1.1                          A bill for an act 
  1.2             relating to employment; requiring an accommodation to 
  1.3             certain nursing mothers; providing that breast feeding 
  1.4             is excepted from the crime of indecent exposure; 
  1.5             amending Minnesota Statutes 1996, section 617.23; 
  1.6             proposing coding for new law in Minnesota Statutes, 
  1.7             chapter 181. 
  1.8   BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF MINNESOTA: 
  1.9      Section 1.  [181.939] [NURSING MOTHER.] 
  1.10     An employer must provide reasonable unpaid break time each 
  1.11  day to an employee who needs to express breast milk for her 
  1.12  infant child.  The break time must, if possible, run 
  1.13  concurrently with any break time already provided to the 
  1.14  employee.  An employer is not required to provide break time 
  1.15  under this section if to do so would unduly disrupt the 
  1.16  operations of the employer. 
  1.17     The employer must make reasonable efforts to provide a room 
  1.18  or other location, in close proximity to the work area, other 
  1.19  than a toilet stall, where the employee can express her milk in 
  1.20  privacy.  The employer would be held harmless if reasonable 
  1.21  effort has been made. 
  1.22     For the purposes of this section, "employer" means a person 
  1.23  or entity that employs one or more employees and includes the 
  1.24  state and its political subdivisions. 
  1.25     Sec. 2.  Minnesota Statutes 1996, section 617.23, is 
  1.26  amended to read: 
  2.1      617.23 [INDECENT EXPOSURE; PENALTIES.] 
  2.2      (a) A person is guilty of a misdemeanor who in any public 
  2.3   place, or in any place where others are present:  
  2.4      (1) willfully and lewdly exposes the person's body, or the 
  2.5   private parts thereof; 
  2.6      (2) procures another to expose private parts; or 
  2.7      (3) engages in any open or gross lewdness or lascivious 
  2.8   behavior, or any public indecency other than behavior specified 
  2.9   in clause (1) or (2) or this clause. 
  2.10     (b) A person is guilty of a gross misdemeanor if: 
  2.11     (1) the person violates this section in the presence of a 
  2.12  minor under the age of 16; or 
  2.13     (2) the person violates this section after having been 
  2.14  previously convicted of violating this section, sections 609.342 
  2.15  to 609.3451, or a statute from another state in conformity with 
  2.16  any of those sections. 
  2.17     (c) A person is guilty of a felony and may be sentenced to 
  2.18  imprisonment for not more than five years or to payment of a 
  2.19  fine of not more than $10,000, or both, if the person violates 
  2.20  paragraph (b), clause (1), after having been previously 
  2.21  convicted of or adjudicated delinquent for violating paragraph 
  2.22  (b), clause (1); section 609.3451, subdivision 1, clause (2); or 
  2.23  a statute from another state in conformity with paragraph (b), 
  2.24  clause (1), or section 609.3451, subdivision 1, clause (2). 
  2.25     (d) It is not a violation of this section for a woman to 
  2.26  breast feed.