Support of State Control of Fusion Center

From the KSTP Website

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A bill introduced at the Legislature would lay the foundation for state funding of the Minnesota Joint Analysis Center, known as MNJAC, the state's anti-terrorism and crime fighting fusion center.

The legislation, introduced by chief author Rep. Kelby Woodard (R-Belle Plaine), would authorize a fusion center in the state, although MNJAC has been operational since it qualified for its first federal grant in 2004.

Since then, it has not received a penny from the state budget, making it beholden, critics say, to federal rules and priorities, leaving statewide and regional crime without a dedicated, central clearinghouse for information sharing by Minnesota law enforcement agencies.

The bill, HF2435, which would lay the legal framework for state control of a fusion center but does not actually allocate any funding, will get a hearing on Thursday, March 1, 2012, in the Minnesota House of Representatives.

The bill was introduced a week after a 5 EYEWITNESS NEWS investigation, Safety Sense, raised questions about MNJAC's funding and homeland security spending across the state.