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Senate passes school policing ‘fix,’ but amendment could spell trouble in the House • Minnesota Reformer [1]

['Michelle Griffith', 'More From Author', '- March']

Date: 2024-03

The Minnesota Senate on Monday passed a bill 57-9 clarifying what kinds of restraints police officers are allowed to use on students when they work in schools.

The Senate’s version is nearly identical to the one passed by the House last week, but Republican senators successfully amended the bill on the floor Monday.

The new language says school staff and agents may use “prone” or face-down holds and reasonable force on students to prevent bodily harm or death and “to prevent theft, damage, or destruction of property.” *

The language is sure to stir opposition from House Democrats, who crafted a careful compromise with police groups. Rep. Cedrick Frazier, DFL-New Hope, who is the chief author in the House, told the Reformer he opposes the Senate language.

The House and Senate will now convene a conference committee, Frazier said, where both bodies will come to a compromise on the bill.

Senate Republicans also proposed an amendment to get rid of the controversial language enacted last year that caused police departments to pull their officers out of schools and go back to the original language, but the amendment was voted down after hours of debate.

The nine senators who voted against the police restraint bill were a bloc of progressive Democrats, including Sens. Erin Maye Quade, Zaynab Mohamed, Jennifer McEwen and Omar Fateh.

Deena Winter contributed reporting.

*Correction: An earlier version of this story incorrectly characterized the amendment adopted Monday in the Senate.

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[1] Url: https://minnesotareformer.com/briefs/senate-passes-school-policing-fix-but-amendment-could-spell-trouble-in-the-house/

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