Public-safety grants reduced overall; changes made to duty-disability and training-account funding

Steve Hueser described changes in the public safety bill including grant funding reductions and limits to duty-disability benefits.

Steve Hueser told the committee that the public safety bill included $103 million allocated to the Office of Justice Programs for grants to crime victim services, community safety grants and local law enforcement — a $70 million reduction from the 2023 state budget allocation, he said. He added that the Philando Castile Police Training Account was funded at $4.9 million per year for the biennium, a roughly 50% reduction from prior funding levels.

Hueser explained changes to duty-disability law affecting post-traumatic stress presumptions: under the new statute the duration of awarded health-care benefits for duty disability will be limited (to age 65 or 60 months of benefits in the new law as described by Hueser), and employees may access treatment while remaining at work without using sick or earned sick-and-safe time. Hueser also noted that proposed preemption of local separation ordinances related to immigration enforcement was discussed in hearings but ultimately did not become part of the public safety bill.

Why it matters: Grant reductions and programmatic changes affect the pool of state grant funds Minneapolis can seek; duty-disability and training-account changes affect law-enforcement personnel benefits and training funding. Committee members were notified of the funding levels and legal changes and were told the city is eligible to apply for grant programs in the new package.