Agenda - Council - 02/08/2021 - Laserfiche WebLink

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standard for physical access to public facilities than required by the ADA and the State Building Code. Response: The League of Minnesota Cities supports changes to the MHRA that will make state accessibility standards compatible with the federal ADA for public services and facilities. The Legislature should clarify that a facility that is in compliance with Accessibility Code provisions of the State Building Code meets the physical access requirements of the MHRA. State law should also specify that accessibility requirements apply to public programs and services as a whole, rather than to each individual aspect of a public program or service. SD-32. Assaults on Code Enforcement Officials Issue: Many city employees and contractors are required to enforce city codes and ordinances and state statutes and rules as part of their job duties. Code enforcement can involve denying a building permit, ordering a landlord to make repairs to rental properties, or fining property owners for failing to abate a nuisance. Because of the nature of their job, code enforcement officials can be subjected to verbal assaults, threats, and physical violence. Minnesota law recognizes the need to protect certain employees whose jobs make it more likely that they will be the target of assaults by escalating assault charges from fifth to fourth degree for the assaults of peace officers, firefighters, school officials, and "public employees with mandated duties". Minn. Stat. § 609.2231, subd. 6, specifically defines "public employees with mandated duties" as agricultural inspectors, occupational safety and health inspectors, child protection workers, public health 35 nurses, animal control officers, and probation or parole officers. An assault on one of these employees who is engaged in the performance of a duty mandated by law, court order, or ordinance, is a gross misdemeanor if the person knows the employee is engaged in the performance of official duties and inflicts demonstrable bodily harm. Under current law, an assault on a code enforcement official not enumerated in Minn. Stat. § 609.2231, subd. 6, while performing official business can only be charged as fifth degree assault, a misdemeanor, unless it results in substantial bodily harm. All code enforcement officials should be afforded the same protections under Minnesota Statutes, and the legislature should amend the statute to expand the employees covered by the statute. Response: The legislature should expand Minn. Stat. § 609.2231, subd. 6, to include code enforcement officials. The term code enforcement official should be defined broadly to include public employees and contractors whose jobs require them to enforce all administrative codes, rules, ordinances, and state laws. SD-33. Restrictions on Possession of Firearms Issue: The Minnesota Citizens Personal Protection Act, also known as "conceal -and - carry," prohibits guns on most school properties but forbids other local units of government from prohibiting loaded firearms on their properties. The inconsistencies in the law's treatment of different kinds of properties have caused confusion about how the law applies to multi -use facilities, such as municipal ice arenas used for school -sponsored programs.