New Laws In Minnesota Effective July 2018

Staff at the Minnesota State Legislature have released a list of select new laws passed during the 2018 legislative session that took effect July 1, 2018. Below is a summary of each new law:

1. Athletic trainers now need a license to train athletes

A new law will shift athletic trainers from a registration system to a licensure system. The new law will allow currently registered trainers to have their registration converted to a license at the time of their next renewal.

Rep. Mary Franson (Republican from Alexandria) who sponsored the law with Sen. Jim Abeler (Republican out of Anoka) said this will better protect the public, in part, because potential trainers are now required to complete a background check in order to receive a license.

The law also changes how supervised hours required to be a licensed psychologist will be counted. In addition to requiring two hours per week, aspiring licensees must complete a total of 100 hours of supervision.

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2. More than $230,000 for former prisoners

Each year, a joint House-Senate subcommittee decides which claims against the state it should fund. This year’s law calls for $261,293 in payments, the bulk of which will go to three men who were wrongly imprisoned.

Enacted in 2014, the Imprisonment and Exoneration Remedies Act is a compensation process for cases where a person was exonerated of a felony for which they were wrongfully incarcerated. Three such cases will be covered under this year’s law.

• $131,636 to Ronnie Patterson, who spent 679 days in prison and 131 days on supervised release
• $82,500 to Hollis Larson, who spent 432 days in prison and 93 days on supervised release
• $20,446 for Sammy Jackson, who served 104 days in prison.

The law, effective July 1, will also provide $10,209 for a former Stillwater prison inmate who sustained permanent injuries — including a partial amputation — to three fingers while performing assigned duties, and $4,195 to cover five claims against the Department of Corrections by individuals who suffered injuries while incarcerated, or performing community service or sentence-to-service work.

A $12,305 claim against the Revenue Department is included for taxes improperly paid to the state for transactions occurring in South Dakota.

3. Budget office tweaks

A 2017 law created a Legislative Budget Office. This year’s capital investment law contains a number of small changes, including removal of the office from jurisdiction of the Legislative Coordinating Commission, and establishing duties for its director (who will be deemed a public official). These are effective July 1, 2018.

Also effective July 1, the law calls for establishment of a Legislative Budget Office Oversight Commission.

4. New law makes changes to Taconite Economic Development Fund

A new law clarifies the use of the Taconite Economic Development Fund and restricts the use of the Douglas J. Johnson Economic Protection Trust Fund.

The law will allow funds to be released from the Taconite Economic Development Fund before the next Iron Range Resources and Rehabilitation Board meeting and redirects unused matching funds to the Taconite Environmental Protection Fund. It redirects unused amounts in the development fund exclusively to the environmental fund, rather than splitting leftover money with the economic protection fund.

Among other changes, the law:

• Extends distributions to the Iron Range School Consolidation and Cooperatively Operated School Account to 2018 and 2019 (effective for distributions beginning in 2018 and thereafter)
• Specifies that, for the 2018 distribution only, if there is money left in the Taconite Property Tax Relief Account after the required property tax relief payments, 10 cents per ton will be sent to the Iron Range Resources and Rehabilitation Account

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