House Public Safety Committee backs House File 7 package, advances bill to Judiciary

Chair Novotny opened the Feb. 11, 2025 meeting of the House Public Safety Committee by introducing House File 7, a multi-part public safety package the chair described as aimed at "helping law enforcement make our communities safer" and keeping "violent and dangerous offenders off the street."

The bill, described by the author as a 12-section priorities package from the House Republican caucus, includes provisions that would (per the bill text and witnesses’ testimony): expand criminal penalties for fleeing police and for blocking critical roadways; create a standalone offense for being in a stolen motor vehicle; increase penalties for assaulting peace officers; authorize placement of mobile tracking devices on stolen or actively fleeing vehicles when unoccupied; require public, searchable reporting on stayed sentences and county attorney dismissals; and change how sentencing-guidelines changes take effect.

Undersheriff Mike Martin of the Ramsey County Sheriff’s Office told the committee the tracking-device change would reduce risky pursuits by allowing law enforcement to ‘‘hang back’’ and plan an arrest operation. "Our number one priority is always public safety. We wanna keep the community safe, and we wanna do that by hopefully avoiding pursuits," Martin said, describing incidents where juveniles abandoned stolen vehicles and returned later, after which the vehicle could no longer be located. Ramsey County figures cited in testimony said carjackings and auto thefts had fallen…