{"id":391,"date":"2018-05-30T18:02:04","date_gmt":"2018-05-30T18:02:04","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/seekjoy.co\/mmunity\/?p=391"},"modified":"2023-01-02T18:57:20","modified_gmt":"2023-01-02T18:57:20","slug":"mn-gov-mark-dayton-vetoes-guilty-by-association-bill","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/seekjoy.co\/mmunity\/mn-gov-mark-dayton-vetoes-guilty-by-association-bill\/","title":{"rendered":"MN Gov. Mark Dayton Vetoes “Guilty by Association” Bill"},"content":{"rendered":"

[vc_row swatch=”swatch-white-black”][vc_column][vc_column_text]<\/p>\n

The Republican controlled Minnesota Senate passed SF 3463 on May 22, 2018 at the close of the 90th Legislative session. SF 3463, which became known as the \u201cGuilty by Association\u201d bill<\/em>, was designed to preemptively increase penalties for \u201cwater protectors\u201d before the Line 3 Tar Sands Oil Pipeline Replacement Project becomes a stage for a similar public response as what happened at \u201cStanding Rock\u201d in North Dakota with the Dakota Access Pipeline Project. <\/h4>\n

As part of the bill, trespassing laws for critical infrastructure, such as pipelines, in the \u201cCritical Infrastructure; Joint and Several Liability\u201d section expanded to include the following:<\/p>\n

(a) A person who is convicted of trespass under section 609.6055 or damage to property \u2028under section 609.594, or is arrested for a violation of one or both of those sections and \u2028convicted of another offense arising out of the same behavioral incident, may be held liable \u2028for any damages to personal or real property committed by the person while trespassing or \u2028causing damage to property.\u2028<\/span><\/p>\n

(b) A person or entity that knowingly recruits, trains, aids, advises, hires, counsels, \u2028conspires with, or otherwise procures another for the purpose of trespassing or causing \u2028damage to property<\/strong> as described in paragraph (a) may also be jointly and severably liable \u2028for the damages under paragraph (a).<\/span> *Bold added for emphasis<\/em>
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

Furthermore, the PROHIBITED CONDUCT; PENALTY section was modified to include the text below, which upped the charges & fines for the above:<\/p>\n

(c) Unless a greater penalty is provided elsewhere, whoever violates this section with <\/span>
\nintent to damage, destroy, or tamper with equipment, or significantly impede or inhibit <\/span>
\noperation, is guilty of a felony and may be sentenced to imprisonment for not more than <\/span>
\nthree years or to payment of a fine of not more than $5,000, or both.<\/span><\/p>\n

Why we care:<\/strong>
\nOne type of direct action that has been used in the past years against the fossil fuel industry is called \u201cvalve turning\u201d where-in activists would literally trespass into a pumping station and manually turn off the flow of oil through the pipeline. Some of these activists have gotten off on reduced and\/or dropped charges by pleading a \u201cnecessity defense\u201d – meaning that action was necessary to combat climate change (and therefore the future of our species).<\/p>\n

Many groups, including us here at SEEKJOY, feared that the bill’s clause \u201cknowingly recruits, trains, aids, advises, hires, counsels, conspires with, or otherwise procures another for the purpose of trespassing or causing damage to a property\u201d could expose ANYONE involved with the #StopLine3 effort to be held criminally liable for anything that took place on the ground.<\/p>\n

If, say, someone turned a valve here in Minnesota and the individual was brandishing a \u201c#StopLine3\u201d banner as they did so, it could theoretically expose ANYONE who is also supporting the #StopLine3 effort, even if they weren\u2019t involved with planning THAT particular action, as guilty of a gross misdemeanor \u201cby association.\u201d<\/p>\n

As of this morning, Governor Mark Dayton of Minnesota has vetoed SF 3463, the \u201cGuilty by Association\u201d bill. In his veto letter he writes,<\/p>\n

\u201cAlthough this bill is called an act of public safety, its contents would have the opposite effect. I will not support a bill that potentially holds Minnesotans responsible for other people\u2019s actions with which they had no direct involvement.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Dayton closes the Veto letter after summarizing the existing trespass laws in Minnesota by writing, \u201cThose statutes are sufficient to protect the public safety, while still respecting the First Amendment rights of members of that public.\u201d<\/p>\n

We would like to extent our gratitude to Governor Mark Dayton and thank him for standing with the people and the water, as well as everyone involved with calling in to voice their opposition to this bill.<\/p>\n

Sending love!<\/p>\n

Original SF File: https:\/\/www.revisor.mn.gov\/bills\/text.php?number=SF3463&session=ls90&session_year=2018&session_number=0&version=latest<\/a>
\nVeto Announcement via the MN.gov Newsroom: https:\/\/mn.gov\/governor\/newsroom\/?id=1055-341069<\/a>
\nVeto Letter: http:\/\/mn.gov\/gov-stat\/pdf\/2018_05_30_LETTER_VETO_MNLARS%20Chapter_206_HF3463.pdf<\/a>[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row]<\/p>\n<\/section>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Republican controlled Minnesota Senate passed SF 3463 on May 22, 2018 at the close of the 90th Legislative session. SF 3463, which became known as the \u201cGuilty by Association\u201d bill, was designed to preemptively increase penalties for \u201cwater protectors\u201d before the Line 3 Tar Sands Oil Pipeline Replacement Project becomes a stage for a similar public response as what happened at \u201cStanding Rock\u201d in North Dakota with the Dakota Access Pipeline Project.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":392,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[44,40,19,4],"tags":[60,73,46,72],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/seekjoy.co\/mmunity\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/391"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/seekjoy.co\/mmunity\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/seekjoy.co\/mmunity\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/seekjoy.co\/mmunity\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/seekjoy.co\/mmunity\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=391"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/seekjoy.co\/mmunity\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/391\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1762,"href":"https:\/\/seekjoy.co\/mmunity\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/391\/revisions\/1762"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/seekjoy.co\/mmunity\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/392"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/seekjoy.co\/mmunity\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=391"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/seekjoy.co\/mmunity\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=391"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/seekjoy.co\/mmunity\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=391"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}