Skip to main content Skip to office menu Skip to footer
Capital IconMinnesota Legislature

Preventing harassment from false liens the aim of bill passed by House

Protecting Minnesotans from bad actors who use state resources maliciously is behind proposed legislation passed by the House 114-14 Wednesday.

HF3400 would the give secretary of state’s office the ability to set aside clearly fraudulent liens filed to harass or intimidate.

Rep. Athena Hollins (DFL-St. Paul), the bill sponsor, has said it is an easy way to protect people without infringing on anyone’s rights.   

Lien filings that are harassing or retaliatory in nature show common characteristics and are often filed against corrections officers, law enforcement personnel, judges or elected officials.

Strawman filings can also be the first step in other fraudulent activities.

Generally, the fraudulent claims are easy for Office of the Secretary of State staff to pick out: inexact addresses, naming people “deep state traitors” or including unnecessary and personal documents like birth certificates.

Often targets of harassment don’t know they’ve had these claims filed against them until they go to make a large purchase like a home or a car. And to get claims removed under current law, they must retain a lawyer and go to court, which can cost thousands of dollars and possibly delay other transactions for months.  

Filers would be able to appeal if they believe their claim was improperly rejected, and there would be a way to remove claims later shown to be fraudulent if the staff did not see it at the time of filing.

About half the states have similar legislation.

The bill now goes to the Senate where Sen. Andrew Mathews (R-Princeton) is the sponsor.


Related Articles


Priority Dailies

House passes tax package that includes rebate checks, $1 billion in new revenues
Rep. Aisha Gomez and House Majority Leader Jamie Long talk during a break in the May 20 debate on HF1938, the tax finance and policy bill. (Photo by Catherine Davis) Is it the largest tax cut in Minnesota history? Or the biggest tax hike the state has ever experienced? Could it be both? That’s the crux of the debate about the conference ...
House passes finalized cannabis legalization bill, sends it to Senate
A supporter of cannabis legalization demonstrates in front of the Capitol in 2021. The House repassed a bill to legalize recreational cannabis, as amended in conference committee, May 18 and sent HF100 to the Senate. (House Photography file photo) The House gave the green light to adult-use recreational cannabis Thursday. “The day has finally arrived. Today is the day that we are going to vote here in the House for th...

Minnesota House on Twitter