Judiciary Omnibus bill added people with dementia, traumatic brain injuries, alzheimer’s, autism, and cognitive impairments to the state’s Missing Child and Endangered Person Program, allowing the system that notifies the public about missing people to be used for people with these conditions.
Subpoena Power for County Attorneys combatting Wage Theft
The Judiciary Omnibus bill provided administrative subpoena power to county attorneys investigating cases of wage theft.
Confidentiality for Domestic Abuse Victims in Court
The Judiciary Omnibus bill provided the same confidentiality already provided to sexual assault victims when working with an advocate in the judicial process to domestic abuse victims.
Trackers used for fleeing motor vehicles
Law enforcement will be able to use mobile tracking devices for fleeing vehicles. Guardrails are in place to ensure the use of these trackers isn’t abused, and it will keep communities safer as these trackers reduce high speed chases.
Did not Pass:
Civil Commitment Coordinating Division
A bill to establish a Civil Commitment Coordinating Division within the Office of the Attorney General was included in the Senate bill but did not make it into final passage of the omnibus bill.
The bill would require this new division to provide best practices and guidance regarding engagement services, outpatient civil commitment, and provisional discharge, advocate for increased statewide capacity for engagement services, outpatient civil commitment, and provisional discharge, and generally work to improve the state’s civil commitment system.
Civil Actions Against Stealthing
Stealthing, or the removal of a condom or other sexually protective device during intercourse, is a form of sexual assault. Protection is often a condition of consent for sexual intercourse, and when a condition of consent is removed the consent is removed.
Stealthing can lead to STIs and unwanted pregnancies. It can also lead to PTSD, anxiety, depression, insomnia, and other mental health issues.
A bill to establish a civil cause of action against individuals who practice stealthing was in the Senate bill, but was not included in the final passage of the omnibus bill.
Anti-nudification Law
Along with the advancement of AI has come the development of a new trend of non- consensual pornography – nudification.
Nudification uses apps, websites, software, and other programs to take the photo of an individual and recreate it so the individual is nude. Many of these programs work only on photos of women.
24 million people visited undressing websites in September of 2023 alone. The number of links advertising undressing apps increased by more than 2,400% since the start of 2023.
Legislation that would ban “nudification” apps, websites, software, programs, and other services on the owner/controller side, prohibiting individuals who own or control such apps from allowing users to access, use, or download the system to “nudify” an image was passed by the Senate this year but was never heard in the House. The language was not included in the final bill.
Senate DFLers will continue to fight for this commonsense prohibition to protect consumers.
Changes to 2023 and 2024 Judiciary Priorities
Senate DFLers fended off changes to gun violence prevention bills, the CROWN Act, Restore the Vote, the Trans Refuge Bill, and other major priorities passed in 2023 and 2024.