A new law rolls back provisions of a 2024 law that imposed stricter training and staffing requirements on broadband installation projects.

Effective May 20, 2025, it eliminates a mandate that two installers be present at all times when directional digging is used for broadband installation near underground utilities.

The new law also amends classroom training requirements by removing an early deadline of July 1, 2025, for metro-area workers; all installers statewide now have until July 1, 2026, to complete their coursework.

Additionally, approved trainers may retroactively seek approval for past course offerings, and if granted, they can apply that approval to individuals who previously completed training under them. However, those individuals must still pass the required exam to obtain certification

Rep. Isaac Schultz (R-Elmdale Township) and Sen. Robert Kupec (DFL-Moorhead) sponsor the law.

HF47/SF908*/CH23

The omnibus cannabis law expands medical cannabis patient protections, clarifies expungement eligibility for some Minnesotans and creates a new lower-potency hemp wholesaler license.

Sponsored by Rep. Zack Stephenson (DFL-Coon Rapids) and Sen. D. Scott Dibble (DFL-Mpls), the new law took effect May 24, 2025.

Medical cannabis

Schools won’t be allowed to refuse to enroll a medical cannabis patient or penalize them solely based on cannabis being federally listed as a controlled substance, nor will landlords be allowed to refuse to rent to a medical cannabis patient or panelize them solely based on cannabis’ federal classification.

Additionally, protections for medical cannabis patients will be extended to patients enrolled in tribal medical cannabis programs, medical cannabis patients from out of state will be allowed to purchase products from a medical cannabis business while visiting Minnesota, and patients will be allowed to have medical cannabis flower and medical cannabinoid products delivered.

Health care facilities in Minnesota will be allowed to adopt restrictions on cannabis products, lower-potency hemp edibles and hemp-derived products. Those restrictions can include that the facility won’t store or maintain a patient’s cannabis products, the patient must keep their cannabis products in a locked container, it won’t provide cannabis or hemp for patients, and cannabis and hemp products must be used in a specific location.

Cannabis convictions

The law allows a person who received a stay of adjudication for possessing or selling cannabis to qualify as a social equity applicant.

A person will be eligible for expungement of a case involving multiple charges if they’re convicted of a cannabis-related count and the other counts were cannabis related and dismissed. Records related to both the conviction and the dismissed charges will be sealed.

Businesses

The law will allow a single-serving beverage to contain a maximum of 10 milligrams of THC and remove the requirement that those beverages be labeled as two servings. It will also increase the limit per serving from 25 to 100 milligrams of cannabidiol, cannabigerol, cannabinol, or cannabichromene.

Retailers will be allowed to give samples of cannabis plants, cannabis flower, cannabis products, lower-potency hemp edibles, or hemp-derived consumer products during a cannabis event.

The law creates a deliver-only option for lower-potency hemp edibles (the gummies and beverages with THC from hemp). A lower-potency hemp edible retailer can have an actual retail location, operate as a delivery service, or both. This would allow companies like DoorDash to deliver a range of things including lower-potency products.

Lower-potency hemp edible manufacturers will be allowed to manufacture, pack and label products intended for sale outside of Minnesota that aren’t compliant with Minnesota law but are compliant with the importing state’s law. Requirements placed on the manufacturers include physically separating those products from Minnesota-compliant products during the process and clearly stating on the packaging that the product isn’t for sale in Minnesota.

The new law creates a lower-potency hemp edible wholesaler license and sets the application fee at $250 and an initial license fee and a renewal license fee at $10,000 each. It also outlines from whom the wholesaler can purchase products and to whom they can sell products, as well as sets requirements for wholesaler operations, importations and transportation.

Two pieces of information will become mandatory for cannabis license applicants to provide: proof that they are a social equity applicant and an attestation that their business policies comply with state law. State law previously said applicants may provide that information.

For business license holders, the law will allow:

• a cannabis microbusiness and mezzobusiness to purchase immature cannabis plants and seedlings, cannabis flower, cannabis products, lower-potency hemp edibles, and hemp-derived consumer products from a cannabis cultivator, a medical cannabis combination business, a lower-potency hemp edible manufacturer or a lower-potency hemp edible wholesaler;

• a cannabis cultivator to sell immature cannabis plants and seedlings and cannabis flower to other cannabis businesses; and

• a cannabis retailer or cannabis wholesaler to purchase from a medical cannabis combination business and from a lower-potency hemp edible wholesaler.

Cities and counties that own or operate a municipal cannabis store will be allowed to hold a lower-potency hemp edible retailer license.

