Committee broadens assault protections, recommending bill to extend enhanced penalties to transit workers

Sen. Scott Dibble presented Senate File 3946 to update Minnesota law that currently designates enhanced penalties for assaults on transit operators. The proposed change replaces the narrower term "transit operator" with "transit worker," defined to include employees, contractors and volunteers performing official duties on transit systems, with the intent of giving parity in protection to the broader set of front-line workers who keep transit running.

Leslie Canned Heirs, general manager at Metro Transit, said the agency supports the change because it brings parity to employees who perform essential functions on trains and buses beyond vehicle operation. Chief Joe Dotseth of the Metro Transit Police Department told the committee that adding protections communicates public support for front-line workers and complements recent investments in staffing that have reduced serious crime on the system.

Senators discussed whether volunteers and transit passengers should be included or excluded and debated whether some offenses (for example, intentionally throwing bodily fluids) should carry felony-level penalties as they do for other protected classes. Sen. Limmer moved to recommend the bill to pass and be sent to the Senate floor; the motion carried.