Committee considers continuing grant for county attorney training in House File 2017; amendment withdrawn

House File 2017, introduced in the House Public Safety Committee on March 19, would continue a training grant that funds statewide training for county attorneys and prosecutors.

Chair Novotny, the bill’s author for committee purposes, described the appropriation as a continuing grant historically carried on a bipartisan basis. Kathleen Haney, Sherburne County Attorney, testified the training funds are the County Attorneys Association’s top legislative priority and enable critical, topic-specific instruction such as trial school, racial-disparities briefings, collateral-consequences education and trauma-informed victim response training. "The Sherburne County Attorney's Office and the Minnesota County Attorney's Office has as its top legislative priority this funding bill," Haney said.

Amendment, withdrawal and discussion

Representative Muller introduced amendment DE1 to require that funded training include racial-disparities, collateral-consequences and trauma-informed victim practices. Muller said she intended to withdraw the amendment for the moment and bring it back when the bill returned; she said the County Attorneys Association had discussed and supported the language. Muller formally withdrew the amendment during the hearing.

What the record shows

- Sponsor/author for committee: Chair Novotny. - Testifier: Kathleen Haney, Sherburne County Attorney. - Other participants: Robert Small, executive director, Minnesota County Attorneys Association, and committee members discussing coordination with public defender training. - Outcome: House File 2017 was laid over; amendment DE1 was withdrawn and may be reintroduced later.

Clarifying details

Haney said the request for 2025 was for $125,000 in training grants (she described the funding request during testimony). Committee members discussed whether public defenders receive comparable continuing training; nonpartisan staff and budget staff explained some training resources for defenders may come from the Board of Public Defense and judiciary base budgets.

Next steps

The bill was laid over for possible inclusion in omnibus budgeting and the withdrawn amendment may be revisited when the bill returns to committee.