Legislators are first tackling less contentious issues, in order to prevent a government shutdown. GOP Senator Paul Gazelka says there is only so much Republicans will compromise on when it comes to policing.

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Feven Gerezgiher reports:

With just over a week left of budget negotiations in the special session of the Minnesota State Legislature, public safety is last on the agenda.

Governor Walz said legislators are first tackling less contentious issues, in order to prevent a government shutdown.

GOP Senator Paul Gazelka said there is only so much Republicans will compromise on when it comes to policing. 

“We don’t think right now the message is really about police accountability, it’s helping the police keep the streets safe,” said Gazelka, “and so that’s why we really would rather wrap up right now and call it good.”

Racial justice activists submitted over 65,000 signatures to the governor’s office last week in support of reforms, stressing urgency for police accountability given recent high-profile killings.

CAIR-MN’s Mohamed Ibrahim said he is frustrated by the lack of action during a historic moment.

“All we've seen is lip service, we've seen politicians show up to funerals, we've seen politicians say that they will demand for things to change, yet we don't see the change.”

Ibrahim said it feels like police accountability efforts have lost ground.

“What we need to do is we need to stop negotiating from Republican standpoints and actually hold the line and actually make sure that if we do not get any police accountability measures passed that are meaningful, that we do not compromise on anything,” he said.

The state legislature needs to wrap up the special session by July 1 in order to avoid a government shutdown.