House committee adopts amendment to House File 340, sends bill to transportation panel

A House committee on Feb. 19 approved Amendment A2 to House File 340 and referred the bill to the House Transportation Finance and Policy Committee after testimony and questions about scope and enforcement.

House File 340, introduced by Representative Steuer, would amend Minnesota’s fleeing statutes to add two new offenses, raise prison terms for some fleeing offenses and impose a four-year driver’s-license revocation in certain cases. The committee adopted A2, which also removes a separate section of the bill dealing with tracking devices; committee members said the tracking-device language will be considered later as its own item.

The measure’s sponsor, Representative Steuer, told the committee the bill aims to reduce a recent rise in vehicle pursuits and related harms. “Over the last several years, the number of instances for fleeing a police officer in a motor vehicle has dramatically increased,” Steuer said in committee testimony, citing law enforcement counts and a Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension (BCA) crime report he attributed to August 2024. Steuer said the bill would amend Minn. Stat.…