PASSED
Social Media Safeguards for Children (SF 4696 – Maye Quade): Social media platforms are designed to capture and hold attention, and adolescents are particularly susceptible to compulsive patterns of use. Today’s kids are entering an online environment that is becoming more aggressive and more personalized. However, there are still few meaningful safeguards in place to protect them.
The law requires age monitoring and verification for social media platforms, parental approval, and specifictreatment of accounts for children under 15 years of age related to addictive features, paid advertising, andthe creation and termination of accounts.
The law also creates penalties for violations of these provisions. The law is to work in conjunction with the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Rule (“COPPA”), the federal law that governs children’s online privacy.
Damage Done by Peace Officers Homeowners Insurance Prohibition (HF 4133 – Westlin): Lawenforcement deployed tear gas and other chemical irritants into the Hortman home during the morning ofJune 14th. This left significant damage that would require more extensive remediation, not just basiccleaning. It took a significant amount of time going back and forth between homeowner’s insurance andthe city’s insurance, which under state law covers property damage involving police officers’ actions in theline of duty, to sort out the scope of the work.
The bill passed this session prohibits homeowner’s insurance policies from excluding coverage for damage done to property from a peace officer’s use of chemical irritants, smoke screens, or diversionary devices, when the damage occurs while the peace officer is executing a search warrant or apprehending a criminal. The bill was brought forward by Colin Hortman in an effort to streamline the insurance process if law enforcement does any property damage while making an arrest of issuing a warrant – the bill additionally clarifies that such clean-up work would be covered by insurance to ensure that the home is safe again.
AI Utilization Review Regulation (SF 1856 – Maye Quade): Utilization review is a process used by health insurers to evaluate the medical necessity of health care services sought by an enrollee. Existing state law requires a physician or other appropriate specialist toreview and make all adverse determinations that are based on clinical reasoning. However, artificial intelligence can currently be used elsewhere in the utilization review process to identify potential clinical concerns and non-clinical administrative deficiencies.
The bill passed in the 2026 Commerce CCR clarifies that a utilization review organization is prohibited from exclusively using forms of automated processing to make an adverse determination for coverage of benefits. A human clinician review is required for this purpose.
Increased Deposit Limit for Consumer Restitution Account (SF 4687 – Rest): The Consumer Protection Restitution Account was passed during the 2025 legislative session to help victims of scams and fraud recover their financial losses. The 2026 Commerce CCR included the following two changes that willensure the fund better serves Minnesotans into the future.
- Increases the annual limit on the fund from $5 million to $10 This annual limit applies to fund revenue sourced by consumer enforcement public compensation and is not forecasted because it’s unpredictable and considered windfall funds.
- Limits the maximum amount of restitution an individual can Without this change, the 2025law prescribes that eligible consumers must be paid out in full, meaning that one individual who lost one million dollars could receive full restitution while those who lost significantly less are forced to wait or never receive restitution at all.
Reimbursement Rate Parity for Mental Health Trainees (SF 4018 – Wiklund): Clinical trainees –including graduate interns, practicum students, and post-graduate supervisees – deliver a substantial amount of direct mental health services in community clinics, hospitals, schools, and nonprofit organizations. Many current insurance policies limit the ability of organizations to pay for these servicesdelivered by trainees. This creates financial strain for mental health providers and reduces the number of available training opportunities.
This change passed in the Commerce CCR will ensure that Minnesota can protect the provider pipeline andensure that access to mental health services is not dictated by an arbitrary billing requirement from a single carrier.
Crypto Kiosk Ban (SF 3868 – Hemmingsen-Jaeger): Kiosks look like ATMs but allow people to use cash or a debit card to purchase cryptocurrency. Law enforcement have seen a surge in scam cases involving cryptocurrency kiosks that target older Minnesotans and have defrauded victims out of tens of thousands of dollars.