Other policy in the law will:

• make technical changes to reflect the medical cannabis program’s move from the Department of Health to the Office of Cannabis Management;

• add additional security requirements for people transporting cannabis consumer products;

• allow a cannabis testing facility to begin testing while its accreditation is pending if it follows requirements that include showing it is progressing in the accreditation process; and

• require the Office of Cannabis Management to submit a proposal to the Legislature by Jan. 15, 2026, on how to streamline the medical- and adult-use cannabis supply chain while preserving access to medical cannabis for rare and childhood diseases.

HF1615/SF2370*/CH31

The “Minnesota Partition Act” will clarify and reflect modern practices for how court actions involving two or more owners are decided.

Effective Aug. 1, 2025, unless otherwise noted, a new law modernizes Minnesota’s statute on property partition, clarifies eminent domain laws, updates statute to reflect case law on partitions, and changes the effective date a 2024 certain transfer on death deed law.

Among its provisions, the law:

• describes who may bring legal action regarding sales of real property held by two or more joint tenants or tenants-in-common;

• provides that a partition can still occur when there is a dispute as to who owns shares of the property;

• outlines the duties and powers of referees assigned by a court to facilitate property sales, including that referees “shall sell the property by any means to assure the highest and best price, under the most favorable terms”;

• states a court must accept a referee’s report “unless the party seeking to set aside or modify the report can demonstrate that the report is clearly and palpably against the evidence, by a preponderance of the evidence that clearly suggests a mistake, improper motive, bias, or caprice in making the report”;

• modifies who must be notified of an eminent domain report filed by court-appointed commissioners; and

• expands the ways a person affected by an eminent domain action may file an appeal of a district court’s decision.

Effective retroactively from April 27, 2024, the law also changes the application of a transfer on death deed law enacted in 2024.

Rep. Sandra Feist (DFL-New Brighton) and Sen. Michael Kreun (R-Blaine) sponsor the law.

HF359/SF202*/CH2

A largely technical new law updates terms, definitions and notices for contracts for deed, i.e., real estate contracts between buyers and sellers of real property in which sellers provide buyers financing in the purchase and the buyers repay the resulting loan in installments.

Effective May 1, 2025, the law makes a technical change to state statutes on conveyances and taxes paid by removing a reference to determine the time frame for taxes owed related to a contract for deed presented to a county auditor for transfer. It also updates a reference to contract for deed statutes defining an “investor seller.”

The remainder of the law takes effect Aug,1, 2025.

It updates and makes a technical correction to the term “churning” in contract for deed statutes and adds a definition of family member in the same statutes.

A definition of “investor seller” is updated for the application of contract for deed laws and adds two exemptions to the term investor seller: a state agency or political subdivision and a legal entity who has a single natural person as an owner and meets the criteria of the exceptions.

And the law updates the terms in a notice that must be sent to a purchaser for a contract for deed regarding a disclosure of price paid by investor seller to acquire property.

Rep. Anquam Mahamoud (DFL-Mpls) and Sen. Zaynab Mohamed (DFL-Mpls) are the sponsors.

HF1792*/SF505/CH9

The Office of Ombudsperson for American Indian Families will be exempt from the requirement to pay court fees in certain cases.

Current law exempts tribes and tribal representatives from the fee requirement.

The list of actions for which fees are exempt will also be expanded to include those seeking relief under Chapter 256 of state statute (human services matters), Chapter 257 (children and child custody matters), Chapter 518 (marriage dissolution), and portions of Chapter 524 (guardianship of a minor or incapacitated person).

Sponsored by Rep. Sandra Feist (DFL-New Brighton) and Sen. Mary Kunesh (DFL-New Brighton), the law takes effect Aug. 1, 2025.

HF2184*/SF472/CH10

Scuba training, safety equipment and a stand-by diver are now required for companies using divers to clear lakes and ponds of unwanted aquatic plants under the Brady Aune and Joseph Anderson Safety Act.

Named after two young men who died in separate workplace drownings, the law sets training and equipment standards for commercial operations that employ scuba divers to make improvements to the land. Often this means pulling underwater weeds, which had largely been an unregulated industry.

Sponsored by Rep. Dave Baker (R-Willmar) and Sen. Liz Boldon (DFL-Rochester), the law mostly took effect May 2, 2025.

Workers must have, at minimum, a valid open-water scuba diver certificate and be trained in first aid and cardiopulmonary resuscitation.

Companies must provide buoyancy-control devices, quick-release weight systems and illuminated dive beacons for their divers. On request of the diver, companies must provide a depth-monitoring device, an alternative air source, and a dive computer or recreational dive planner.

