Committee lays over bipartisan green-burial bill after brief testimony

Representative Jeff Dotsett introduced House File 2,769, “Green Burial,” to the Health Finance and Policy Committee on April 2, 2026. The committee adopted the A1 amendment and then heard two brief testifiers before laying the bill over for possible inclusion in an omnibus bill.

The bill implements recommendations that came out of a moratorium and a Minnesota Department of Health study, according to proponents. Mark Thell, a former county commissioner and longtime organic farmer, told the committee the measure follows the study’s recommendations and would “identify what soils are good for for decomposition of the human body.” He said the bill creates additional planning and zoning tools for counties.

Dan Reed, a Carlton County commissioner, described historic examples of burials on private land and said the Minnesota Department of Health guidelines the bill implements should help counties manage future changes. Representative Dotsett said he yielded most of his time to the testifiers and described the measure as bipartisan and developed with stakeholders.

Representative Hewitt and Representative Leemling spoke in support, praising the bill’s implementation of the department’s report. A question from Representative Leemling about a provision in section 3 (changes to required payments/retention percentage) was answered when staff clarified that the section had been deleted in the adopted amendment.

The chair moved the A1 amendment; members voted to adopt it. After discussion, the committee laid House File 2,769 over as amended for possible inclusion in the omnibus bill.

Action taken: A1 amendment adopted; bill laid over as amended for possible inclusion.

Votes at the committee were recorded as voice votes for the amendment; no roll-call tally was given in the transcript.