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Senate Counsel & Research
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State of Minnesota




SF. No. 105 - Reestablishing the Office of Crime Victim Ombudsman, 1st Engrossment
Author: Senator Richard J. Cohen
Prepared by: Chris Turner, Senate Research (651/296-4350)
Date: March 10, 2003

The 2002 Legislature abolished the Office of Crime Victim Ombudsman and transferred its duties to the Commissioner of Public Safety. Subsequently, Governor Ventura issued reorganization order No. 184 transferring its duties from the Commissioner of Public Safety to the Ombudsman for Mental Health and Mental Retardation. (This order was never reflected in the statutes.) The function of the Crime Victim Ombudsman was to investigate decisions, acts, and other matters of the criminal justice system so as to promote the highest attainable standards of competence, efficiency, and justice for crime victims in the criminal justice system.

Sections 1 to 4 reestablish the Office of Crime Victim Ombudsman as an unclassified position to be appointed by the Governor, effective July 1, 2003. These changes mostly involve replacing references to the Commissioner of Public Safety with the Crime Victim Ombudsman. The effect of these sections is to have, with certain exceptions, the ombudsman's statutory sections read the same as they did prior to 2002.

Section 5 is a blank appropriation from the general fund to the Crime Victim Ombudsman for the purposes of the bill.

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