HF5117

Purpose

This bill creates a formal Parents Bill of Rights and adds it as a new section of Minnesota law. Its aim is to explicitly protect and enumerate a parent’s authority over a minor child’s education, upbringing, health care, and privacy, by limiting government intervention and requiring parental consent for many actions involving the child.

Key Provisions

• Parental rights reserved
  • The state, its subdivisions, and other government entities may not infringe on a parent’s fundamental right to direct the minor child’s upbringing, education, and health care. Rights are reserved to the parent without interference.
• Education and school records
  • Parents have the right to direct the minor child’s education (in public, charter, private, or home settings) and to access and oversee the privacy of all school records related to the child.
• Upbringing and moral or religious training
  • Parents have the right to direct the upbringing and the moral or religious training of the minor child.
• Health care decisions and treatment
  • Parents have informed consent rights for health care decisions, including choosing the health care team and deciding whether to accept or decline biological, pharmaceutical, and therapeutic interventions, in coordination with the health care team.
• Written consent requirements
  • Written consent is required for many actions, including:
  • Any health care interventions (unless there is a medical emergency to save the child’s life)
  • Any pharmaceutical, surgical, or therapeutic interventions
  • Any biometric scans (sharing, storing, or performing a scan)
  • Any record of the child’s blood or DNA (sharing or storage) unless legally required or court-ordered
  • Any video or voice recording by the state or its subdivisions (unless used for specified legitimate purposes like maintaining order, academic activities, regular instruction, security, or ID cards)
• Privacy and records
  • Parents may access and review medical records, physical samples, and school records relating to the minor child.
• Emergency exceptions
  • Consent can be implied or written when a medical emergency requires immediate examination or treatment to save the child’s life.
• Notification of suspected crimes
  • Parents must be promptly notified if state or governmental employees suspect that a crime against the minor child has been committed by someone other than the parent.
• Discipline for coercion or retaliation
  • Any attempt to coerce a minor to withhold information from a parent, or any attempt to coerce or discriminate against a parent for exercising these rights, can be grounds for discipline of government employees or institutions.
• Limitations and scope
  • The act does not authorize abuse or neglect, or prohibit courts, law enforcement, or government agencies from acting within their authority.
  • A parent’s rights are inalienable and, unless legally waived or terminated, more comprehensive than the rights listed.
  • The bill does not force parental action to end a life or override other laws.
  • These rights do not limit or deny other rights required by law and do not create new obligations for schools beyond recognizing these parental rights.
• Relationship to existing law
  • The section clarifies that it does not create new duties for schools to report misconduct beyond what is regularly addressed as student discipline.

Definitions

• minor child: a person 17 years of age or younger
• parent: the natural or adoptive parent or legal guardian of a minor child

Significant Changes to Existing Law

• Establishes a new, formal section (260C.009) titled “Parents Bill of Rights,” codifying broad parent-directed authority into state law.
• Requires explicit parental consent for many actions involving minors (health care, biometric data, medical records, recordings, etc.). -narrows or clarifies when state actions can occur without parental consent (e.g., emergencies) and sets boundaries around privacy and data collection.
• Adds enforcement aspects, including potential discipline for government employees who attempt to coerce or discriminate against parents exercising these rights.
• Limits or guides how government actors interact with families, while preserving the ability of courts and agencies to operate within their lawful authority.

Relevant terms - Parents Bill of Rights - parental rights reserved - direct the education of the minor child - direct the upbringing and moral or religious training - informed written consent - health care decisions - health care team - biometric scan - blood or DNA records - medical records and physical samples - video or voice recording consent - privacy of school records - notifies parents - coercion or discrimination against parents - inalienable rights - life-ending decisions - state and political subdivisions

Relevant Terms (plain list) - parental rights - education control - health care consent - privacy - school records - biometric data - medical records - recordings (video/voice) - consent in writing - emergency exceptions - disciplinary accountability for officials - inalienable rights - life-ending decisions exception - government authority limits