When at a kiosk, which can be found in gas stations and grocery stores, victims are told by the scammer to input cash using an existing customer number and are prompted to bypass warning prompts to circumvent current state law regulating cryptocurrency kiosks. When the cash is converted into cryptocurrency, it’s quickly gone and often untraceable. This makes these cases almost impossible for law enforcement to investigate based on how the money moves from the ATM to overseas, outside of law enforcement’s jurisdiction.
Minnesota was one of the first states to enact a law that restricts and regulates virtual currency kiosks. However, scammers have found ways to circumvent the 2023 regulations by instructing victims to split transactions into smaller amounts, directing them to different kiosk locations, and telling victims what to say if they’re questioned to avoid intervention. Therefore, an outright ban is needed to ensure that consumers – mostly elderly consumers –stop getting scammed by these malicious fraudsters.
Liquor Minibus (SF 2511 – Klein): The package included several noncontroversial liquor bills – mostly authorizations for local liquor licenses. Notably, the minibus included Senator Hoffman’s SF 4256, known as the “Granny Happy Hour Bill”, that authorizes nursing homes and assistant living facilities to allow residents to display and consumer alcohol.
Meat Raffle Changes (SF 4515 – Duckworth): Various changes to Minnesota’s meat raffle law were passed in the Commerce CCR. The provision increases the maximum value of a meat raffleprize to $200 and a maximum ticket cost to $5 – these limits have not been changed in 30 years. Previousstate laws capped meat raffle prizes at $70 and tickets at $2.
Short-Term Home Health and Nursing Private Insurance Product Creation (SF 4390 – Rasmusson):
Individuals and families across Minnesota frequently encounter situations where short-term care is needed in the home following a surgery, illness, or injury. While these needs are often temporary, they can present meaningful financial and logistical challenges. In many cases, individuals expect that existingcoverage will address these situations, only to find that available options are limited.
Medicare provides home health benefits under specific conditions, but access is restricted and not always aligned with the needs of individuals recovering at home. Traditional long-term care insurance is designed for extended or chronic conditions and may not be a practical or affordable option for those seeking coverage for shorter-term recovery periods. As a result, many consumers face out-of-pocket expenses orrely heavily on informal caregiving from family members.
Senator Rasmusson’s bill to create a short-term care insurance product will help address this coverage gap on the private market.
Other Miscellaneous Provisions:
- Home care nursing 62J requirement: Requires Dept of Commerce to conduct a 62J evaluation related to home care nursing and submit a report to the legislature.
- SF 1699 – Draheim: Adds hasenpfeffer to the list of social games for the purposes of tournaments or contests.
- SF 4157 – Utke: Establishes rental home marketplace guarantees which allow owners to be reimbursed for property damage caused by a renter.
- SF 3779 – Seeberger/Rest: Authorizes the commissioner to issue limited lines travel insurance producer license and allows a travel retailer to offer limited lines travel insurance. Establishes travel protection plans and sales practices.
- SF 4366 – Govs Rec: Establishes when funds held for prepayment of funeral related expenses and virtual currency is considered abandoned for purposes of the state’s unclaimed property laws.
- SF 5046 – Govs Rec: Repeals the Drug Affordability Advisory Council; updates to Non-depository institutions; makes technical updates to the 2025 Reinsurance deal.
- SF 4264 – Govs Rec: Modifies existing securities statutes related to broker dealers and agents; establishes regulations related to crowdfunding.
- SF 4364 – Govs Rec: Technical changes related to weights and measures; clarifies when annual statements must be filed with the commissioner.
- SF 4365 – Govs Rec: Establishes residential mortgage loan servicing standards. Modifies provisions related to student loan lenders and servicers reporting requirements. Modifies provisions related to lead generators.
- Group Coverage: Allows the group policy holder to assume responsibility for notifying all covered persons if a cancellation in coverage occurs.
- Copper wire scrap metal license updates: Clarifies the proof of identity required by an individual or an entity that is a scrap metal dealer. Establishes an application for individuals and for entities.
- HF 3709 (Seeberger): Allows banks and credit unions in Minnesota to provide virtual-currency custody services.
