Several new Minnesota laws about domestic violence take effect on Aug. 1.
They’re a result of bipartisan cooperation during the most recent legislative session and make changes to warrantless arrest windows, add safeguards to firearm surrender and plug funding shortfalls for victim services.
“Domestic violence is not a red issue or a blue issue, it’s a public safety issue,” said Rep. Kelly Moller, DFL-Shoreview, co-chair of the Public Safety Finance and Policy Committee.
Ensuring offenders don’t keep their guns
One of the laws aims to make sure that firearms are actually surrendered when offenders are supposed to. Firearms are the most commonly-used weapon in intimate partner homicides, according to reports from Violence Free Minnesota, a statewide coalition of groups working to end relationship abuse.
If a court rules someone has to surrender their firearms because of a protection order, that person has to give up their guns and file proof that they did.
But not enough people are doing that, said Rep. Marion Rarick, R-Maple Lake; in 2016, an affidavit was only filed 4 percent of the time in domestic abuse Order for Protection cases. And data from 2023-2025 puts that at 55 percent for domestic-assault cases with firearm orders.
The new law taking effect Saturday will generally require a follow-up court hearing to ensure compliance.
“You literally have victim survivors saying ‘Nobody's paying attention, nobody's even looking,’ and so now [offenders] have to have a court hearing to prove that they actually have the affidavit,” Rarick said.
The law helps clarify the process for how to surrender a firearm and the roles of the police and courts, said Jess Palyan, policy manager at Violence Free Minnesota.
“Getting firearms out of the hands of abusers is one of the top public safety recommendations we could make,” Palyan said.
Extending warrantless arrests
Once officers have probable cause to arrest someone for misdemeanor domestic assault, they have a three-day window to arrest them before they need a warrant. A new law extends that to two weeks.
“When officers have probable cause to arrest, but they can't locate a suspect right away, they should not lose the opportunity to act within a reasonable amount of time,” said Sen. Bonnie Westlin, DFL-Plymouth.
The law also encourages officers to seek an arrest warrant “without undue delay.”
Rep. Paul Novotny, R-Elk River, is a former law enforcement officer and said suspects would often hide until the time limit was up so they wouldn’t be taken into custody.
“If they get away with it once, they try to get away with it again,” he said. “So it's important that we get that intervention.”
Filling funding shortfalls
The legislature also passed $12 million in one-time funding for crime victim services such as domestic violence shelters and advocacy services.
It helps cover for a decline in federal money.
“This is a field that has been facing federal funding cuts for a long time, since about 2017 across administrations, and we do not believe that it's going to get much better here federally,” Palyan said. “So we're happy that it is getting better on a state level.”
Sen. Clare Oumou Verbeten, DFL-St. Paul, said without that money, shelters would close and funding would be lost for victim advocates; Greater Minnesota would be hit especially hard.
“We're still facing this crisis of ongoing funding,” she said. “It's something that we're going to have to come back to next session. I certainly plan on bringing forward legislation to find a solution and find an ongoing funding source for these essential services.”
Other changes include:
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Requiring jail officials to consider a person’s history of domestic violence before releasing them from detention
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Requiring judges to ask in court if victims were notified about the hearing, if they are in court and whether they would like to provide an impact statement
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Establishing a domestic violence task force to examine domestic violence response and policy reform
