2025 Legislative Agenda

MCPA's 2025 Legislative Agenda

The Minnesota Chiefs of Police Association (MCPA) 2025 Legislative Agenda was developed over a period of several months with input from the state’s police chiefs, law enforcement leaders and stakeholder groups.  Members of the organization’s Legislative Committee, which is made up of public safety professionals from agencies large and small, urban and rural, discussed, vetted and prioritized the agenda. The MCPA Board of Directors approved the 2025 Legislative Agenda on October 17, 2024.

INCREASED PENALTIES FOR FLEEING IN A MOTOR VEHICLE AND MODIFICATION OF TRACKING DEVICES USED ON FLEEING VEHICLES

The MCPA supports legislation to stiffen penalties to include mandatory minimum sentences for fleeing in a motor vehicle and modify the law governing the use of tracking devices on fleeing vehicles.  Fleeing is becoming a significant concern in law enforcement.  The number of offenders that now flee has gone up exponentially. Offenders understand that most of the time police officers won’t chase them because the risk is not worth it. They also know that if officers chase them and they are caught, the consequences are non-existent compared to the risk they have exposed to our community and law enforcement officers. Officers and organizations continue to battle the decision to pursue fleeing vehicles.  Additionally, a law was passed in 2022 allowing tracking devices to be used on stolen vehicles; however, the law requires owner consent or a search warrant. This proposal would modify this statute to allow the use of mobile tracking devices (i.e. Star Chaser) to be used on fleeing vehicles when an officer has reason to believe the vehicle is stolen or the driver has committed a crime.

LAW ENFORCEMENT TRAINING FUNDING

The MCPA supports continuing the POST Board training reimbursement allocation to local agencies, which began in 2018, into perpetuity. The Peace Officer Training Fund is for mandated training in the areas of recognizing and valuing diversity and cultural differences, conflict management and mediation, crisis intervention, and mental illness crises.

PROHIBITION ON DECLARING NO PROSECUTION AND/OR ENFORCEMENT OF CRIMES

This proposed legislation prohibits prosecutors’ offices and law enforcement agencies from declaring something legal in their jurisdiction that state or local laws state is illegal. It also prohibits them from establishing different legal standards by person or criminal element. For example, The Hennepin County Attorney’s office has essentially legalized the possession of small amounts of methamphetamine even though it is a felony in state law. They have done this by raising the amount of methamphetamine needed in possession for them to even consider charging the case.

BUFFER ZONE LEGISLATION

The legislation would help support officers making arrests in difficult situations. The concept is to make it illegal to approach within 25 feet of a working law enforcement officer after being asked or ordered to back up. Louisiana and Florida passed similar laws earlier this year. The goal is to help keep our first responders (law enforcement officers, correctional probation officers, firefighters, and emergency medical care providers) safe.

REQUIREMENT THAT MCPA, MSA, AND MPPOA APPOINT REPRESENTATIVES TO POST BOARD 

At least one of the two Sheriffs, Chiefs of Police, and Peace Officer positions on the POST board shall be appointed by the MN Sheriff, MN Chiefs, and MPPOA. The current process, by which all these positions are appointed by the Governor, has the potential of creating an unbalanced representation of views on the board. The purpose of this proposal is to ensure the voices of those respective groups are represented on the board. Having the associations have at least one of the picks allotted to the positions would ensure the voices from these groups are represented on the board, which would hopefully translate into better policy and rule-making decisions by the board.

MODIFY DATA PRACTICES LAWS TO REDUCE ABUSIVE REQUESTS

Change the law to protect cities from abusive, frivolous data requests (these views are more from the perspective of very small cities under 3000 people). We agree that the public should be entitled to public government data, but the law allows for abusive behavior. People have weaponized the statute against the cities, counties, and, most importantly, taxpayers. Agencies are not allowed to charge the appropriate fee for very large and time-consuming data requests. Often, the person making the data requests does not come back to obtain the data.

MINNESOTA POLICE OFFICER BRADY BILL

Any proposed bill must include a statutory definition of Brady material, due process for an officer or police agency to contest a county attorney’s designation of Brady material, requirement to maintain any kind of Brady data on officers and who can access the data, CJIS security compliance of data, and uniformity of protective court orders involving Brady material.

The subject of Brady/Giglio received statewide attention in the 2024 Legislative Session by bills introduced by the Hennepin County Attorney’s Office allowing access to private data on police officers.

RECRUITMENT AND RETENTION NEEDS

Agencies across our state are having extreme difficulty recruiting and retaining officers for a variety of reasons. The MCPA supports a multi-faceted approach to helping agencies of all sizes recruit and retain officers. This should include, but is not limited to:

1. IN-SERVICE DISTRIBUTION PROGRAM
   The MCPA supports legislation to create an In-service Distribution Program as an enhancement to the Fire and Police Pension Plan. This would allow current Police and Fire personnel who are at least 55 years of age to begin drawing retirement benefits while they continue to work. Members are considered “retired” for purposes of pension calculations only. For all other purposes, you are considered an active member of your respective department.
   
