Committee lays over bipartisan green-burial bill after brief testimony

House File 2769, a bipartisan bill to allow and regulate natural “green” burials in Minnesota, was introduced April 2 before the Minnesota House Health Finance and Policy Committee and laid over as amended.

The bill’s author, Representative Jeff Dotzette, said the measure implements recommendations from a department study and has been developed with stakeholders; the committee adopted an A1 amendment before taking testimony and laid the bill over for possible inclusion in the omnibus package.

Why it matters: The bill would create a statutory framework for natural-organic burial practices and tools for county planning and zoning, reflecting recommendations the Minnesota Department of Health produced after a moratorium and study of green burial practices.

Testimony: Mark Thell, who identified himself as a former county commissioner and longtime organic farmer, told the committee the measure responds to the moratorium and the department study and described the proposal as “forward looking” for soil health and decomposition practices. Dan Reed, identified as a county commissioner from Carlton County, said historical, informal green burials already occurred on family land and supported the department’s guidelines being usable by counties when making future changes.

Members discussed a provision that had proposed changing required cemetery trust-retention payments from 20% to 25%. Representative Liebling asked why the change was included and whether stakeholders agreed. Committee staff clarified that the section had been deleted in the amendment before the bill moved forward.

Outcome and next steps: The A1 amendment was adopted by voice vote and House File 2769 was laid over as amended.

Speakers cited in this report spoke under the bill’s presentation or member discussion; public testimony was not recorded for this bill at the hearing.