Yet another lawsuit was announced Monday challenging the “gargantuan” omnibus bill passed by the DFL trifecta during the final hours of the 2024 Minnesota legislative session.
As the lawsuit explains, the bill in question combined nine previously-distinct omnibus bills into one mega-omnibus and was passed in “mere minutes.” Republican members of the legislature previously said there “was not even an opportunity to review the bill” before it passed.
“At nearly 1500 pages and 73 Articles, it appears to be the longest statute ever enacted by the Minnesota Legislature,” the new lawsuit says.
Filed by the Upper Midwest Law Center (UMLC), the Central Minnesota Builders Association and Rochester Area Builders Inc. are challenging provisions that mandate stricter residential energy-code requirements, a new 14-part test for classifying construction workers as independent contractors, and contractor registration requirements.
“Achieving the drastic reduction in energy consumption mandated by the 2024 Omnibus Bill will come at a high cost. At a time when housing is already unaffordably expensive, this mandate will increase the cost of a two-story house in Minnesota by at least an estimated $44,000,” the lawsuit says.
The lawsuit argues that the omnibus bill violates the single subject clause of the Minnesota Constitution, which states that “No law shall embrace more than one subject, which shall be expressed in its title.”
“The Minnesota Constitution does not allow lawmakers to bundle unrelated subjects into one bill and force an all-or-nothing vote,” said Nicholas Nelson, senior appellate counsel at UMLC.
“If the Legislature is going to impose significant new burdens on the people of Minnesota, the Constitution requires that it consider them one subject at a time and give each an up-or-down vote. A court has already found that this law violated that requirement. We are asking the court to apply those same constitutional limits to provisions that directly affect Minnesota’s building industry,” he continued.
This is the third lawsuit UMLC has filed against the 2024 omnibus bill. In one of the cases, a Ramsey County judge struck down a ban on binary triggers that was included in the bill.
Judge Leonardo Castro opted to sever the binary trigger ban from the omnibus bill, rather than strike down the entire bill, out of respect for Minnesota Supreme Court precedent.
“But make no mistake, during the late hours of May 19, 2024, lawmaking did not ‘occur within the framework of the constitution,’” Castro wrote.
Monday’s lawsuit asks the Ramsey County court to declare the 2024 omnibus bill invalid and block its enforcement. Alternatively, it seeks a ruling declaring the challenged portions invalid.
“Builders and small businesses should not be subject to sweeping regulations enacted through an unconstitutional process,” said UMLC President Doug Seaton. “The Legislature is bound by the Constitution, and this case asks the court to enforce those limits.”
Anthony Gockowski
Anthony Gockowski is Editor-in-Chief of Alpha News. He previously worked as an editor for The Minnesota Sun and Campus Reform, and wrote for the Daily Caller.
