Committee debates penalties but lays over bill to stop naming minors in eviction filings

Senator Clark presented Senate File 4145, which would prohibit listing minor children as defendants in eviction complaints and proceedings.

Supporters said the bill protects young people who can carry eviction records through adulthood. Michael Ball, public policy director at Home Line, described the downstream costs for affected young adults — application fees, potential expungement expenses and other financial barriers — arguing that naming minors in filings can cause lasting harm.

The Minnesota Multi‑Housing Association’s representative, Cecil Smith, said the association did not oppose the bill’s intent but urged changes to paragraph B of the draft, which would impose damages for violations. Smith warned that damages calibrated for willful misconduct could be disproportionate if the listing resulted from clerical or court filing errors.

Committee members spent extended time on process questions: how court filings and local case‑management systems handle occupant names, whether courts could redact minor names or accept John/Jane Doe placeholders, and whether penalties should be phased in to give counties time to upgrade systems. Senators discussed earlier judicial committee work that reduced the statutory damage amounts and debated whether the draft language allowed sufficient flexibility for inadvertent errors.

Staff read an oral amendment that delayed the effective date of the penalty provision so the section would be effective Jan. 1, 2027; the committee adopted that amendment. Senator Clark closed by stressing the bill’s goal to prevent minors from suffering harms caused by adult tenants’ actions. The committee laid over SF 4145 as amended for further consideration.

The bill addresses a narrow but consequential due‑process and housing‑records problem, and committee members signaled interest in refining penalty language and implementation timelines before final action.