I have been posting a lot about global warming and the statewide smoking ban. I decided to write about these topics early to encourage a public debate.
But, most of my time is spent serving as the Lead Republican on the Senate Public Safety and Corrections Budget Division and Judiciary committee.
Today we marked up our budget bill and sent the bill to the full Finance Committee. (which I also sit on).
The bill spends about $23 million less than the Governor’s budget proposal. There are not many new initiatives in this year’s bill compared to previous years.
I authored the only two provisions of the bill which will save money for the state. One bill increases the financial threshold for theft related crimes. The bill would require a theft of $1000, rather than $500 for the crime to be a felony. This change, which adjusts the theft threshold by the rate of inflation (going back to about 1990) will save about 75 prison beds. The county attorney association and law enforcement supported the proposal.
The second bill directs the Minnesota Sentancing Guidelines Commission to review our current prison sentances for Drug Offenses. The goal is to adjust the presumed sentances and make them more proportional with other crimes in Minnesota, and comparable to drug sentances in other Midwestern States.
For example, many of our drug crimes receive the same prison time as manslaughter, 3rd degree murder, kidnapping, and criminal sexual conduct offenses.
I believe that some drug offenders are receiving more time in prison than necessary, especially when compared to other violent and personal crimes committed in Minnesota. We should use our prison beds for the most dangerous of the state’s offenders.
PS. I’d like to thank everyone who attended the Town Meeting tonight (with Rep. David Bly and me) at the Northfield Public Library.