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A new paid family and medical leave program launches Thursday along with several new laws aimed at providing break time for workers and adding legal protections for vulnerable adults.

The new laws will also impact boating fees and areas where hunters can shoot with shotguns. 

Some proposals passed under a DFL-trifecta at the Capitol in 2023, but most were adopted this year in the narrowly-split Legislature.

Here’s a look at the new laws taking effect when the calendar flips to 2026.

Beginning Thursday, most Minnesota workers can access 

new paid family and medical leave benefits

 managed by the state. Under the program, workers and employers pay a payroll tax that will then allow workers to receive partial pay if they are recovering from a sickness or injury, caring for a loved one, bonding with a new baby or going through other defined situations.

About three-quarters of Minnesota workers will see more generous benefits than they have right now. Workers can take up to 12 weeks of paid medical leave and 12 weeks of paid family leave, with a cap between the two programs of 20 weeks within a year. They’ll also be protected against losing their position if they take paid leave and will have legal protection against retaliation from an employer.

Workers will also have more clearly-timed breaks for using the restroom or eating meals while on the job. 

New laws spell out that employees will have a rest break of 15 minutes or enough time to seek out the nearest convenient restroom for every four hours worked. They’ll have a 30-minute window for a meal break for every six consecutive hours they work. That’s different from the “adequate time” standard currently that has been on the books.

The state’s minimum wage will be increased to $11.41 an hour after being adjusted for inflation starting on Thursday. That’s an increase from the current $11.13 rate per hour. The 90-day training wage for workers under the age of 20 will also grow by 2.5 percent to $9.31 per hour. Workers in Minneapolis and St. Paul will see higher rates because their employers are subject to local minimum-wage rules.

Minnesotans applying to request an absentee ballot will be asked to provide both a Minnesota driver’s license number or state identification card number, along with the last four digits of their social security number if they apply online. There’s an exception if a person certifies they don’t have one of those numbers.

Voters will also see clearer labels on sample ballots they receive by mail. Organizations that send them out need to note that they aren’t official government election communications and aren’t being sent at the request of government officials. They also need to note that the sample ballot can’t be cast as an official ballot.

There had been confusion in recent years about advocacy organizations sending out sample ballots that looked similar to official absentee ballots.

Protecting older adults from financial abuse

Another law would create an expedited court process to block a potential bad actor from  financially exploiting a vulnerable adult. 

Under the policy, a vulnerable adult could ask the court to prohibit contact with someone if they are financially exploiting them or posing a risk of irreparable harm to the vulnerable person. 

The court would then have 14 days to hold a hearing and could opt to freeze the person’s assets and lines of credit if it’s determined the adult is at risk of a scam or exploitation. Victims of fraud could also receive restitution from a 

set up through the state. Lawmakers approved that policy this year and it is set to take effect in 2026.

The Minnesota Legislature voted earlier this year to raise the fees that farmers, cities, businesses and industries pay for a permit to use groundwater or water from lakes or rivers. They'll also pay higher annual fees for reporting their water use.

Jason Moeckel, assistant director of the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources’ ecological and water resources division, said the higher fees will help the DNR add staff to handle increasingly complex permit requests in areas with water challenges.

"It's going to help us be more timely so people can be in compliance and they can have the permits that they need, and we can assure Minnesotans that we're using our water sustainably,” Moeckel said.

Starting Jan. 1, the application fee for a water-use permit is $600, up from $150. The annual reporting fees vary based on the amount of water used.

Farmers don’t welcome the higher fees, especially in a tough agricultural economy, said Jake Wildman, president of the Irrigators Association of Minnesota. But Wildman said he hopes the additional revenue will allow the DNR to speed up the permit approval process, which he said can drag out for years.

Starting Jan. 1, Minnesotans will pay a higher surcharge on boats and other watercraft licenses to help pay for controlling aquatic invasive species.

State lawmakers raised the annual watercraft AIS surcharge from the current $10.60 to between $14 and $62, depending on the boat size, type and use. A watercraft license is valid for three years.

The last time the AIS surcharge was raised was 2019, said Kelly Pennington, supervisor of the invasive species unit at the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources. 

“I think really the reasoning behind it was just to keep up with our increasing challenges in Minnesota for managing aquatic invasive species and the increasing costs that go along with that,” Pennington said.

The vast majority of boat owners will see an increase of less than $10 a year on their watercraft registrations, she said.

The higher surcharge will allow the DNR to increase the amount of grants it provides to local governments and organizations to control aquatic invasive species in lakes and rivers, Pennington said.

Starting this week, deer hunters in southern Minnesota will no longer be restricted to using shotguns, muzzleloaders or handguns to hunt during the firearm season. The area where the restrictions were in place was known as the "shotgun zone." 

It was established to increase deer numbers in areas where populations were low. 

Paul Burr, the state Department of Natural Resources’ big game program coordinator, said the nearly 80-year-old law wore out its usefulness. 

"It’s an antiquated law. Shotgun technology has come so far, a lot of them are comparable to rifles, I would argue,” Burr said. “So that restriction on hunters by limiting them to shotguns doesn't really make much sense anymore.”

Burr said that’s coupled with the fact that the deer population in the southern part of the state has really rebounded. Counties in the former zone can still adopt ordinances to counteract the law change.

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A slate of new laws spanning new benefits for workers, protections for vulnerable adults and boating fees for conservancy efforts will take hold on Jan. 1.

These new laws take effect in Minnesota as 2026 arrives

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