Sentencing Guidelines Commission approves staff recommendations on 2025 session changes, sends proposals to July public hearing

The Sentencing Guidelines Commission voted Thursday to adopt staff-recommended rankings and conforming edits to reflect bills enacted in Minnesota’s 2025 legislative session and sent the package to a public hearing in July.

The commission approved staff recommendations on two newly created crimes (part A of the staff packet), adopted a set of conforming technical and title edits (part B, including one change to a section heading), and approved additional technical updates proposed in document 5. Commission members set a public hearing for July 17 and a follow-up meeting for July 24 to consider any public comment before finalizing the changes for publication in the August 1, 2025 edition of the guidelines.

Director Reitz, who presented the packet to the commission, told members their recommendations were circulated to the 2025 conference committee and “I believe it made an impact on the ultimate product,” underscoring staff’s view that the commission’s input is considered at the Legislature. The staff memo said the changes adopted Thursday are preliminary and will be subject to public comment and final commission action following the July hearing.

Among the substantive items the commission advanced: staff suggested severity-level rankings for two new offenses created by session law — an order-for-protection–style criminal penalty tied to violating…