Bill > HF3489

This bill establishes a new policy for school field trips, requiring that school employees, independent contractors, or volunteers must not be alone with a student during any field trip, including those with overnight stays, effective July 1, 2026. It also enhances reporting requirements to licensing boards by mandating that police departments and county sheriffs notify the appropriate licensing board when a teacher is criminally charged with certain offenses, including those requiring registration as a predatory offender, or with grooming, which is defined as a pattern of conduct by an adult to seduce, lure, or entice a child into unlawful sexual conduct for sexual gratification. Furthermore, the bill requires the Commissioner of Education to develop training for mandated reporters, which will include specific modules on identifying and reporting grooming and threatened sexual abuse, and clarifies that agencies can investigate alleged maltreatment that occurred more than three years prior to the report. The bill also amends existing laws to include grooming as a cause for revocation, suspension, or denial of a teacher's license and to specify penalties for school-related grooming offenses.

Education, Justice

https://www.revisor.mn.gov/bills/94/2026/0/HF/3489/