OLIVIA, Minn. — “Isaac’s Voice” is now the law of the land.
State Sen. Andrew Lang , R-Olivia, and State Rep. Dean Urdahl , R-Acton Township, report in recent news releases that bills they authored in their respective chambers of the Minnesota Legislature were approved and signed into law by Gov. Tim Walz .
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Called “Isaac’s Voice” in memory of 13-year-old Isaac Hoff of Olivia, the legislation expands the scope of those who must be notified when an order for protection involving a child is approved or revoked to include parents and legal guardians. In Isaac Hoff’s case, his grandmother, Sandy Hoff, would have been required to be notified that there was an order for protection in place and subsequently revoked.
Had the legislation been in place, it would have very likely prevented the death of Isaac Hoff two years ago, Lang told a Senate committee when he introduced the bill.
Sandy Hoff testified that she never would have allowed her grandson to go to his mother’s apartment to visit had she known that an order for protection had been revoked. She had been his legal guardian since he was 2 years old.
“What about the order for protection?” Hoff testified that she asked law enforcement at the Olivia Hospital moments after learning that her grandson had died of a knife wound to his chest. “ 'It was lifted two weeks ago,' ” was the response she received, Hoff told the lawmakers.
Isaac Hoff died on March 24, 2022, when a knife that was being thrust toward his mother struck him. He had called 911 to report domestic abuse at his mother’s apartment early that morning. He was fatally injured before a responding sheriff’s deputy could enter the apartment.
Houston Allen Morris, 39, is serving a nearly 17-year prison sentence for Hoff’s death.
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Sandy Hoff told the Senate committee that she had only learned there was an order for protection because Isaac had told her about it earlier. She testified that her grandson was happy about the order because he feared his mother’s boyfriends.
Morris had been staying with Hoff’s mother for about two weeks before an early morning argument erupted in violence.
“I wish I wasn’t here today,” Lang told legislators when introducing Sandy Hoff at a hearing held earlier this session. A 13-year-old boy would be a 15-year-old today if the legislation had been in place two years ago, Lang told the senators.
“This was a good bill to address a very important issue and I’m pleased we were able to make this change in state law,” Urdahl stated in a news release announcing the approval of the legislation. “It won’t bring back Isaac, but might help us stop such a horrific loss from happening in the future.”
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