New law makes changes to elections, selections for three entities

A new law changes election and selection criteria for the Three Rivers Park District, Hennepin County medical examiner and Independent School District 535 in Rochester.

Candidates for the Three Rivers Park District Board will be required to file a statement of economic interest with Hennepin County within 14 days of the end of the candidate filing period. Elected officials will be required to annually file a statement of economic interest. This section takes effect Aug. 1, 2026.

The law also changes the three people who, as a Medical Examiner Board, select the Hennepin County medical examiner. The new criteria are a professor of pathology at the University of Minnesota’s Department of Laboratory Medicine and Pathology, a pathologist practicing at Hennepin Healthcare and the director of medical examiner operations at the county’s medical examiner’s office.

It changes two of the requirements for Hennepin County medical examiner applicants to include that the applicant must be eligible for a license to practice medicine in Minnesota and be board-certified in forensic pathology by the American Board of Pathology. It also changes the requirement that the Medical Examiner Board report to the county board all the applicants instead of only the top seven. This section is effective April 30, 2026.

Requirements for the Rochester School Board’s at-large elections will be removed and candidates will be required to file for specified seats. The district will be permitted to alter its organization into separate election districts despite being a district in a city of the first class. This takes effect upon school board approval for school district elections held after completion of local approval with the caveat that the local approval process must be completed by June 30, 2026, to apply to 2026 school district elections.

The law is sponsored by Rep. Mike Freiberg (DFL-Golden Valley) and Sen. Ann Johnson Stewart (DFL-Wayzata).

HF4241*/SF4660/CH55

HF4241* / SF4660 / CH55