Minnesota House unanimously passes bill establishing field-trip policy and a grooming offense

The Minnesota House of Representatives on May 14, 2026 passed House File 3489, an education bill that establishes a field-trip policy and creates a criminal offense for grooming, after concurring with amendments adopted by the Senate.

Representative Bennett (Freeborn), the bill’s author, told colleagues the Senate amendments made the measure stronger by adding training and tightening the definition of grooming. "We did put in a training, too, identify sensitive situations such as field trips, mandated reporters get that training in regards to grooming," she said, and urged members to support the concurrence.

Representative Jordan (Hennepin) also urged approval, calling it "a good bill that was made better by the work done" and asking members to vote green on the concurrence.

The motion to concur with the Senate amendment was agreed to by voice vote. The clerk then gave the bill its third reading as amended by the Senate. After brief remarks from Representative Bennett — "green to protect our kids from sexual predators and grooming in schools" — the clerk called the roll for final passage. The clerk announced 133 ayes and 0 nays; the bill was declared passed as amended by the Senate and its title was agreed to.

Under the amendments explained on the floor, the bill incorporates a field-trip component and requires training for mandated reporters to help identify sensitive situations such as those that can arise on field trips. The author also described a tightened definition of grooming intended to avoid capturing inadvertent conduct.

The House moved next to routine scheduling and recessed for the Rules Committee to meet. No further floor action on HF 3489 is recorded in the provided transcript.