Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Statute Repeal topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Senate committee hears bill to repeal campaign statutes deemed unconstitutional
Summary
The Senate Elections Committee heard Senate File 2236, an Office of Administrative Hearings agency bill that would repeal two campaign-related criminalization provisions the committee says higher courts have found unconstitutional; the bill was laid over for possible inclusion in the omnibus bill.
Senate File 2236, an agency bill from the Office of Administrative Hearings that would repeal two campaign-related criminal provisions, was introduced and laid over by the Senate Elections Committee on March 27.
The bill includes a repeal of two statutory provisions the author and agency counsel described as inconsistent with higher-court decisions. Senator Gustafson told the committee the measure would remove a gross-misdemeanor provision that currently criminalizes knowingly disseminating false information in political advertising, campaign material or a letter to the editor and another provision that restricts religious, charitable or educational organizations from requesting political contributions. "Section 2.11(b)(0.06) makes a person guilty of a gross misdemeanor for certain actions related to disseminating information in political advertising ... that the person knows to be false or communicates to others with reckless disregard," Gustafson said during her introduction.
Abigail Reinking, associate general counsel at the Office of Administrative Hearings, testified for the agency and told the committee the repealers respond to past Eighth Circuit decisions and are intended to align Minnesota statutes with those rulings. Reinking described the changes as cleaning up existing law rather than creating new policy and said she was available to answer committee questions.
Committee members had no additional questions during the session. Chair Carlson said the committee would lay the bill over for possible inclusion in the omnibus bill.
Because the committee did not take a final committee vote on the merits, the bill was recorded as laid over for potential omnibus inclusion. No formal amendments or votes on the bill's merits were reported.
