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Committee hears proposal to create State Patrol protective unit; bill laid into safety package
Summary
Senate File 4167 would establish a Protective Services Unit within the State Patrol to provide security and threat assessments for constitutional officers, justices and legislators; the committee reviewed the fiscal note and staffing assumptions and laid the bill over for inclusion in a later safety and security omnibus package.
Senate File 4167, a proposal to create a Protective Services Unit in the Minnesota State Patrol, was presented to the Senate Finance Committee on April 21 and laid over for inclusion in the broader safety and security package.
Sponsor Sen. Hoffman told the committee the unit would provide security for constitutional officers, Minnesota Supreme Court justices and state legislators, and would conduct ongoing threat assessments to coordinate protective services with legislative security staff and local law enforcement. "We have seen an exponential increase in threats of violence and harm to elected officials," Sen. Hoffman said, and described the bill as a necessary response.
Miss Boyd, the fiscal presenter, summarized the bill's estimated costs: the fiscal note assumes a combination of new sworn and non‑sworn positions (including 8–11 new trooper FTEs in some calculations), additional dispatchers, analysts and support staff, training and equipment, and recurring personal‑protective security response costs. The fiscal note presented recurring costs for threat response and reimbursements (roughly $5.4 million per year estimate for responses to credible threats that may require reimbursement to local law enforcement), and total general‑fund impacts on the order of $13.1 million (FY27), $12 million (FY28) and about $10.9 million (FY29) under the stated assumptions.
Several senators raised recruitment and capacity concerns. Sen. Howe and others asked where dozens of additional troopers would come from given current staffing shortfalls and warned that assigning new troopers to protective duties in the capital area could deplete coverage in greater Minnesota if backfills are not secured. Col. Christina Boger of the State Patrol explained that the bill, as written, contains a smaller number of sworn positions (11 trooper positions) and that current troopers would be offered the new positions before new hires, with plans to backfill so as to preserve rural coverage.
The committee did not take a final vote that day; Sen. Hoffman said the bill will be laid over for inclusion in the safety and security omnibus expected to be considered later in the process.
What’s next: SF 4167 will be folded into broader safety and security legislation for further consideration; fiscal staffing, recruitment, and compensation issues raised in committee are likely to recur during omnibus negotiations.
