House passes primary seatbelt bill
A highly controversial seat belt provision passed the House today (May 18) on a nonpartisan vote.
Primary seat belt allows cops to pull over a motorist for not wearing a seat belt. Currently, cops can’t make such calls.
One big feature of the House debate was racial profiling — pulling motorist over more based on skin color than anything that they did illegal — and how primary seat belt might provide an additional excuse for such stops.
People of color in the House strongly argued against primary seatbelt, as did some Greater Minnesota and suburban lawmakers.
But the primary seat belt legisaltion passed on a 73 to 60 vote.
Local lawmakers voting in favor: Abeler, Dittrich, Gardner, Garofalo, Hansen, Hortman, Jackson, Kalin, Kiffmeyer, Lenczewski, McNarama, Morgan, Obermueller, and Tillberry.
Votiing against: Anderson, B., Buesgens, Davids, Dettmer, Doty, Eastlund, Emmer, Hackbarth, Hoberg, Mack, Masin, Peppin, Sanders, and Scott.
A provision allowing motorists to exceed the speed limit on 55 mph, two-lane roads by ten mphs when passing another car was amended onto the bill.
Primary seatbelt has always had a hard time in the House.
