House file 3220 would reallocate $1.8 million to buy law-enforcement lockboxes for Minnesota schools

Members of a Minnesota House committee heard an informational presentation on House File 3220, which sponsors said would cancel an unspent $1.8 million from 2018 school-safety grants and reappropriate the funds to purchase Knox Boxes that give law enforcement quick access to school keys, Representative Green said.

Supporters told the committee the measure is intended to speed law-enforcement access in an active threat and to align Minnesota with national safety recommendations. Representative Green said the A-1 amendment adds American Indian tribal contract schools to the bill’s scope and that the available funds “are enough funding to outfit all schools in our entire state” with law-enforcement lockboxes.

Under current practice, testimony said, Knox Boxes are primarily used by fire departments. Representative Green said 66 school districts — including Minneapolis, St. Paul, Rochester and Duluth — have installed secure key boxes, covering roughly 180 school facilities statewide, and that nearly 60 local fire departments already use Knox Boxes. The bill, as described to the committee, would create a mechanism to use the reappropriated funds to support one law-enforcement Knox Box at each school in Minnesota.

Representative Witte, a co-author and former Burnsville police officer, described how local police programs that place officers and resources in schools build relationships with staff and students and how lockboxes can provide access to rear or side entrances so officers need not force entry during an emergency. “After Uvalde, we learned that it’s important to get to the threat as soon as possible and not sit back and wait,” Witte said.

Peter Clough of the Knox Company answered committee questions on technical and operational details. Committee members asked whether police and fire would share boxes; testimony said boxes can be dual-purpose but are frequently separate for liability and continuity-of-operations reasons. Representative Woody said separate boxes are common so a missing key for one box does not compromise access for the other responder agency.

Supporters cited the U.S. Department of Justice’s report on the Robb Elementary School shooting and national safety organizations — including the Partner Alliance for Safer Schools and the I Love You Guys Foundation — as backing the use of lockbox systems as a best practice. Committee discussion included potential liability and maintenance considerations and choices about box location, size and number of keys stored.

The hearing was informational; no motion or formal committee vote on House File 3220 was recorded in the transcript. Committee members posed questions and received answers from sponsors and a Knox Company representative. Next steps for the bill were not specified during the hearing.