1.1 	A bill for an act
1.2 	relating to game and fish; requiring ground blinds to display blaze orange or blaze 
1.3 	pink during the firearms deer season;amending Minnesota Statutes 2017 
1.4 	Supplement, section 97B.071.
1.5 	BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF MINNESOTA:

1.6 	Section 1. Minnesota Statutes 2017 Supplement, section 97B.071, is amended to read:
1.7 	97B.071 CLOTHING AND GROUND BLIND REQUIREMENTS; BLAZE 
1.8 	ORANGE OR BLAZE PINK.
1.9 		Subdivision 1.Clothing requirements. (a) Except as provided in rules adopted under 
1.10 	paragraph (c), a person may not hunt or trap during the open season where deer may be 
1.11 	taken by firearms under applicable laws and ordinances, unless the visible portion of the 
1.12 	person's cap and outer clothing above the waist, excluding sleeves and gloves, is blaze 
1.13 	orange or blaze pink. Blaze orange or blaze pink includes a camouflage pattern of at least 
1.14 	50 percent blaze orange or blaze pink within each foot square. This section does not apply 
1.15 	to migratory-waterfowl hunters on waters of this state or in a stationary shooting location 
1.16 	or to trappers on waters of this state.
1.17 	(b) Except as provided in rules adopted under paragraph (c), and in addition to the 
1.18 	requirement in paragraph (a), a person may not take small game other than turkey, migratory 
1.19 	birds, raccoons, and predators, except while trapping, unless a visible portion of at least one 
1.20 	article of the person's clothing above the waist is blaze orange or blaze pink. This paragraph 
1.21 	does not apply to a person when in a stationary location while hunting deer by archery or 
1.22 	when hunting small game by falconry.
2.1 	(c) The commissioner may, by rule, prescribe an alternative color in cases where 
2.2 	paragraph (a) or (b) would violate the Religious Freedom Restoration Act of 1993, Public 
2.3 	Law 103-141.
2.4 	(d) A violation of paragraph (b) shall not result in a penalty, but is punishable only by 
2.5 	a safety warning.
2.6 		Subd. 2.Ground blinds. A person may not hunt deer from a ground blind during the 
2.7 	open season where deer may be taken by firearms unless the outside of the blind displays 
2.8 	a minimum of 144 square inches of blaze orange or blaze pink material that is visible from 
2.9 	all directions around the blind.