Companies that willfully violate safety standards may not be issued a license to operate for two years and could not get a license simply by reorganizing.

Before receiving a permit to operate, companies must declare if they will be using scuba equipment. If so, their work must be reviewed by a third-party qualified safety professional, which includes a Labor Department workplace safety consultant, a worker’s compensation loss-control representative or a private safety consultant. This section is effective Oct. 1, 2025.

HF1355*/SF1346/CH8

Teachers with decades of experience will be able to retire sooner with a lower early retirement reduction from the full retirement benefit they would have received at age 65.

That is a key provision in the omnibus pension and retirement law sponsored by Rep. Leon Lillie (DFL-North St. Paul) and Sen. Nick Frentz (DFL-North Mankato). The new benefit for teachers is effective June 30, 2025.

The law provides about $78 million in pension funding for firefighters, police officers, state patrol, and teachers in the 2026-27 biennium. About half is targeted to the Minnesota Teachers Retirement Association.

[MORE: View the spreadsheet]

For that pension plan, the law reduces the age at which a member becomes eligible for the enhanced early retirement reduction from 62 to 60 and lowers the associated benefit reduction percentage from 6% to 5% (which is further reduced by the 2.5% or 3% augmentation under current law).

Per a summary from the Legislative Commission on Pensions and Retirement, “This change means that if a member has reached age 60 (instead of 62) with 30 years of service, the member’s retirement benefit is reduced by approximately 2-2.5%.”

Teachers hired before July 1, 1989, have a career “Rule of 90,” meaning they can retire with full pension benefits if their age plus years of service adds up to 90. Educators hired after that date who elect early retirement (before age 65) have their pension reduced for each year that the start of the pension precedes age 65.

The law will also increase employer contributions to the Teachers Retirement Association from 9.5% to 9.81% for each coordinated member and from 13.5% to 13.81% for members who do not receive Social Security based on their teaching service. An appropriation to school districts and other employers in TRA funds the increase. This is effective June 30, 2025.

For public safety personnel who are members of the Public Employees Retirement Association (PERA) Police and Fire Plan, the law reduces the delay in receiving the first cost-of-living adjustment from three years to two. It also provides a one-time, compounded 3% cost-of-living increase in calendar year 2026, which thereafter reverts to the 1% COLA under current law. These changes come with a $17.7 million cost in each fiscal year.

At a cost of $2.3 million per fiscal year, every state patrol retiree will get a 1.25% annual cost of living increase — up from 1%.

Other parts of the law include:

• for peace officers and firefighters who are members of the Police and Fire Plan and who leave active service due to a duty disability, the period of time that that employers must continue health insurance coverage is capped at 60 months, and once a duty disability determination is made, cities and counties are prohibited from challenging the continuation and payment of health coverage;

• increasing the multiplier used to calculate the retirement annuity for members of the Minnesota State Retirement System (MSRS) General State Employees Retirement Plan from1.7% to 1.9% for years of service earned after June 30, 2025;

• effective for cost-of-living adjustments on or after Jan. 1, 2026, increasing the cost-of-living adjustment from 1.5% to 1.75% for the MSRS General Plan, Legislators Plan and Unclassified Employees Retirement Program;

• effective for cost-of-living adjustments on or after Jan. 1, 2026, increasing the maximum cost-of-living adjustment for the PERA General Plan so it is 1% annually unless the Social Security cost-of-living adjustment is greater than 1%, in which case the COLA matches the Social Security adjustment, not to exceed 1.75%;

• upping the cap on employer matching contributions to the Minnesota State higher education supplemental retirement plan from $2,700 to $4,300 per year;

• implementing legislation recommended by the MSRS correctional plan eligibility work group, the amortization work group, and the state auditor’s fire relief association working group, which met during the interim;

• for defined benefit firefighter relief associations, increasing the maximum lump-sum pension amount for each year of service from $15,000 to $20,000 annually;

• adding penalties for noncompliance by employers required to participate in the Minnesota Secure Choice Retirement Program; and

• requiring a working group to be convened to recommend the features of new pension plans to be administered by MSRS and PERA for probation officers and 911 telecommunicators who are public employees. A report is due to the Legislature by Jan. 15, 2026.

HF1889/SF2884*/CH37

A new law effective Aug. 1, 2025, will ensure people who have a service dog in training are entitled to “full and equal access to all housing accommodations,” that apply to people who have a service dog with them permanently.

About 1,000 volunteers across the state help train and socialize assistance dogs, who are typically ready to go to permanent homes at age 3. Some who want to train dogs have been unable to because of homeowner association restrictions on any pets or those of a certain breed or weight.

