The Minnesota Senate recently passed significant State Government legislation, which includes a bill to combat the California Cars Minnesota Mandate. Authored by Senator Andrew Mathews (R-Princeton), the Minnesota Consumer Choice of Fuel Act repeals the governor’s electric vehicle mandate and allows Minnesota to decide the vehicles they drive and use.

Without this legislation, the California Cars Minnesota mandate, pushed into law by Governor Tim Walz in May 2021, would go into effect in 2024 and require a specific number of electric vehicles be carried on every car dealership lot. Mathews’ bill, therefore, prohibits a state agency from adopting rules that restrict consumer choice of motorized equipment, based on the equipment itself or the equipment’s fuel source.  This includes yard tools, vehicles, recreational vehicles, farm equipment or heavy-duty trucks.

“Electric vehicles are already gaining ground in the marketplace, so there is no place for an electric vehicle mandate in Minnesota. The California Cars Minnesota mandate lead by Governor Walz is based on California’s air quality regulations and blatantly disregards the unique needs of Minnesotan citizens,”Mathews said. “Whether it be farmers, auto stakeholders, or the everyday consumer, we all should have the freedom to choose our own vehicles to purchase without government intervention and coercion. That’s why my bill affirms the right of Minnesotans to choose the vehicle that fits their lifestyle and protects consumers from politically motivated policies that cost them hard-earned dollars.”

This legislation contains two key provisions, SF 2956 and SF 3469, to keep our elections safe and secure. Highlights include requiring a specific security marking to identify genuine absentee ballots, adding security and transparency measures to drop boxes, and ensuring that a ballot is only placed in a drop box by the voter themselves. Minnesota law already allows for a voter to turn in up to three ballots at an in-person early absentee voting location.

Additionally, these provisions provide the Secretary of State’s Office onetime funding of $6 million for local election grants to help hire temporary staff to enter voter registration applications into the Statewide Voter Registration System. Further, the Minnesota IT Services receives $4 million in Fiscal Year 2023, and $1 million each Fiscal Year thereafter, to publicly provide and maintain election livestream recordings and requirements for absentee ballot boards.

“Election security is a topic I regularly hear about when out in our community,” Mathews said. “The State Government bill contains critical resources to keep Minnesota’s elections safe, secure and transparent. We are increasing absentee ballot security, keeping our elections free from the influence of outside interest groups, and protecting taxpayer dollars.”

The State Government bill also includes an important policy provision to block special interests from buying access to state government. This addresses a current issue where many contracted lawyers in the Attorney General’s office have ties to other politically affiliated groups and may be using their influence to push an outside agenda using a public office. This provision, therefore, requires all legal services of the Attorney General’s office to be performed only by employees.

To keep Minnesota elections free of outside influence, the bill also contains a significant provision prohibiting non-governmental groups from paying for election related expenses. Under this bill, counties, municipalities, and school districts are prohibited from accepting contributions of any form from a for-profit or non-profit organization related to local or federal elections expenses. In other words, this bans ‘Zuckerbucks’ from being used by locals to execute or influence any sort of election activity.

Finally, to protect taxpayer dollars and ensure they are not misused, this legislation includes a provision, authored by Sen. Michelle Benson (R-Ham Lake), to ensure non-profits receiving grants from the state of Minnesota have the track record of quality financial management. It changes the requirements for grants going to tax exempt nongovernmental organization, such as requiring the organization to submit two years of Internal Revenue Service Form 990 and prohibiting the hiring of public employees or elected officials. 

Additional elections and campaign finance provisions include:

• SF 651 (Kiffmeyer) In-Person Absentee Voting Requirements: Adapts where voters can go to participate in in-person absentee voting (i.e., early voting).
• SF 3077 (Kiffmeyer) Non-Governmental Voter Registration Mailing Modifications: Requires that any mailing sent by or on behalf of a committee or any other private organization, such as a sample ballot or absentee ballot application, to make multiple statements of transparency to the recipient. 
• SF 3655 (Koran) Classification of Voter Data: Modifies how the state classifies voter data. Specifically, it classifies most voter registration system data as public, except for birth dates, social security numbers, DL numbers, ID numbers, and passport numbers, which are classified as private data under chapter 13.
• SF 3975 (Kiffmeyer) Absentee Ballot Envelope Technical Changes: Makes technical changes to statute relating to the delivery of absentee ballot envelopes including language referencing the signature envelope and the secrecy envelopes for ballots.