Minnesota lawmakers want increased protections for themselves after Hortman assassination

Alarmed by last summer’s attacks on their colleagues, Minnesota lawmakers are seeking to protect themselves and future legislators as the country faces a surge of political violence.

In their first week back in St. Paul, DFL legislators proposed measures that are in direct response to the June assassination of former House Leader Melissa Hortman and the attempted slaying of state Sen. John Hoffman.

The proposals could present a rare opportunity for bipartisanship in the narrowly divided Legislature, with bills seeking to make legislators’ home addresses, personal phone numbers and children’s names private data and to require law enforcement agencies to develop safety protocols for elected officials.

DFLers are also proposing tougher criminal penalties for people who impersonate police officers, and rules requiring the removal of equipment and decals from decommissioned emergency vehicles that are sold to the public.

The suspect in the June attacks disguised himself as a police officer and attacked the two lawmakers and their families at their homes in the middle of the night, authorities say. He also is accused of driving a black SUV that resembled a police squad car, equipped with flashing lights.

“When somebody comes to your home, you want to know who it is. When somebody pulls you over in greater Minnesota on a dark street, you want to know,” said Rep. Ginny Klevorn, DFL-Plymouth. “We live in a different world.”

Klevorn is leading the effort in the House to toughen penalties for impersonating a cop. She is co-sponsoring the measure related to emergency vehicles.

“When I finally saw that he was not a cop,” Hoffman said of his attacker in a recent interview, “that’s when he turned a Beretta 9-millimeter on me and my wife and almost my daughter.”

The bill would increase the penalty for impersonating a police officer from a misdemeanor to a felony punishable by up to two years in prison. The sentence would be up to five years if someone impersonating a police officer gained access to a facility that isn’t open to the public, gave orders to another person or operated a vehicle marked with law enforcement decals.

It also imposes stricter penalties on people who carry a firearm or commit a crime while passing themselves off as a police officer.

Senate Minority Leader Mark Johnson, R-East Grand Forks, said last week he hadn’t reviewed the police impersonation bill’s language yet but predicted it would garner bipartisan support.

Rep. Paul Novotny, the GOP co-chair of the House public safety committee, said his caucus is prepared to support the bill if Democrats agree to remove a section of language that appears to be directed at federal immigration agents.

Democrats are “trying to say that the feds aren’t licensed peace officers and that they can’t wear that,” Novotny said.

“If they can agree to eliminate [that language], we’ll fully endorse it. We’d like to ... get that to be law,” he said.

As for the decommissioned emergency vehicle bill, Novotny said he is supportive of requiring the removal of police decals but not of all the attached equipment, which he says would be costly to do.

“Do I want to make sure that all the details are removed? Yes, that seems like a good idea,” he said.

There also could be bipartisan support for proposals to shield legislators’ personal data and require law enforcement agencies to have a safety protocol for elected officials.

Freiberg said the assailant was also in his area that morning.

“He didn’t have my address, fortunately,” said Freiberg, who is sponsoring the bill to shield legislators’ home addresses, phone numbers and kids’ names.

Freiberg’s proposal would additionally create a legislative task force to consider further privacy protections for government officials. He is also sponsoring a bill to remove legislators’ addresses from state Campaign Finance Board listings.

Freiberg said he knows data bills can be controversial, pitting advocates for open government against those more concerned about privacy. But he’s hopeful about its prospects.

Johnson, the Senate GOP leader, nodded to the delicate balance of privacy versus accessibility when asked about Freiberg’s bill: “That’s gonna be a balance on that one.”

Gemberling said he also is concerned that Freiberg’s bill could make it harder to verify whether a legislator lives in the district they represent.

“I’ve been watching the Legislature for … 40 years,” he said. “Every once in a while, they make emotional decisions and they don’t think through the implications.”

Novotny said House Republicans are open to Freiberg’s proposal. The public safety committee just heard a GOP bill last week that would similarly shield the personal data of police officers.

“It’s not a bad precaution,” Novotny said. After last summer’s attacks, he said, he paid for a service to scrub his personal information off some public websites.

Novotny said House Republicans could also be supportive of a bill sponsored by Sen. Bonnie Westlin, DFL-Plymouth, to require local law enforcement agencies to have policies addressing the safety of elected officials.

In the early hours after the June 14 attacks, some legislators weren’t made fully aware of the threat for several hours, while others received swift police protection.

Westlin declined an interview request through a Senate DFL spokesperson.

Novotny said he thinks Westlin’s bill is a good idea and that he plans to reach out to her about it.

“This is the kind of thing that could happen once in a career,” he said of threats to the safety of elected officials. “Having a policy that will help you get jump-started and not be scrambling is a good idea.”