MINNEAPOLIS (KARE 11) – Aug. 1 brings a plethora of new and revised laws into effect in Minnesota, including new statutes materialized in direct response to the murder of Speaker Emirata Melissa Hortman and the shooting of Sen. John Hoffman last summer.
Read about some of the new legislation below, and visit the Minnesota House of Representatives’ website for an exhaustive list of laws and their summaries.
PUBLIC SAFETY
Impersonating a peace officer: Penalties increase going forward for any person convicted of impersonating a peace officer. The crime has now been elevated from a misdemeanor to a felony, with a max penalty of two years imprisonment “if an offender does so intending to mislead another person, but taking no further action.”
The new law also states peace officers must identify their employer and provide identifying information like their name and ID number when stopping, detaining or arresting someone.
The severity of the punishment increases from there, pending several potential aggravating factors.
Extortion with private sexual images:
Paying someone to threaten to share private sexual images will now face up to 10 years in prison if deemed a contributing factor in the victim suffering great bodily harm. The penalty increases to 15 years if deemed a contributing factor in a person’s death.
Firearms in domestic violence cases:
The new law requires people who have been ordered to surrender their guns to complete firearm transfers “as soon as reasonably practical” to their local law enforcement agency, a federally licensed firearms dealer or a third party who does not live with the target of the crime.
Proof of the transfer must also be filed with the court.
Other policy provisions:
The Department of Public Safety will now be required to maintain a database with elected officials’ emergency contacts; implement a legislative services unit within Capitol Security to assess threats; give the attorney general administrative subpoena power in cases of suspected fraud; establish a task force on improving responses to domestic violence crimes; make the assault of a hospital or clinic worker a gross misdemeanor; increase criminal penalties for assaulting a vulnerable adult; and ban prediction market wagering.
Use of chemical irritants in a building:
Peace officers must now provide notice and disclosure to building owners and occupants when chemical irritants are deployed. Irritants include smoke screens, pepper spray, tear gas and flash bangs.
STATE GOVERNMENT
Withholding payments to suspected fraudsters:
The law revises a statute instituted in 2005, in which state agencies were granted permission to stop payments to a program with reasonable evidence to suspect fraudulent activity for up to 60 days. The new law removes the 60-day cap and lowers the evidentiary standard to “credible allegation of fraud” verified by the agency.
HOUSING
Gaps in renter, landlord rules:
This new law impacts utility billing, online payment platforms and eviction procedures.
As tenants’ move-out dates and utility billing periods sometimes don’t coincide, a landlord might not know what tenants owe on their utilities until after they’ve left. To remedy the issue, the new law lets landlords estimate their tenants’ final bill based on the previous billing cycle.
Landlords will also be required to offer a free alternative to a payment method if an online platform malfunctions; be prohibited from listing a minor as a defendant in an eviction action; and further, mandates assaults on landlords or their employees grounds for an expedited eviction.
EDUCATION
Grooming a minor:
The penalty for grooming a minor will now be a felony offense.
The law defines grooming as when a person 18 years of age or older “expresses the desire or intent to engage in sexual conduct with a child; and engages in a deliberate pattern of conduct to methodically develop a false trusting relationship with the child that is intended to strategically manipulate the child to engage in sexual conduct with the person at a future time, regardless of whether any sexual conduct occurs.”
The law also states that by Aug. 1, 2027, mandated reporter training for education professionals be updated to include “reporting allegations of maltreatment of students, including students receiving special education services; and addressing grooming and threatened sexual abuse, including the duty to report grooming as maltreatment … how to identify the signs of grooming, and recognizing environments and circumstances that present an increased risk of grooming.”
FOLLOW US FOR INSTANT UPDATES!
