Committee approves technical and judge‑privacy amendments to House File 2300, refers bill to Ways and Means

ST. PAUL, Minn. — The Judiciary Finance and Civil Law Committee adopted two amendments to House File 2300 and recommended the bill be re‑referred to the House Committee on Ways and Means during a brief session on Thursday, April 10, 2025.

The amendments included a delete‑all technical amendment and an amendment (A6) addressing judge privacy in property records and county fee structures. Committee members voted by voice to adopt both amendments and to advance the bill; nonpartisan staff were instructed to make technical corrections to the bill language and accompanying spreadsheet.

Nonpartisan staff member Mr. Johnson, who reviewed the larger package labeled the A4 amendment, described the changes as “largely a series of technical changes.” He said the A4 moves a statutory date from 2028 to 2029 “This allows the judicial branch to use its appropriation into the next biennium,” Johnson said. He also explained the amendment removes a long‑standing “boilerplate rider” that set a minimum amount for spending on family law cases and replaces a provision tied to a Guardian ad Litem board report on personnel, volunteers, caseloads and complaints. “It is a number that was set years ago requiring them to spend a certain minimum amount on family law cases. It's my understanding they spend significantly more than that on family law. And so there's been a decision to just stop using that rider every 2 years,” Johnson said.

Johnson also summarized other technical edits, saying the amendment deletes two sections from a uniform laws provision and changes a deadline tied to data practices responses from “5 days” to “5 business days.”

Rep. Curran moved the A6 amendment and explained it reflected stakeholder negotiations held the previous day. “So the A6 reflects that meeting,” Curran said. Curran described the amendment as narrowing an existing provision to apply to judges, removing references to certain staff, and adding a clause to clarify that property information posted on commercial websites such as Zillow would not violate the statute “as long as they're not identifying who the property belongs to.” Curran said the amendment also changes the fee structure to allow counties to charge up to $75 for related services and incorporates cleanup language recommended by the Minnesota State Bar Association. Curran said the amendment does not alter civil penalties previously removed in an earlier amendment.

Chair Liebling described the A4 and A6 as negotiated fixes and praised the collaborative process. “This is a totally agreed to amendment that we've been working on,” Liebling said. Committee members gave voice approval for the A4 and A6, then adopted the delete‑all (DE) as amended. Chair Scott renewed the motion to recommend House File 2300, as amended, be re‑referred to Ways and Means and asked nonpartisan staff to make technical corrections.

The meeting was brief; there were no recorded roll‑call tallies in the transcript. Committee leaders said future meetings this session will be held as needed at the call of the chair.

Votes at a glance: The transcript records voice votes approving the A4 amendment, the A6 amendment, adoption of the DE as amended, and the committee's recommendation to re‑refer House File 2300 to Ways and Means. The transcript records no recorded divisions or named vote tallies.