House panel adopts amendment and sends police training reimbursement bill to Public Safety

The Minnesota House Higher Education Finance and Policy Committee on March 1 adopted an author's amendment to House File 541, then voted to recommend the bill be re‑referred to the Committee on Public Safety.

Representative Aaron Steer, the bill author, told the committee HF 541 is intended to fund professional training for peace officers on use of force, deadly force, duty to intercede, de‑escalation, bias and force‑on‑force scenarios. Steer said the bill would appropriate $2,500,000 to the Office of Higher Education for reimbursement grants to post‑secondary institutions that provide the training and described the required elements of the reimbursable courses, including scenario‑based training that uses nonlethal projectiles and training on psychological effects of stress.

The committee adopted an author’s amendment (A2) that set a 2.5%…