1.1 	A bill for an act
1.2 	relating to corrections; authorizing county probation officers to supervise adult 
1.3 	felons;amending Minnesota Statutes 2016, sections 244.19, subdivision 1; 244.20.
1.4 	BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF MINNESOTA:

1.5 	Section 1. Minnesota Statutes 2016, section 244.19, subdivision 1, is amended to read:
1.6 		Subdivision 1.Appointment; joint services; state services. (a) If a county or group of 
1.7 	counties has established a human services board pursuant to chapter 402, the district court 
1.8 	may appoint one or more county probation officers as necessary to perform court services, 
1.9 	and the human services board shall appoint persons as necessary to provide correctional 
1.10 	services within the authority granted in chapter 402. In all counties of more than 200,000 
1.11 	population, which have not organized pursuant to chapter 402, the district court shall appoint 
1.12 	one or more persons of good character to serve as county probation officers during the 
1.13 	pleasure of the court. All other counties shall provide adult misdemeanant and juvenile 
1.14 	probation services, and may provide additional adult felon probation services, to district 
1.15 	courts in one of the following ways:
1.16 	(1) the court, with the approval of the county boards, may appoint one or more salaried 
1.17 	county probation officers to serve during the pleasure of the court;
1.18 	(2) when two or more counties offer probation services the district court through the 
1.19 	county boards may appoint common salaried county probation officers to serve in the several 
1.20 	counties;
1.21 	(3) a county or a district court may request the commissioner of corrections to furnish 
1.22 	probation services in accordance with the provisions of this section, and the commissioner 
2.1 	of corrections shall furnish such services to any county or court that fails to provide its own 
2.2 	probation officer by one of the two procedures listed above;
2.3 	(4) if a county or district court providing probation services under clause (1) or (2) asks 
2.4 	the commissioner of corrections or the legislative body for the state of Minnesota mandates 
2.5 	the commissioner of corrections to furnish probation services to the district court, the 
2.6 	probation officers and other employees displaced by the changeover shall be employed by 
2.7 	the commissioner of corrections. Years of service in the county probation department are 
2.8 	to be given full credit for future sick leave and vacation accrual purposes;
2.9 	(5) all probation officers serving the juvenile courts on July 1, 1972, shall continue to 
2.10 	serve in the county or counties they are now serving.
2.11 	(b) The commissioner of management and budget shall place employees transferred to 
2.12 	state service under paragraph (a), clause (4), in the proper classifications in the classified 
2.13 	service. Each employee is appointed without examination at no loss in salary or accrued 
2.14 	vacation or sick leave benefits, but no additional accrual of vacation or sick leave benefits 
2.15 	may occur until the employee's total accrued vacation or sick leave benefits fall below the 
2.16 	maximum permitted by the state for the employee's position. An employee appointed under 
2.17 	paragraph (a), clause (4), shall serve a probationary period of six months. After exhausting 
2.18 	labor contract remedies, a noncertified employee may appeal for a hearing within ten days 
2.19 	to the commissioner of management and budget, who may uphold the decision, extend the 
2.20 	probation period, or certify the employee. The decision of the commissioner of management 
2.21 	and budget is final. The state shall negotiate with the exclusive representative for the 
2.22 	bargaining unit to which the employees are transferred regarding their seniority. For purposes 
2.23 	of computing seniority among those employees transferring from one county unit only, a 
2.24 	transferred employee retains the same seniority position as the employee had within that 
2.25 	county's probation office.
2.26 	(c) State employees shall not be displaced by a county's election to provide probation 
2.27 	services under this subdivision.

2.28 	Sec. 2. Minnesota Statutes 2016, section 244.20, is amended to read:
2.29 	244.20 PROBATION SUPERVISION.
2.30 	Notwithstanding Except as provided in sections 244.19, subdivision 1, and 609.135, 
2.31 	subdivision 1, the Department of Corrections shall have exclusive responsibility for providing 
2.32 	probation services for adult felons in counties that do not take part in the Community 
2.33 	Corrections Act. In counties that do not take part in the Community Corrections Act, the 
3.1 	responsibility for providing probation services for individuals convicted of gross 
3.2 	misdemeanor offenses shall be discharged according to local judicial policy.