HF 55

as introduced - 90th Legislature (2017 - 2018) Posted on 01/26/2017 04:50pm

A bill for an act
relating to public safety; increasing penalties for obstructing a highway; amending
Minnesota Statutes 2016, sections 160.2715; 609.74.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF MINNESOTA:

Section 1.

Minnesota Statutes 2016, section 160.2715, is amended to read:

160.2715 RIGHT-OF-WAY USE; MISDEMEANORS PENALTIES.

(a) Except for the actions of the road authorities, their agents, employees, contractors,
and utilities in carrying out their duties imposed by law or contract, and except as herein
provided in paragraph (b), it shall be unlawful is a misdemeanor to:

(1) obstruct any highway or deposit snow or ice thereon;

(2) plow or perform any other detrimental operation within the road right-of-way except
in the preparation of the land for planting permanent vegetative cover or as authorized under
section 160.232;

(3) erect a fence on the right-of-way of a trunk highway, county state-aid highway,
county highway, or town road, except to erect a lane fence to the ends of a livestock pass;

(4) erect or reconstruct driveway headwalls in or on the right-of-way of a highway or
road, except as may be allowed by permit from the road authority imposing reasonable
regulations as are necessary to prevent interference with the construction, maintenance, and
safe use of the highway or road and its appurtenances;

(5) dig any holes in any highway, except to locate markers placed to identify sectional
corner positions and private boundary corners;

(6) remove any earth, gravel, or rock from any highway;

(7) obstruct any ditch draining any highway or drain any noisome materials into any
ditch;

(8) place or maintain any building or structure within the limits of any highway;

(9) place or maintain any advertisement within the limits of any highway, except as
provided in section 160.27, subdivision 7;

(10) paint, print, place, or affix any advertisement or any object within the limits of any
highway, except as provided in section 160.27, subdivision 7;

(11) deface, mar, damage, or tamper with any structure, work, material, equipment,
tools, signs, markers, signals, paving, guardrails, drains, or any other highway appurtenance
on or along any highway;

(12) remove, injure, displace, or destroy right-of-way markers, or reference or witness
monuments, or markers placed to preserve section or quarter-section corners;

(13) improperly place or fail to place warning signs and detour signs as provided by
law;

(14) drive over, through, or around any barricade, fence, or obstruction erected for the
purpose of preventing traffic from passing over a portion of a highway closed to public
travel or to remove, deface, or damage any such barricade, fence, or obstruction.

(b) Any violation of this section Except for the actions of the road authorities, their
agents, employees, contractors, and utilities in carrying out their duties imposed by law or
contract, it is a gross misdemeanor to intentionally obstruct traffic entering, exiting, or on
a trunk highway.

EFFECTIVE DATE.

This section is effective August 1, 2017, and applies to crimes
committed on or after that date.

Sec. 2.

Minnesota Statutes 2016, section 609.74, is amended to read:

609.74 PUBLIC NUISANCE.

(a) Whoever by an act or failure to perform a legal duty intentionally does any of the
following is guilty of maintaining a public nuisance, which is a misdemeanor and may be
sentenced as provided in paragraph (b):

(1) maintains or permits a condition which unreasonably annoys, injures or endangers
the safety, health, morals, comfort, or repose of any considerable number of members of
the public; or

(2) interferes with, obstructs, or renders dangerous for passage, any public highway or
right-of-way, or waters used by the public; or

(3) is guilty of any other act or omission declared by law to be a public nuisance and for
which no sentence is specifically provided.

(b)(1) A person who violates paragraph (a), clause (1) or (3), is guilty of a misdemeanor.

(2) A person who violates paragraph (a), clause (2), is guilty of a gross misdemeanor.

EFFECTIVE DATE.

This section is effective August 1, 2017, and applies to crimes
committed on or after that date.