- HF 4502 (Duckworth): Allows financial services providers to communicate with a customer through a trusted contact.
- HF 4052 (Rasmusson): Amends and repeals several statutes that governed the regulation of telephone companies for decades, many of which are now obsolete as a result of technological advances and price deregulation.
- SF 2814 (Weber): Allows the commissioner to consider the current version of the Voluntary Disciplinary Action Matrix published by the Appraisal Foundation.
- SF 4444 (Frentz): Allows a Minnesota-chartered credit union to insure accounts through a credit union share guaranty corporation, not solely through the National Credit Union Administration.
- SF 4168 (Duckworth): Keeps the restriction on financed lender fees and prepayment penalties for consumer purpose loans, while giving lenders originating, and borrowers seeking, loans for business purposes the option to finance the lender fee and provide a longer prepayment penalty period.
Did NOT Pass:
Home Care Nursing Mandate Clarification (SF 4502 – Boldon):Last year, around 250 families were made aware (some after open enrollment closed) that their health insurance would be capped for their children with complex medical needs. The families state that this change violated a 2010 state law that at-home nursing “shall be covered” by private insurers for patients who also qualify for MA due to their disabilities – and that this care is uncapped. The bill that failed to make the final Commerce report would have clarified the 2010 legislative intent of 62Q.545 – which was for commercial plans to act as a primary payer for home care nursing services to reduce cost shifting to MA and preserve institutional alternatives.
62J.26 Insurance Mandates: The following state-regulated private insurance requirements failed to cross the finish line this year due to opposition from the Health Plans and GOPers.
- SF 970 – Dziedzic/Mann: Requires health insurance companies to provide coverage for bowel and bladder management for spinal cord injuries without quantity limits.
- SF 1946 – Kupec: Requires health issuers to provide coverage for alternatives to prescription opioids to treat and manage pain, such as nonopioid drugs and nonpharmacologic, nonoperative modalities.
- SF 3768 – Oumou Verbeten: Requires health insurance companies to provide coverage for doula services at no cost (i.e. co-payments, deductibles, or coinsurance).
- SF 3716 – Mann: Requires health issuers to provide coverage for pap tests and additional diagnostic services if determined medical necessary by a provider, without cost sharing or utilization review.
- SF 2071 – Mann: Prohibits health issuers that cover diabetes treatment from using step therapy protocols to limit or exclude coverage for Rx inulin drugs.
- SF 1302 – Mann: Require health insurance companies to cover clinical genetic testing and cancer imaging at no cost (i.e. co-payments, deductibles, or coinsurance), except in the case of a HDHP. Coverage of clinical genetic testing services would apply to enrollees with a personal or family history of cancer, and imaging services would apply to enrollees with an increased risk of cancer, as determined by the National Comprehensive Cancer Network (NCCN).
- SF 1101 – Wiklund: Requires health issuers to provide coverage for augmentative and alternative communication systems, including repair and replacement, as determined medically necessary and appropriate. This proposed mandate also requires coverage for habilitation services as medically necessary.
340B Sunset Extension & Enforcement (SF 3769 – Klein): Beginning in 2020, drug manufacturers began unilaterally imposing restrictions on 340B discounts at contract pharmacies, undermining the intent of the program and denying Minnesota’s safety-net providers millions of dollars in drug savings. These restrictions have forced covered entities to absorb significant financial losses and, in many cases, to scale back the very services the 340B program was designed to support.
In response to these manufacturer-imposed restrictions, the 2024 legislature took action to protect 340B contract pharmacy arrangements. Unfortunately, the 2026 bill to remove the 2024 sunset and provide attorney general enforcement stalled due to opposition from Big Pharma and House GOPers.
AI Chat Bot Prohibition (SF 1857– Maye Quade): Senator Maye Quade’s bill to prohibit minors from accessing chatbots failed to pass this year due to House GOP and industry opposition. These social AI companions often encourage children and teens to share personal thoughts, feelings, and experiences. Over time, young users view the chatbot as a trusted relationship rather than a piece of software. What starts as casual use can slowly replace real-world connection, guidance, and emotional support during a critical stage of development. Children have been encouraged by AI chatbots to commit acts of self-harm, and in some cases, suicide.
