KSTP Created: February 04, 2021 10:32 AM Minnesota Senate Republicans held a news conference Thursday addressing how the state will pay for public safety responses during the upcoming trials of Derek Chauvin and the other former officers charged in the death of George Floyd. Senate Majority Leader Paul Gazelka, R-East Gull Lake, and Sen. Bill Weber, R-Luverne, who chairs the Senate Subcommittee on Property Taxes, countered Gov. Tim Walz's request for a $35 million fund with a bill that would give local law enforcement agencies a process to be reimbursed for providing mutual aid. The senators claimed that several agencies have yet to be paid for providing mutual aid to the Minneapolis Police Department, all while City Council members are pursuing measures to divert funding away from the police.