The Minnesota Senate on Monday narrowly approved a controversial bill making one-sided changes to rules affecting landlords and tenants that fails to address skyrocketing rent prices in Minnesota. 

Sen. Eric Lucero (R-St. Michael), the lead Republican on the Senate’s Housing and Homelessness Prevention Committee, sharply criticized the misplaced priorities in the bill: “The cost of housing in Minnesota is dramatically more expensive than all surrounding states. Unfortunately, the Democrat majority has put virtually zero effort into addressing the root causes of expensive housing in Minnesota. Instead of encouraging more homeownership and the development of additional rental properties, Democrats took an adversarial approach to the landlord-tenant relationship that reduces private property rights and jeopardizes the safety of everyone who lives in multi-family housing. We need to be doing more to increase the supply of affordable housing options. The Democrats failed to deliver.” 

The bill allows tenant organizing groups access to apartment buildings, even if they are not residents of those buildings. The change presents potential safety concerns for residents and staff, particularly after a Brooklyn Park apartment complex caretaker was murdered in February. Republicans offered an amendment that would have allowed landlords to conduct background checks on any non-resident tenant organizer and prohibit entry to organizers convicted of any violent crimes such as murder, assault, robbery, sex crimes, and drug crimes involving controlled substances. Democrats defeated the amendment. 

Republicans also offered an amendment to remove the controversial portions of the bill and pass a clean, bipartisan tenant bill. The amendment included additional protections for tenants who terminate a lease without penalty if they fear violence due to domestic abuse, sexual crimes, or harassment; prohibit pet deposit fees for service animals; prohibit penalties for tenants who call for emergency mental health assistance; and make other minor agreed-upon changes to leases and late fees. That amendment was also defeated by the Senate Democrat majority. 

Republicans also offered an amendment that would have stripped cities of their Local Government Aid if they fail to enforce existing squatter laws. The amendment was an attempt to proactively address an issue that has become a target of exploitation in other areas of the country. The Senate Democrat majority voted the amendment down. 

Republicans did successfully add a tenant privacy amendment to the bill, clarifying that landlords are not required to disclose private information about tenants to organizers.