Minnesota

Minn. Stat. § 260E.06 — Minnesota maltreatment-reporting statute

Clergy named as mandatory reporter?: Yes
Confessional exemption?: Yes

Statute: Minn. Stat. § 260E.06
Clergy named: Expressly
Pending: —

Minnesota law expressly names clergy as mandatory reporters under Minn. Stat. § 260E.06, subd. 1(a)(2), but only when the information arrives while the clergy member is engaged in ministerial duties. The same clause carves a hole back through cross-reference: clergy are not required to report information that is privileged under Minn. Stat. § 595.02, subd. 1(c), which protects confessions and communications made for religious or spiritual advice. In 2026 the legislature took up HF 4126 and its Senate companion SF 4198, introduced in the 2025-2026 session and referred to committee on March 9. Neither was heard, and both died when the legislature adjourned sine die on May 18, 2026. The bills would have broadened the clergy definition to reach unpaid lay ministers, strike the requirement that the information be received while engaged in ministerial duties, and remove a three-year temporal limit on the reporting trigger. They left § 595.02, subd. 1(c) untouched. Minnesota keeps reaching for who has to report while the door that has historically let clergy abuse stay confidential stays exactly where it is. This is the kind of half-measure UCO is built to surface state by state.

Section 01What needs to change

What needs to change in Minnesota.

Clergy expressly named, with a ministerial-duties qualifier
Section 260E.06, subd. 1(a)(2) lists 'a member of the clergy' among mandatory reporters, but only when the clergy member is 'employed as a member of the clergy and received the information while engaged in ministerial duties.' The qualifier matters: information learned in a personal friendship, a board meeting, or any other non-ministerial channel falls outside the duty as currently written. HF 4126 and SF 4198 would strike this qualifier entirely and replace 'employed as a member of the clergy' with 'serving as a member of the clergy or other minister of any religion, with or without financial compensation,' reaching unpaid lay ministers and information received outside ministerial duties alike.
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Privilege carveout preserved on the face of the reporting statute
Section 260E.06, subd. 1(a)(2) states that 'a member of the clergy is not required by this subdivision to report information that is otherwise privileged under section 595.02, subdivision 1, paragraph (c).' The privilege is preserved by direct cross-reference inside the mandatory-reporting statute itself, not by silence or by judicial reading. Section 595.02, subd. 1(c) covers confessions and communications made to clergy for religious or spiritual advice unless the protected person consents. The 2026 reform bills did not touch this provision.
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Organizations cannot have policies that discourage reporting
Section 260E.06, subd. 1(c) bars any corporation, school, nonprofit organization, religious organization, facility, or similar entity from having policies, written or otherwise, that prevent or discourage a mandatory or voluntary reporter from making a maltreatment report. This provision reaches institutional suppression directly, separate from the individual reporting duty.
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Failure-to-report penalties tiered by harm
Section 260E.08 makes a mandated reporter's knowing failure to report a misdemeanor, and a gross misdemeanor where the reporter knows of two or more unrelated children maltreated by the same offender within the preceding ten years. Felony exposure exists only for a parent, guardian, or caretaker whose failure to report medical neglect results in the child's death; no mandated-reporter failure is a felony under current law. A separate misdemeanor applies to anyone who intentionally prevents or attempts to prevent a mandated reporter from making a report. HF 4126 and SF 4198 also amend § 260E.08, escalating every tier: failure to report becomes a gross misdemeanor, failure to report an offender who maltreated two or more children becomes a felony (with the ten-year and unrelated-children limits removed), and preventing a mandated reporter from reporting becomes a gross misdemeanor.
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Section 02What's needed

What it takes to close the gap.

Section 03How you can help

Concrete ways to support reform in Minnesota.

Donate

Donate.

Donations fund Minnesota-specific research, coalition outreach, and the work of pushing both the reporter definition and the privilege carveout in the same legislative session.

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Section 04Timeline

How Minnesota got here.

2025-12
St. Louis County Attorney memo recommends amending § 260E.06
Weeks after December 2025 reporting on Minnesota's failure-to-report laws, and following a child sexual abuse prosecution involving a preacher who allegedly knew of maltreatment but did not report, the St. Louis County Attorney's Office issues a memo recommending amendments to § 260E.06 and § 260E.08 to broaden the clergy reporter definition, strike the ministerial-duties limit, and remove the three-year temporal limit. The memo lays the policy groundwork for the bills introduced three months later.
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2026-03
HF 4126 and SF 4198 introduced
Companion bills introduced in the House and Senate on March 9, 2026 and referred to Children and Families Finance and Policy (House) and Health and Human Services (Senate). The bills broaden the clergy reporter definition, strike the ministerial-duties limit on how the information is received, and drop the three-year temporal limit, while leaving § 595.02, subd. 1(c) untouched.
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2026-05
HF 4126 and SF 4198 die at sine die
Neither bill was heard in its referral committee. Both died when the 94th Legislature adjourned sine die on May 18, 2026, which closed the 2025-2026 biennium. A successor would have to be introduced in the 2027-2028 legislature.
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Section 05Background

Public-record sources UCO is tracking.

Always verify against the underlying statute or filing before quoting.

Office of the Revisor of Statutes, Minnesota Legislature· 2025
Minn. Stat. § 260E.06 — Persons mandated to report; persons voluntarily reporting
Principal mandatory-reporting statute. Subdivision 1(a)(2) names clergy as mandated reporters when engaged in ministerial duties and preserves the § 595.02, subd. 1(c) privilege carveout by direct cross-reference. Subdivision 1(c) prohibits institutional policies that discourage reporting.
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Office of the Revisor of Statutes, Minnesota Legislature· 2025
Minn. Stat. § 595.02, subd. 1(c) — Witness privilege; clergy
Privilege statute incorporated by § 260E.06's clergy carveout. Bars clergy from disclosing a confession or a communication made in the course of seeking religious or spiritual advice without the penitent's consent. The reform bills currently in committee do not amend this provision.
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Office of the Revisor of Statutes, Minnesota Legislature· 2026-03-09
HF 4126 — Bill status, 94th Legislature (2025-2026)
Official House bill page. Authored by Rep. P. Johnson, Kozlowski, and Zeleznikar. Identifies SF 4198 as the Senate companion. Records introduction and referral to Children and Families Finance and Policy on March 9, 2026.
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Office of the Revisor of Statutes, Minnesota Legislature· 2026-03-09
SF 4198 — Bill status, 94th Legislature (2025-2026)
Official Senate bill page. Authored by Sen. Maye Quade and Sen. McEwen. Identifies HF 4126 as the House companion. Records introduction and referral to Health and Human Services on March 9, 2026.
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St. Louis County (MN) Attorney's Office· 2025-12
Proposed Revisions to Minnesota Statutes Sections 260E.06 and .08
County prosecutor memo recommending the amendments that became HF 4126 and SF 4198. Drafted in the wake of a child sexual abuse prosecution involving a preacher who allegedly knew of maltreatment but did not report, and citing December 2025 reporting on the state's failure-to-report laws. Documents the policy push behind the broader clergy definition, the strike of the ministerial-duties limit, and the removal of the three-year temporal limit.
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Child Welfare Information Gateway, U.S. HHS Children's Bureau· 2023
Clergy as Mandatory Reporters of Child Abuse and Neglect — Minnesota
Federal child-welfare law compilation. Independently confirms that Minnesota expressly names clergy as mandated reporters under § 260E.06 and that the § 595.02, subd. 1(c) privilege carveout is in force as an exemption from the reporting duty.
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Other states

Last reviewed July 21, 2026 · by Unheard Child Org research teamHow we track this