Minnesota Lawyer

A bill that would dedicate $3 million to startup Minnesota treatment courts could get stirred into the Judiciary finance omnibus bill that is slated to go through markups April 9.

Our review of issues in state and national news, with a rotating cast of political people in the know.

Weekly updates on Minnesota legislation of interest to the legal community.

Laws covering law enforcement’s use of drone aircraft, e-mail and location-tracking search warrants were all folded into a 13-page omnibus privacy bill that passed out of committee and onto the Senate floor last week.

But the Senate raises appropriations in a few areas, including its combined judiciary and public safety finance division. And the Senate might fund more new corrections officers for the state’s prisons.

Over the objections of law enforcement and prosecutors, a bill that removes civil courts from criminal asset forfeitures and requires a conviction before they are finalized, has cleared a Senate hurdle.

House File 2602, a bill from House Judiciary Chair John Lesch, DFL-St. Paul, establishes a Legislative Commission on Intelligence and Technology. The commission would study and make regulatory recommendations about new police surveillance technologies.

It sounds less like a change of heart than a change of atmosphere that led Senate Majority Leader Paul Gazelka, R-Nisswa, to green-light two pieces of DFL gun legislation.

A weekly briefing on legislation of interest to Minnesota's legal community.

Our review of issues in state and national news, with a rotating cast of political people in the know.