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House advances diving-safety bill after two on-the-job deaths
Summary
The Minnesota House took up House File 1355, the Bridal Ani and Joseph Anderson Safety Act, which would require scuba certification, safety equipment and trained supervision for commercial aquatic-plant removal. The bill’s sponsor said the measure responds to the deaths of two young workers; sponsors and families pressed lawmakers to act quickly.
Saint Paul — The Minnesota House debated and advanced House File 1355 on April 2, 2025, a workplace safety bill that would establish training and equipment requirements for commercial diving in aquatic-plant removal.
Representative Baker, the bill’s author, told colleagues the measure — titled the Bridal Ani and Joseph Anderson Safety Act — responds to two recent deaths and “addresses these gaps with three very straightforward safety measures.” He described the bill as requiring scuba certification, a buoyancy control device and trained supervision, including supervisors trained in CPR. "There is no requirement for scuba certification...There’s no requirement for safety equipment," Baker said on the floor.
Supporters said the bill fills a regulatory gap for a largely unregulated line of work often performed by young seasonal employees. Representative Fisher urged colleagues to "vote green," saying the bill adds “common-sense solutions” and that families and agencies had helped shape the language. Representative Pinto and Representative McDonald also spoke in favor and recounted accounts of inexperienced workers sent into murky water with minimal training.
Baker presented an author’s amendment (A25-0054) that he said aligns language with the companion Senate bill and sets an effective date; he said the Department of Natural Resources and the Department of Labor had helped draft implementation steps and that the effective date in the amendment is Oct. 1. Representative Pinto characterized the amendment as making the bill workable; the amendment was adopted.
Baker said families of the two workers — identified in the bill title as Bridal Ani and Joseph Anderson — were present in the gallery and had testified to the committees. On the floor he described the facts the families presented to lawmakers, including short training on site and lack of on-site CPR certification among supervisors. He said the bill was shaped with input from businesses in the industry, the families, and state agencies and that there is a modest fiscal cost that affected businesses have agreed to absorb.
The clerk took the roll for final action after floor debate; the roll call and final tally were not specified in the excerpt of the session transcript provided.
Why it matters: supporters said the bill targets preventable workplace deaths by creating uniform training, equipment and supervision standards where none currently exist for this subset of commercial diving.
Votes at a glance: the transcript shows the amendment was adopted on the floor and the clerk took the roll for final action on the bill; a final recorded tally for House File 1355 was not included in the provided transcript excerpt.
