Sentencing Guidelines Commission unanimously approves near-final 2025 report to legislature; corrects minutes, adopts agenda

The Sentencing Guidelines Commission unanimously approved its near-final 2025 report to the Minnesota Legislature on Jan. 9, 2025, voting to allow staff to make non‑substantive typographical corrections and to add any outstanding county data received before the report’s finalization.

The action concluded a short meeting that also included unanimous approval of the meeting agenda and corrected minutes from Dec. 19, 2024. Chair Mitchell convened the commission and Director Maine Wright conducted roll call and led procedural items before staff presented the report updates.

Why it matters: The annual legislative report is the commission’s core statutory deliverable and informs lawmakers about sentencing trends and recommended guideline data. Commission staff said the report incorporates updated data and late county submissions where possible; commissioners emphasized the importance of complete county data for year‑over‑year comparisons.

Staff said preliminary Bureau of Justice Statistics data and available census estimates informed updated imprisonment‑rate figures in the introduction. Staff recapped that Minnesota remains among states with lower imprisonment rates but that recent years have shown an increase; the presentation noted Minnesota currently ranks seventh lowest in imprisonment rate nationally in the staff’s updated estimate.

Staff also reported progress in collecting county 6.9/11 reports, with four counties still outstanding: Murray, Winona, Wabasha and Grant. Staff asked the commission to permit inclusion of any additional county submissions received by Jan. 14, 2025, and to allow final typographical fixes by staff before the report is transmitted.

Commissioner Reeves moved to adopt the agenda, and Commissioner Middlebrook seconded; the motion passed unanimously with eight votes in favor and four members absent. A motion to approve the corrected minutes from Dec. 19, 2024, also passed unanimously. Commissioner Moore moved to approve the 2025 legislative report in near‑final form with staff authority to make non‑substantive corrections and add county data; that motion likewise carried unanimously.

Commission discussion and context: Commissioners noted minor corrections to the December minutes (spelling of Commissioner Knudson’s name, replacing “co‑chair” with “vice chair” where appropriate, and a single word change from “works” to “work”), which were incorporated before the minutes vote. During the report discussion, staff thanked Judge Small and Kyra Ladd for assistance in soliciting county submissions from county attorneys’ offices.

Chair Mitchell closed the administrative portion of the meeting and moved to subsequent agenda items.

Votes at a glance: - Adopt agenda: mover Commissioner Reeves; second Commissioner Middlebrook; outcome: approved unanimously (8 yes, 0 no, 4 absent). - Approve minutes (Dec. 19, 2024) with corrections: mover not specified in transcript; outcome: approved unanimously (8 yes, 0 no, 4 absent). - Approve 2025 legislative report (near‑final) with leave for staff to make non‑substantive edits and include late county data: mover Commissioner Moore; second not specified in transcript; outcome: approved unanimously (8 yes, 0 no, 4 absent).

The commission adjourned after completing the statutory requirement to approve the legislative report.