Months after the death of infant Harvey Muklebust, “Harvey’s Law” would require most state-funded child care facilities to install cameras.

Harvey was killed on Sept. 22, just five days before his first birthday, at Rocking Horse Ranch day care in Savage. A day care employee, who confessed to suffocating Harvey and attempting to suffocate another child, is facing murder and assault charges, according to court documents.

Harvey’s parents, Catherine and Hunter Muklebust, say their son would still be with them if the center had cameras in place.

“We think every day about how different things could have been if only cameras had been installed,” Hunter said at a news conference at the Capitol earlier this week.

“Other children would not have been harmed, and we would be holding our son,” Hunter said. “We would not have to daydream about the memories we never got to create. Our 3-year-old wouldn’t sit up at night crying for his brother and asking when he will come home.”

“We 100% believe that Harvey would still be with us today if there were cameras installed,” Catherine said.

“Harvey’s death was completely avoidable if cameras were installed,” Catherine said. “The truth would have been revealed after the first attempted murder, and that employee could have been terminated and not allowed to ever work with children again.”

Video footage

The issue is personal for the bill’s author, Rep. Nolan West, R-Blaine, whose daughter was abused at day care. Last session, he pushed for similar surveillance measures and secured camera requirements at centers with previous maltreatment violations. But he said the law needs to go further.

“The idea that it wouldn’t be caught, that the perpetrators could get away with something, is hard to stomach,” West said. “And in my daughter’s case, there were two perpetrators who would have suffered no greater penalty than losing their jobs, most likely, if not for video footage there.”

But West said because his daughter’s day care retained the footage for only a week, just one of the perpetrators was convicted.

The bill would require cameras in infant and toddler rooms and retention of footage for 28 days for any center that receives state funds from the Child Care Assistance Program, Early Learning Scholarships or Great Start compensation.

As for how many centers across the state could be affected if Harvey’s Law is passed, West guessed that around 85% of those centers receive funds from one of the three qualifying state programs.

The bill hasn’t been officially introduced and is still in the revisor’s office, but is set for a hearing on Tuesday. West said there also isn’t a fiscal note, but that $174,000 was put into a technology fund for child care last session, and cameras qualify under those funds.

Privacy, data concerns

A few lawmakers are raising privacy and data concerns regarding the surveillance of children and the potential for bad actors to obtain such footage and generate child sex abuse material, for example.

“While cameras may feel like the best way to keep an eye on our most precious family member or to have proof if something horrible happens to a child, the data tells us that cameras alone don’t actually deter abuse,” said Rep. Jess Hanson, DFL-Burnsville.

Hanson is drafting a bill that would create a task force to look into best practices and cybersecurity expertise on child care surveillance.

“When it comes to protecting our kids from abuse, we cannot cut corners,” said Rep. Carlie Kotyza-Witthuhn, DFL-Eden Prairie. “It is our responsibility to make sure that well-intentioned legislation doesn’t open up our kids to more abuse.”

West said the cameras would be a “closed-circuit system,” and the footage is “about as secure as it can be.” He said he found his colleagues’ concerns “very frustrating.”

But he suggested looking at the bigger picture.

“How much abuse there is in these situations compared to how much sexual image exploitation there is, it’s not even close, and even if it were close, physical harm is much worse than non physical harm, which is still bad, but it is much worse, higher concern, and I think the average person would strongly agree with that statement.”

West said last session his efforts for more oversight in child care centers saw bipartisan support, and he’s hoping for the same this session.

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