Trainers can’t be charged extra to have the dog but are liable for any damage it might cause.

The dogs must be actively trained under the guidance of an accredited organization. Landlords or homeowners may require written notice of that fact, ensuring pets aren’t kept under the guise of being a service dog-in-training.

Rep. Cedrick Frazier (DFL-New Hope) and Sen. Bonnie Westlin (DFL-Plymouth) sponsor the law.

HF688*/SF1317/CH16

A new law will reorganize the North Koochiching Sanitary Sewer Board and the Crane Lake Water and Sanitary District.

Four member positions are removed; however, two are redistributed. The result is International Falls loses a member, the East Koochiching county sewer district gains one, and an at-large member position is created.

The law also allows the Crane Lake Water and Sanitary District to be reduced from five members to three and makes technical corrections to the election process once the district has three members. This takes effect upon the Crane Lake Water and Sanitary District’s compliance with the local approval requirements.

The rest of the law takes effect the day after the North Koochiching board’s compliance with local approval.

Rep. Roger Skraba (R-Ely) and Sen. Grant Hauschild (DFL-Hermantown) are the sponsors.

HF1058*/SF563/CH6

A new law will provide a $50.5 million increase over base for veterans and military affairs funding and make a handful of policy changes.

Sponsored by Rep. Matt Bliss (R-Pennington) and Sen. Aric Putnam (DFL-St. Cloud), the law, effective July 1, 2025, will spend $365.23 million from the General Fund in the 2026-27 biennium.

Of the increased funding, $40.9 million is targeted to the Department of Veterans Affairs, with $39.17 million to support operations at the state’s eight veterans’ homes, including staffing increases for the Bemidji, Montevideo and Preston facilities (each opened early in 2024) to reduce the waitlist of veterans seeking to live there.

Other department increases include a nearly $1.19 million operating adjustment; $300,000 to increase suicide prevention; $300,000 to expand home-delivered meals to veterans, including in Greater Minnesota; $120,000 to provide technical assistance to county veterans service officers for three areas: women veterans, suicide prevention and justice-involved veterans; and $100,000 to Hometown Hero Outdoors to fund outdoor recreational activities and mental health services for currently serving military personnel and veterans.

A fiscal year 2026 allocation of $118,000 is for a task force to develop eligibility requirements for “Veteran of the Secret War in Laos” status. The task force must first meet by Sept. 15, 2025, and it will expire Feb. 15, 2026.

Such status will be granted under state law to certain people who served with special guerilla units or other irregular forces in Laos: naturalized under the federal Hmong Veterans’ Naturalization Act of 2000 or whom the Department of Veterans Affairs has determined “served honorably with a special guerrilla unit or other irregular forces that operated from a base in Laos in support of the armed forces of the United States at any time during the period beginning Feb. 28, 1961, and ending May 14, 1975, and is a citizen of the United States or an alien lawfully admitted for permanent residence in the United States.” An eligibility certificate for the benefits and privileges will be provided to show a veteran’s status.

Five spending increases are targeted to the Department of Military Affairs: $8 million to maintain enlistment and retention bonuses, a $599,000 operating adjustment, $750,000 to sustain the agency’s current Cyber Coordination Cell program that provides “sustained support for Cyber operations readiness within the Minnesota National Guard,” $242,000 in fiscal year 2026 to operate the Holistic Health and Fitness program for the Army National Guard, and $4,000 so 5% of service member base pay is a pension offset for those activated for state active duty. Prior to the law taking effect, only federal active service days are credited towards a National Guard member’s pension.

The law eliminates a $200,000 appropriation each year to the veterans resilience project, an organization that makes eye movement and desensitization and reprocessing therapy available to veterans, current military members and the spouses of each, suffering from posttraumatic stress disorder and trauma.

Other policy in the law will:

• increase the maximum bonded indebtedness allowed for the State Armory Building Commission from $15 million to $45 million;

• increase to $160,000 the annual grant amount that can be made from the Department of Veterans Affairs to the Minnesota Association of County Veterans Services Officers, and allowing up to $60,000 be used “to train technical assistance coordinators and for technical assistance coordinators to travel to consult with Minnesota counties on specific areas of expertise upon request”;

• extend the Department of Veterans Affairs’ read-only access to MAXIS, a computer system used to determine eligibility for public assistance;

• update state statutes governing burial provisions to align with federal laws governing eligibility for burial in veterans cemeteries;

• allow surviving spouses of service members who die because of their military service to remain eligible to use the service member’s education benefits even if the surviving spouse remarries; and

• require placement of a memorial plaque in the Court of Honor on State Capitol grounds to recognize the service and sacrifices of Minnesota’s Gold Star and Blue Star families.

