PASSED 

Safety and Security Funding Bill  

Courts Funding  

Political violence is on the rise and that includes threats and violence to the state’s judicial branch. Access to the courts is essential to our democracy, and the judges and staff that provide these essential services should be able to be and feel safe in their work.

The legislature provided funding for safety, security, and stability measures for the state’s Judicial Branch, as well as $4 million in funding for courthouse security grants across the state. The bill also provided funding to expand the state’s judicial security unit and security threat response.

See the Transportation and State Government Sections for more information on legislative security.

Crime Victim Services  

Minnesota has borne the brunt of cruelty coming from Washington D.C., including cuts to funding for crime victim services. The Office of Justice Programs has notified organizations that the Crime Victims Services Fund will be facing a $12 million cut in FY27 due to a decrease in federal funding, which is a 20% decrease in the public funds available to support services.

Senate DFLers provided funds to backfill this cut, but it is a short time fix in response to the harm being caused by the Trump Administration. We need a long-term solution, and we need a better partner in the federal government.

Philando Castile Training Funds  

Just over $2 million in funding was provided for the state’s Philand Castile Training Account, which provides reimbursements to law enforcement agencies for use of force training in crisis response, conflict management, and cultural diversity and autism training.

Nonfatal Shooting Clearance Grants  

Nearly $1 million in funding was provided for non-fatal shooting clearance grants. Modeled after the nonfatal shooting investigative unit established by the St. Paul Police Department and Ramsey County, the funding will be used to provide local law enforcement with grants to increase the solve rates of crimes that involved a nonfatal shooting.

The number one deterrent of crime is the likelihood of being caught. Providing law enforcement with the resources to investigate nonfatal shootings will deter future offenses, provide justice for victims, reduce the likelihood of retaliation, and improve trust in law enforcement.

Domestic Violence Task Force  

Roughly $150,000 was provided for a Domestic Violence Task Force, which is directed to review current practices and make recommendations to improve the practices for investigating domestic violence to make the investigations more effective, better support and protect victims, improve prosecutions, and increase awareness of issues connected to domestic violence throughout the criminal justice system.

Funding for Re-entry Services  

$150,000 was provided for a grant for an organizations that provides re-entry services in Hennepin County that better ensure success after release from incarceration and reduces recidivism.

Enhanced penalties provided for assaulting a hospital security worker and theft from a vulnerable adult  

The bill added to the state’s fourth degree assault crime the crime of assaulting a hospital security worker and provided for enhanced penalties for people convicted of theft from a vulnerable adult. (SF 3432)

Judiciary and Public Safety Policy Omnibus  

Senate DFLers worked across the aisle this session to put together a policy omnibus focused on supporting crime victims, improving processes for the Bureau of Criminal Apprehension and the Department of Corrections, and making good governance changes to current law.  

The full list of bills included in the omnibus package:  

•  (Oumou Verbeten) Judge requirement to inquire whether victim has been notified of plea and sentencing hearings 
• SF 3872 (Oumou Verbeten) Research data protection provision for data on individuals 
•  (Clark) Department of Corrections licensed juvenile and adult community-based residential correctional facilities responsibilities clarification provision
•  (Latz) Ignition interlock program license revocation requirements modifications, driver’s licenses indicators classified as private data provision, and technical corrections provisions 
• SF 3665 (Champion) Unemployment insurance judges and paid leave judges designation as judicial officials provision and unemployment insurance judges and paid leave appeals judges exclusion from protections related to personal information in real property records provision 
• SF 4404 (Kreun) Medications for persons detained in jails provision 
• SF 4301 (Westlin) Domestic abuse provisions modifications 
• SF 5117(Pappas) Time extension to use certain grant funds
• SF 4257 (Latz) Victim of domestic violence authorization to petition a court for an order releasing the victim from a shared wireless plan provision 
• SF 4602(Coleman) Notification to a petitioner requirement upon service of a harassment restraining order 
• SF 4284 (Seeberger) Identity definition modification for purposes of identity theft crime 
• SF 4735 (Gustafson) Age deception cases criminal sentencing modifications 
• SF 4543 (Koran) Bureau of Criminal Apprehension required to perform background checks at the request of the Office of the Legislative Auditor 
• SF 4537 (Seeberger) Expedited eviction process requirements modifications 
• SF 4511 (Marty) Certain wagers and other activities regarding prediction markets prohibition provision and certain criminal convictions disqualifying for receiving a lawful gambling license provision 
• SF 4235 (Hoffman) Removal requirement of identifying equipment and insignia from emergency vehicles sold to the public 
• SF 4667 (Seeberger) Survivor benefits eligibility expansion to include when a public safety officer dies in the line of duty from an exposure-related cancer provision 
• SF 4990 (Seeberger) ARMER Task Force Established 
• SF 3606 (Westlin) Administrative hearings provision modification for human rights cases 
• SF 4301 (Westlin) Domestic abuse provisions modifications 
• SF 5080 (Limmer) Minnesota correctional industries program modification
• Community Supervision Working Group (Holmstrom) (SF 4760)

