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Matt Ehling: Minnesota's Open Meeting Law damaged in rush to legislative finish line

Minnesota's legislature passed a major change to the Open Meeting Law in the final hours of the 2025 session allowing nearly unlimited remote meetings from non-public locations.
This change extends the emergency remote meeting provisions from the COVID-19 pandemic, permitting local bodies such as school boards to meet mostly remotely if they choose.
Before this, the Open Meeting Law ensured public access to in-person meetings where citizens could address officials and reporters could ask follow-up questions, but remote attendance was limited and required public locations.
During COVID-19, most meetings became virtual with officials attending from home, which caused citizen complaints about reduced engagement and unanswered questions, frustrating many residents.
Observers warn the new law removes former safeguards that helped prevent these problems and urge the legislature to reconsider or revise the changes in the upcoming special session.

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Matt Ehling: Minnesota's Open Meeting Law damaged in rush to legislative finish line

In the waning hours of this year’s legislative session, a major change to Minnesota’s Open Meeting Law was passed. The original bill that carried the change had only one Senate hearing, was discussed for six minutes, and had no House companion. There were no House hearings. The conference committee that adopted the change did not discuss the issue in public. Because of this, Minnesotans are now faced with a major Open Meeting Law change that al…

3 days ago·Cherokee County, United States

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