HF2444/SF1959*/CH30

Legislative intent is clarified regarding the types of care eligible for reimbursement under the Hometown Heroes Assistance Program created in 2021 to assist firefighters experiencing critical illnesses and mental health issues.

The law specifies that expenses related to peer-to-peer counseling are reimbursable under the program. It also provides that each firefighter is eligible for two hours of training in understanding and mitigating the risk of job-related critical illnesses and emotional trauma.

Sponsored by Rep. Cheryl Youakim (DFL-Hopkins) and Sen. Jeff Howe (R-Rockville), the law took effect May 7, 2025.

HF1163*/SF1427/CH17

The Department of Corrections will receive $9.09 million from the General Fund in fiscal year 2025 to eliminate a funding deficiency in incarceration and prerelease services.

Increased staffing costs associated with the agency hiring additional staff created the shortfall.

Sponsored by Rep. Kelly Moller (DFL-Shoreview) and Sen. Ron Latz (DFL-St. Louis Park), the law also authorizes the department to reallocate $10 million in unspent fiscal year 2025 appropriations.

The law took effect May 9, 2025.

HF3006/SF3196*/CH19

A new law allows state agencies and political subdivisions to receive certain gifts after a public safety officer from the same agency or political subdivision is killed in the line of duty.

The gift must honor or commemorate the fallen officer, or provide team morale and cohesion services to the recipients, and the gift must follow applicable government gift policies.

Public safety officers include peace officers, corrections officers, firefighters, emergency medical service providers and others in public safety roles.

A state agency or political subdivision shall report any gifts received within three months of use or distribution to the Department of Public Safety. The report must specify the amount or description of the gift, its source, and the use to which it was put. The state agency or political subdivision shall also post this information on its website.

The law also authorizes certain local governments to expend money for a funeral or memorial for a fallen officer, and for travel and participation costs for qualified individuals in national memorial events for fallen public safety officers that occur within 24 months of the death of an officer or local government employee.

Sponsored by Rep. Kaela Berg (DFL-Burnsville) and Sen. Zach Duckworth (R-Lakeville), the law took effect May 1, 2025.

HF124*/SF1266/CH7

Cities and counties can conduct a criminal background check that includes the national database for applications for a license to operate an adult entertainment establishment or provide massage services.

Prior to a new law taking effect Aug. 1, 2025, cities and counties could only conduct a criminal background check that includes records within the state.

Rep. Bernie Perryman (R-St. Augusta) and Sen. Jeff Howe (R-Rockville) sponsor the law.

HF286*/SF803/CH22

People with more than one DWI offense and wish to be licensed to drive again will be required to participate in an ignition interlock program, thus having to establish before driving that they are not at a certain alcohol concentration level.

A new law, effective Aug. 1, 2025, will consolidate license revocation requirements into one section of law, maintaining the existing revocation requirements for those with no prior incidents while extending the lookback period for prior offenses from 10 years to 20 years. It will also specify the time a person must participate in the ignition interlock program before becoming eligible for reinstatement of a standard driver’s license.

Eligibility for ignition interlock is expanded to include criminal vehicular homicide. For someone who commits criminal vehicular homicide or criminal vehicular operation, the license revocation period will be extended, as it will for anyone with a DWI-related offense who has had a prior incident. A gross misdemeanor penalty is established for driving with a license that’s been revoked for a DWI-related offense unless the vehicle is equipped with an ignition interlock device.

All participants in the ignition interlock program must complete a licensed substance use disorder treatment or rehabilitation program.

Prior to the law, a person had to pay the $680 license reinstatement fee before starting interlock. With the change they can start the program without making any payment, but the fee must be fully paid before reinstatement of a standard license.

Rep. Larry Kraft (DFL-St. Louis Park) and Sen. Ron Latz (DFL-St. Louis Park) are the sponsors.

An appropriation from the driver and vehicle services operating account of $382,000 for fiscal year 2026 to expand the ignition interlock program is effective July 1, 2025.

HF2130*/SF2068/CH29

The annual revisor’s law makes miscellaneous and technical corrections to laws and statutes, corrects erroneous, obsolete, and omitted text and references, corrects poor grammar, and removes redundant, conflicting, and superseded provisions.

Sponsored by Rep. Peggy Scott (R-Andover) and Sen. Warren Limmer (R-Maple Grove), the effective dates are dependent on provisions needing clarification.

HF3022*/SF3289/CH20