With days remaining in the legislative session to agree on a two-year budget, Gov. Tim Walz and DFL leaders continue to push for police reform measures to be included.
Walz said the negotiations have momentum.
“I remain hopeful that the pace of exchanging of offers increased,” Walz said. “Philosophically we’re still a long ways apart, but the good news is, I think the American Rescue Plan dollars helps make some of that easier. As long as we stay focus that those dollars were meant for communities to recover from COVID, which I think we’re finding some agreement on, that the legislature’s starting to work on what that looks like.”
He and DFL legislators are pushing for proposals such as ending qualified immunity, banning officers with white supremacist ties and ending no-knock warrants are able to pass this session.
At a Wednesday press conference featuring faith leaders and small business owners, Imam Makram Al-Amin said the murder conviction of Derek Cahuvin is not enough to solve deep-seeded problems...
“If it’s only something to pacify the situation to allow it to smooth over, then what you will see is another event will happen and the scab will be reopened,” he said. “The wound will be reopened again. We need to heal and close the wounds to make sure these wounds don’t fester and become larger and larger again.”
Republican Senate Majority Leader Paul Gazelka said Wednesday some proposals from House Democrats are “anti-police.”