   
2. PART-TIME OFFICER LICENSURE FOR SMALL AGENCIES and scholarship programs with our higher education partners. Any funding for this use should reflect different needs for small, medium, and large agencies alike.
   
   
3. EXEMPT LAW ENFORCEMENT OFFICERS FROM PAYING STATE INCOME TAX
   As a measure to address the critical workforce challenges in law enforcement, we support the creation of an exemption for sworn law enforcement personnel from paying state income taxes. This is one way that the Association could advocate for creating an incentive to get more applicants and to reward current LEOs.
   
   
4. PAID HEALTH INSURANCE FOR L.E. RETIREES
   Seek a legislative appropriation that would provide paid health care for licensed police officers who retire at 55 years old and have 10 years of consecutive service with a Minnesota City, County or Tribal government. To help in addressing the recruitment and retention challenges, at age 55 or any time thereafter, each month the Employer shall pay the full Employer contribution toward health and dental insurance coverage for employees who have 10 years of service or more. It shall also cover the employee’s dependents until the employee reaches age 65. The employer shall be reimbursed by the State of Minnesota for these costs.

OFFICER WELLNESS

The MCPA supports legislation to provide a permanent funding source for the law that passed in 2023, which came from a stakeholder group created by the League of Minnesota Cities (LMC). It is critical to find a way to fund the treatment of mental health injuries as well as continue to expand the network of providers who are training to do this vitally important work.

PERMIT TO PURCHASE FEES AND ADDITIONAL APPLICANT DATA COLLECTION

The MCPA supports allowing local municipal police departments to charge a reasonable fee for processing permit-to-purchase applications and seeks to require Minnesota Permit to Purchase and Permit to Carry application forms to include a requirement for the applicant’s race, ethnicity, and social security number. These additional identifying factors are beneficial in confirming the applicant’s identity, especially when there are possible matches with out-of-state criminal history records. Additionally, the legislation should include a requirement for the applicant to submit a copy of their valid Driver's License or Minnesota State ID card. The applicant's address on this ID and all documents in the permit application process should reflect/match their actual address, city, and zip code of residence.

AUTO THEFT AND VIOLENT CRIME INVESTIGATION FUNDING

With the growing number of auto thefts and a staggering increase in the number of violent crimes committed in possession of a stolen vehicle, the legislature should provide clear direction to funding that was added to the BCA annual budget to create and staff a multi-jurisdictional group of peace officers who will focus on auto theft investigations and prevention.

STIFFER PENALTIES FOR VIOLENT CRIME COMMITTED WITH A FIREARM

The MCPA supports legislation that would amend state statute to increase penalties for violent felons in possession of firearms and for straw purchases and illegal sales of firearms from licensed gun dealers. This legislation includes mandatory minimum sentences for such violent crimes.

BODY-WORN CAMERA REDACTION

The MCPA supports changing current law to allow for greater discretion by the CLEO or their designee to release data without redaction in instances where any member of the public may record the same footage with their own device. Current law allows for CLEO’s to release data to dispel rumors or other information, but we cannot do so without complying with redaction. This will allow the public more transparency, especially in certain high-profile cases.

PROSECUTOR ACCOUNTABILITY FOR CHARGING VIOLENT CRIMES

The MCPA supports legislation to hold County Attorneys accountable for ensuring appropriate charging decisions are made on felony-level offenses. This is in response to massive violent crime increases at the hands of serious offenders who should have been in jail but were able to commit additional crimes against the public.

USE OF FORCE TRAINING FOR LEGISLATORS

MCPA supports legislation and funding that would enable the MCPA or other law enforcement organizations to offer legislators training on the appropriate use of force. The scenario-based training would help legislators better understand the situations officers find themselves in daily.

ARBITRATION REVISION ACT

The MCPA supports creating a more objective arbitration process by having the Office of Administrative Hearings handle all police officer termination grievances.

OFFICER INTEGRITY ACT

The MCPA supports legislation allowing for a Minnesota Licensed Peace Officer to be terminated from public employment without the opportunity to challenge the remedy of termination should the basis for termination be willful or intentional dishonesty, deception, or similar unethical or illegal conduct that is deemed sufficient to imperil their credibility in court testimony. The MCPA does not support limiting an officer’s due process right to arbitration.

MENTAL HEALTH RESPONSE ACT

The MCPA supports legislation to fund multi-jurisdictional co-responder programs and make changes to current policy and practices to better share information amongst first responders, medical professionals, and human services representatives. The goal is to improve the response to -and outcomes of - mental health calls for service.

ALLOWING CLEOs ACCESS TO THE NATIONAL CRIMINAL HISTORY DATABASE

The MCPA supports giving chief law enforcement officers the ability to utilize the resources of the National Criminal History database to conduct background investigations for certain business licenses and certain employment background investigations.