Pet Shop Ban (SF 1943– Dibble): The Senate passed Senator Dibble’s bill that would prohibit new pet shops from selling cats and dogs, while grandfathering in the few existing pet shops in the state. Several states and hundreds of local governments have already made it illegal to sell dogs and cats in pet shops, with the goal of reducing puppy mills and giving consumers more transparency or where their dogs come from. Unfortunately, the House never took up the bill due to GOP opposition.
DTC Rx Television Advertisement Prohibition (SF 3650– Draheim): The cost of healthcare is staggering – and the largest portion of the cost is pharmaceuticals. It is estimated that big pharma spends a fourth of their ungodly profits (the most profit in the world behind the diamond industry) on direct-to-consumer advertising. To address this staggering disparity, the Commerce supplemental budget included Senator Draheim’s bipartisan bill that would ban direct to consumer advertising TV ads in Minnesota. Unfortunately, the bill didn’t cross the finish line due to opposition from the House GOP.
UCare Medicare Supplemental Plans Fix (SF 4020– Wiklund): UCare announced in December that they were terminating all Medigap policies – leaving an extremely short notice for beneficiaries to enroll in a new Medigap plan. Senator Wiklund’s bill that was removed by the House GOP in conference committee would’ve allowed for individuals whose Medicare Supplemental plan is discontinued through no fault of the insured – whether due to insolvency or an insurer’s decision to leave the market – to have access to the Medicare Supplemental plans offered by other insurers. This means that individuals who previously selected Extended Basic coverage can maintain that same level of protection rather than being forced into a less comprehensive plan.
Statewide Social District License (SF 1182– Putnam): In 2022, the legislature authorized the city of Anoka to issue a social district license and later extended the authorization to the cities of Shakopee and Stillwater. Senator Putnam’s bill would give cities authorization to issue social district licenses and provide related regulations for the licenses. The bill was stalled this session due to opposition from the GOP House.
Surveillance Pricing Prohibition (SF 4711– Port): Surveillance pricing is when a company uses data collected on customers to individualize prices, essentially setting different prices for different customers buying the same product instead of the same price for all customers. Senator Port’s bill to ban the practice was stalled due to industry concerns and will be worked on over the interim.
MN Science-Based Vaccine Advisory Council Creation (SF 3859 – Klein): Last summer, RFK Jr. fired the 17-member Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP). Two days later, he named 8 new members to ACIP (one withdrew shortly after being named to the committee). Then, on July 31, DHS notified more than two dozen organizations (referred to as liaison organizations) that have collaborated with ACIP – such as the American Medical Association and the American Academy of Pediatrics – that they would be barred from participating in the process of developing vaccine recommendations. These organizations have typically played an important role on the ACIP work groups that draft recommendations.
Minnesota benefits from having a stable, state-level, science-based process to review emerging evidence and maintain continuity in vaccine policy. Unfortunately, Senator Klein’s bill to create a state-level council stalled this session and was never passed off the Senate Floor.
Reinsurance Sunset Removal (SF 3936 – Dahms): The 2025 Commerce CCR funded Minnesota’s reinsurance program, or the Minnesota Premium Security Plan (MPSP) through the final two years of the state’s current waiver through 2027. The funding comes from the Health Care Access Fund (HCAF) for plan year 2026 and through an assessment on the members of the Minnesota Comprehensive Health Association (MCHA) to pay for the cost of plan year 2027. The members of the MCHA who deliver health care services will be reimbursed through a tax credit both from the general fund and other various special revenue funds in 2030.
Senate DFLers successfully blocked Senator Dahms’ bill that would remove the limitation that the assessment to fund the Minnesota Premium Security Plan (reinsurance) be one-time only. Current law requires group health carriers to pay an assessment only in 2028 based on the request from health carriers in the individual market to reinsurance enrollees.