Name: Senate GOP walks back pledge to hold 'fact-finding' police reform hearings
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Senate GOP walks back pledge to hold 'fact-finding' police reform hearings

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More from the HomepageDFLers say GOP's dropped plans for full hearings limits participation.&nbsp;ByandStar TribunemoreCopy shortlink:Republican leaders in the Minnesota Senate have dropped plans to hold hearings next week on police accountability reforms sought by Gov. Tim Walz and Democratic legislators.Speaking on the Senate floor late Thursday, Senate Majority Leader Paul Gazelka, R-East Gull Lake, said the GOP-led Senate will instead debate the policies in a conference committee, where a limited number of lawmakers will resolve differences between the House and Senate public safety spending bills.Gazelka cited this week's in George Floyd's killing and the Department of Justice's as factors in the Senate's change of plans."Anybody that was looking for a guilty verdict — justice has been clearly served with all three counts guilty," said Gazelka, who likened the outcome to "letting air out of a balloon."Gazelka also said the same staff required for Senate hearings on police reform also will be needed for the upcoming marathon negotiations to reconcile the House's 354-page public safety bill with its 79-page Senate counterpart.Sen. Ron Latz of St. Louis Park, who serves as DFL lead on the Senate's Public Safety Committee, criticized Gazelka for having "walked back his promise" for new hearings on police accountability.GLEN STUBBE • Star TribuneFILE- In this July 20, 2020 file photo, Minnesota Senate Majority Leader Paul Gazelka, R-East Gull Lake, speaks in St. Paul, Minn. The state’s Democratic senators are calling on Gazelka to resign from his leadership post after Senate Republicans failed to notify their Democratic colleagues, nonpartisan staff and Capitol security of a potential COVID-19 outbreak among GOP ranks in advance of a special session last week. (Glenn Stubbe/Star Tribune via AP, File)"Pushing the issue into a conference committee is a cop out: it will have limited participation and essentially cuts out a large contingent of Senators who deserve to be heard on these issues," Latz said in a statement Friday.Gazelka initially said in the days after the Brooklyn Center police shooting of Daunte Wright that the Senate would hold "fact-finding" hearings this month on a slate of proposals that have passed the DFL-led House.Yet he offered no assurance that new legislation would pass this session, and pointed to a sweeping package of policing bills passed after Floyd's death last summer.DFL lawmakers and community activists have said that the was merely a first step and did not go nearly far enough toward curbing further deadly police encounters and rebuilding police-community trust.The that the governor is urging the Legislature to pass include limiting when police can stop motorists, ending qualified immunity for officers, creating citizen oversight panels for police and establishing a ban on officer affiliation with white supremacist groups, among other measures.The on licensed officers affiliating with white supremacist extremist groups and also agreed to create a model policy for law enforcement responses to protests and journalists covering them.Stephen Montemayor • 612-673-1755Twitter: @smontemayorMore from Star TribuneMore from Star TribuneMore from Star TribuneMore from Star TribuneMore from Star TribuneMore from Star TribuneMore from Star TribuneMore from Star TribuneMore From Star TribuneMore From Star TribuneMore From LocalTop StoriesMost Read© 2022 StarTribune. All rights reserved.

More from the HomepageDFLers say GOP's dropped plans for full hearings limits participation.&nbsp;ByandStar TribunemoreCopy shortlink:Republican leaders in the Minnesota Senate have dropped plans to hold hearings next week on police accountability reforms sought by Gov. Tim Walz and Democratic legislators.Speaking on the Senate floor late Thursday, Senate Majority Leader Paul Gazelka, R-East Gull Lake, said the GOP-led Senate will instead debate the policies in a conference committee, where a limited number of lawmakers will resolve differences between the House and Senate public safety...

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Senate GOP walks back pledge to hold 'fact-finding' police reform hearings

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