Many laws passed by the Minnesota Legislature this year are set to go into effect Thursday, Aug. 1, including new guidelines on car seats, increased penalties for straw purchases of firearms and a ban on the “gay panic defense” in criminal cases.

Here’s a look at some of them:

Car seat rules

The Minnesota Child Passenger Safety Law updates guidelines on car seat rules and increases the end of the booster seat requirement age from 8 to 9 years old.

Before the law changed, the state required car seats to be used according to the manufacturer’s instructions on height and weight. State law now more clearly specifies age groups for forward- or rear-facing car seats, booster seats and belts. The Minnesota Department of Public Safety says the new law is based on guidelines from the American Academy of Pediatrics.

The guidelines state:

• From birth to at least 2 years old, children must be rear-facing in an infant or convertible child safety seat.

• Children at least 2 years old who have outgrown a rear-facing seat with an internal harness by their height or weight can be in a forward-facing car seat with an internal harness.

• Four-year-olds who have outgrown the forward-facing seat with an internal harness by height or weight can ride restrained in a belt-positioning booster seat using the lap and shoulder belt.

• At age 9 or if the child has outgrown the booster seat, a child can ride restrained with a regular lap and shoulder belt if they can pass a five-step test to demonstrate they know how to fit a seat belt correctly.

• Children under 13 years old must sit in the back seat if possible.

If a child fits into more than one category, they must use the safer restraint, according to the Department of Public Safety. In one example from the agency, a 2½-year-old who weighs 35 pounds but has a car seat with a rear-facing limit of 40 pounds must stay rear-facing even though the child is over age 2.

DPS also emphasized the need for parents and caregivers to carefully read seat installation instructions.

Straw purchase penalties

Minnesota now has stricter penalties for “straw purchasing” firearms — where a person buys a weapon on behalf of another person ineligible to buy one.

Now it’ll be a felony under state law if someone buys a gun intending to give it to a felon, someone with a domestic violence restraining order, or any other conditions that prohibit someone from owning guns.

Boosting straw purchase penalties became a priority for lawmakers this year following the fatal shooting of two police officers and a firefighter in Burnsville. The shooter was unable to obtain guns legally but got them through his girlfriend, according to a federal indictment.

Straw purchasing is already a serious federal crime that carries a sentence of up to 15 years in prison, though boosting Minnesota’s penalties will open up more options for local prosecution.

Boosting straw purchase penalties had bipartisan support in the Legislature and backing from Gov. Tim Walz. But the bill ultimately passed with support from Democrats only because Democrats tied another gun-control provision to the bill, leading to Republicans withdrawing their support.

In addition to boosting straw purchase penalties, the bill included a ban on binary triggers, a modification that allows a semiautomatic weapon to fire both when the trigger is pulled and released, greatly increasing a weapon’s rate of fire.

Democrats said they wanted a binary trigger ban because the modification was used in both Burnsville and in a shooting that killed a police officer last year in Fargo, N.D.

The binary trigger ban passed as part of the bill won’t go into effect until Jan. 1, 2025.

Ban on ‘gay panic’ defense

A person accused of a violent crime in Minnesota will no longer be able to claim they lost control because of an unwanted sexual advance by a person of the same sex or by a transgender person.

The so-called “gay panic” or “trans panic” defense has seen mixed success in courtrooms in other states, but legal observers and LGBTQ+ activists say it’s led to less serious charges or lenient sentencing in some criminal cases.

Under the new law, citing one’s beliefs about LGBTQ+ people as a defense for a violent crime is banned in Minnesota. Specifically: “It is not a defense to a crime that the defendant acted based on the discovery of, knowledge about, or potential disclosure of the victim’s actual or perceived sexual orientation, gender identity, or gender expression.”

LGBTQ+ activists pushed for a law prohibiting “gay panic” defenses following the killing of a transgender woman in Minneapolis last year. In late November, prosecutors say Savannah Ryan Williams, 38, was shot in the head by a man who became “suspicious” as she performed oral sex on him.

Prosecutors charged 25-year-old Damarean Kaylon Bible with second-degree murder. Bible allegedly said he felt bad about shooting Williams but felt he “had to do it,” the Associated Press reported.

Minnesota, 19 other states and Washington, D.C., have banned the “gay panic” defense, according to the Movement Advancement Project, a nonprofit that tracks progressive and LGBTQ+-related legislation.

Swatting call penalties

It’s currently a gross misdemeanor to call 911 to make a false report of a serious crime or emergency, and a felony carrying a penalty of up to 20 years if someone is badly hurt or killed.

A new Minnesota law also makes it a felony to make a fictitious emergency call, sometimes known as “swatting,” to the home of an elected official, judge, prosecuting attorney, an employee of a correctional facility or a peace officer.

Odds and ends

Cellphone cases that look like guns are now illegal, as are vaping products designed to resemble school supplies or food brands commonly marketed to minors.

Saliva testing is now an option for employers who want to test employees for drugs and alcohol. Proponents said eliminating the need for lab testing would speed up the hiring process.

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