Police officers who work in schools would be allowed to hold students facedown on the floor under a bill that passed the Senate Thursday morning and was signed by Gov. Tim Walz in the afternoon, after months of debate over a 2023 law that banned prone holds.
The bill scales back the 2023 law banning adults — including school police — from putting students in the prone position and from using any kind of hold that inhibits a student’s ability to breathe or communicate distress, except to prevent bodily harm or death.
A conference committee of members of the House and Senate, convened Tuesday to iron out changes in the two versions, stripped out a Senate amendment that would’ve allowed other school workers to use the restraints to prevent bodily harm or death or to prevent theft, damage, or destruction of property.
In addition to exempting school cops from the ban on prone restraints, the bill (HF3489/SF3534) requires them to get training. The Minnesota Board of Peace Officer Standards and Training, or POST Board, will consult with educators and police groups to develop a model policy that school districts would have to adopt with the goal of minimizing the use of prone restraint — the hold Derek Chauvin used during the murder of George Floyd.
Sen. Glenn Gruenhagen, R-Glencoe, voiced a concern that some law enforcement groups also expressed, that the POST Board might come up with a policy that reverts back to the 2023 law banning prone restraints.
Sen. Jennifer McEwen, DFL-Duluth, voted against the bill in solidarity with student advocacy and civil liberty groups that felt left out of the process of crafting the bill and wanted stronger protections for students.
Bill sponsor Sen. Bonnie Westlin, DFL-Plymouth, said some of those groups will be involved in drafting the model policy. And it puts guardrails and offers clarity to school resource officers, she said.
“I understand that this is not a perfect bill,” she said. “I would say not everyone got what they hoped for or wanted.”
But the GOP public safety dean, Sen. Warren Limmer, R-Maple Grove, urged his colleagues to support the bill, despite the at times acrimonious debate, saying it’s supported by all three major law enforcement groups.
“Some people say this is not a perfect bill. Quite honestly, what bill is perfect when you’re dealing with 201 legislators?”
The Senate approved the bill 61-3, with Gruenhagen, McEwen and Sen. Zaynab Mohamed, DFL-Minneapolis, voting “no.”
Editor’s note: The Minnesota Reformer is an independent, nonprofit news organization dedicated to keeping Minnesotans informed and unearthing stories other outlets can’t or won’t tell.
This story was written by Deena Winter, a senior reporter for the Minnesota Reformer. It originally appeared in the Minnesota Reformer on March 14.
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