New Year brings new laws to Minnesota

Christmas is over and we are only days away from the New Year.
Looking ahead to a new year always brings questions about what it will bring. As is always the case much, if not most, of what will happen is all speculation.
We are hearing a lot of that in recent weeks, mostly because of the elections in November. Nationally, of course, a new administration will bring changes. And locally too, the elections will have consequences.
But there is another area where we do know what changes will be taking place. And that is the variety of new laws passed by the State Legislature last spring which will go into effect Jan. 1, (As a side note, is it really going to be2025 already?)
Here are a few of the new laws in effect with the New Year, according to the Minnesota House of Representatives Public Information Office.
Online ticket buying. If you are planning on buying concert or event tickets online, there will be additional consumer protections under provisions in “The Ticketing Fairness Act.” Ticket sellers, bulk ticket buyers and resellers will have additional restrictions requiring “all in pricing” to ensure ticket buyers know the total cost of a ticket up front, ensuring purchasers receive proof of purchase and refund policy details within 24 hours, banning deceptive advertising and speculative pricing, and requiring an online ticket marketplace to disclose on its website it is a ticket reseller.
Advertised prices and fees and surcharges. Persons or businesses will be prohibited from advertising, displaying, or offering a price for goods or services that does not include all mandatory fees or surcharges. This includes, but is not limited to, a fee or surcharge that must be paid to purchase the goods or services advertised, is not reasonably avoidable by the consumer or a fee a reasonable person would expect to be included in the purchase. Government-imposed taxes, such as sales taxes, are not subject to the mandated disclosure.
Salary ranges in job postings. Any person or entity that employes 30 or more employees at one or more sites in Minnesota will have to disclose the starting salary range or fixed pay rate and a general description of all benefits and other compensation in each job posting. Also in the law is a requirement for health care employers to adopt and implement policies to prevent exposure to surgical smoke by requiring the use of a smoke evacuation system during any surgical procedure that is likely to generate surgical smoke.
A number of new health and human services laws will go into effect.
Abortion and abortion-related coverage. Health plans offered, sold, issued, or renewed on or after Jan. 1, 2025, must provide coverage for abortions and abortion-related services, including pre-abortion and follow-up services. The plans cannot impose co-pays, coinsurance, deductibles or other enrollee cost-sharing greater than cost-sharing to similar services.
It does not apply to managed care organizations or county-based purchasing plans when the plan provides coverage to public health care program enrollees under MinnesotaCare or Medical Assistance statutes. An eligible organization or an exempt organization is permitted to not cover some or all benefits for abortion and abortion-related services due to religious objections.
Gender-affirming care coverage. Health plans covering physical or mental health services must cover medically necessary gender-affirming care or require treatment of medically necessary care as defined in the law.
Cost-sharing for prescription drugs. Health plans are prohibited from setting patient co-pays greater than $25 per one-month supply of prescription drugs used to treat chronic diseases such as diabetes, asthma, and allergies requiring the use of epinephrine auto injectors. There is also a $50 per month limit in total for all related medical supplies, such as syringes, insulin pens and pumps, test strips, glucometers, continuous glucose monitors, epinephrine auto-injectors, and asthma inhalers.
There are also a number of new laws regarding public safety.
No binary triggers. Beginning with the new year, guns with binary triggers are prohibited. A binary trigger allows a firearm to shoot one shot on the pull of the trigger and a second shot on the trigger release without requiring a subsequent pull of the trigger.
Office of Emergency Medical Services. A new law creates the Office of Emergency Medical Services to replace the Emergency Medical Services Regulatory Board. It calls for a new office to be led by a governor-appointed director. The office may license and regulate ambulance services in the state, establish and modify primary services area, register and regulate medical response units, certify emergency medical technicians and paramedics, approve their education programs and investigate complaints about and impose disciplinary action on ambulance services and their personnel and emergency medical responders. It also creates divisions for medical services, ambulance services, and emergency medical service providers, each headed by a deputy director, and three advisory councils to provide recommendations on emergency medical services, physicians involved in such services and providers of labor and ambulances.