Attorney General Medicaid Fraud Unit  

Senate DFLers, in one of a series of measures to fight and prevent fraud, expanded the crime of Medicaid fraud as well as the Attorney General’s ability and resources to investigate and prosecute Medicaid Fraud.

The Medical Assistance Protection Act expands the Attorney General’s Office’s ability to investigate fraud in Minnesota’s Medicaid programs, provides the office with new tools to hold fraudsters accountable, and increases penalties for those found guilty of defrauding the government for these funds. (SF 4612)  

 Chemical Irritants Information  

Senate DFLers passed a bill this year requiring bill peace officers and law enforcement agencies to provide information about the use of any chemical irritant, smoke screen, or diversionary device deployed in a building.

The bill is meant to provide the information needed to properly clean the building, as different irritants require different solutions and solvents.

The bill was advocated for by Colin Hortman, who faced challenges in cleaning the family home after June 14th because of a lack of proper information. (HF 3782)

Uniform Procedure for Firearms Restrictions for Domestic Violence Offenders  

There are certain domestic violence crimes that, with conviction, comes a prohibition on possessing firearms. The process for ensuring firearms are no longer in possession is disjointed, and there have been long-standing concerns about conforming with the prohibition. 

Senate DFlers passed into law a bill that unifies this standard, making it easier to comprehend for victims and those who have to comply with the procedures. (HF 4075)

Contracts for Deed  

Senate DFLers passed a bill that allows an unmarried victim of domestic abuse, sexual assault, sexual extortion, or harassment who has a contract for deed with the abuser to petition the court to extinguish the interest, or remove from the contract, the abuser.  

This allows victims to keep their contracts for deed without fear that an abuser might lay claim to it at some point in the future despite not paying for any of the costs of the contract for deed. (HF 3970)

Claims bill  

The 2026 Claims bill appropriated $5.104 million in funds for exonerations and personal injury claims against the Department of Corrections. The largest claim included in the bill was $4.5 million for Marvin Haynes, who spent 19 years, 6 months, and 23 days in prison after being wrongly convicted of first-degree murder and second-degree assault.

Mr. Haynes was 16 years old at the time of the conviction and was sentenced to life in prison. The Great North Innocence Project filed post-conviction petitions and requested an evidentiary hearing. At the hearing, new evidence was presented that the conviction had been procured based on false evidence and unduly suggestive eyewitness identification. After the evidentiary hearing, the State agreed that the conviction should be vacated and all charges dismissed with prejudice.

The bill also included a $350,000 claim for Clayton Duglas Groves, who was wrongly convicted of criminal sexual conduct and spent nearly 52 months in prison, and a $250,000 claim for James Lamar Davis, who was wrongly convicted of attempted murder and spent roughly three years in prison. (SF 3446)

Impersonating a Peace Officer  

A bill increasing the penalties for impersonating a peace officer became law this session.  

The bill increases the penalty for impersonating a peace officer to a felony and for impersonating a peace officer while in possession of a firearm. The bill also provides for enhanced penalties for crimes committed while impersonating a peace officer. The bill came about as a response to the events of June 14, 2025. (HF 3404)

Anti-nudification   

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.

Many individuals never find out about the existence of nudified photos of themselves and if and when they do there is little recourse.

Senate DFLers passed a bill this year to address nudification, requiring that companies turn off consumer access to AI nudification technology in order to protect Minnesotans from image-based sexual abuse.

The bill was first brought forward in 2025 after being approached by a group of women who had been victimized by a man who used their photos from social media and personal photo albums to create hyper realistic, nonconsensual AI sexual imagery of more than 80 women in his life. (HF 1606)