Today Minnesota Senate Democrats passed a bill pairing extreme gun control policies with bipartisan safe school measures, putting their partisan agenda over protecting students. The bill has no path forward in the House, putting funding for safe schools and mental health in jeopardy this session.

“Democrats have put politics first today. Senate Republicans believe deeply in funding school safety and mental health for students.  We could have had a bill today that would pass the Senate and the House – but Democrats were unwilling to do it.” Senate Republican Leader Mark Johnson (East Grand Forks) said. “Instead, they added unconstitutional, divisive, and partisan gun control measures to this bill to play politics with ‘gotcha votes’ rather than taking seriously the responsibility we all feel for our children. Senate Republicans will continue to put students first, not partisanship.”

Senate Republicans offered an amendment that would strip the bill-stopping gun control measures and send a bipartisan school safety and mental health funding package to the House for passage, but it failed on party lines.

The amendment preserved: $20 million in safe schools supplement aid, $2.7 million for school-linked behavioral and mental health grants, $3.8 million for mobile crisis grants, and additional funding for certified family peer specialists, anonymous school threat reporting, mental health services, and mental health care professionals, would have passed with bipartisan support. It also increased from $1 million to $2 million the amount available to non-public schools for safety concerns.