Minnesota will shield home addresses from exposure in state campaign finance and lobbying records under a new law signed by Governor Tim Walz (D) on May 18. The measure, which attracted broad bipartisan support in response to recent political violence, will protect candidates, campaign staff, and donors.

“Americans and their elected officials are waking up to the fact that our privacy protections are outdated and unfit for the digital age. As political violence rises, our laws must adapt to ensure that civic engagement is secure,” said Heather Lauer, CEO of People United for Privacy Foundation (PUFPF).

The North Star State has been at the forefront of discussions about political violence following the shocking 2025 assassination of state representative and Speaker Emerita Melissa Hortman and her husband and the attempted assassination of state senator John Hoffman and his wife. Both attacks occurred at the victims’ family homes.

“Suffice it to say that public availability of home addresses of many legislators put our safety at risk in the heightened political environment we find ourselves in,” said the bill’s sponsor, Rep. Mike Freiberg (DFL), at a March hearing on an early iteration of the bill.

The final version of the bill, H.F. 4239, passed 46-21 in the Senate and 118-15 in the House. Both chambers of the narrowly divided Legislature approved the legislation on a bipartisan basis.

Minnesota is the third state this year to pass reforms to redact home addresses from public campaign donation records, following West Virginia and Utah. Three other states – California, Texas, and Wyoming – already do not require home addresses to be disclosed in these reports. The bipartisan Federal Election Commission has unanimously urged Congress to adopt similar address redaction reforms at the federal level as well.

H.F. 4239’s protections for campaign donors mirror those in PUFPF’s Protect Donors at Home Act model policy. PUFPF supported the measure, writing in a letter to Minnesota House leaders:

“Especially in the wake of horrific acts of political violence in Minnesota and elsewhere, no state should be publishing online the precise locations of citizens’ homes alongside their political donations. Campaign finance laws are meant to prevent corruption, not facilitate doxing, and ever-advancing information technology has changed the calculus surrounding public disclosure of sensitive location information.”

Minnesota lawmakers took PUFPF’s recommendations to heart. In addition to protecting sensitive home address information across an array of state-mandated campaign finance and lobbying reports, H.F. 4239 is notable for being retroactive. The legislation outlines specific requirements for the Minnesota Campaign Finance and Public Disclosure Board to remove, redact, and repost reports filed prior to this law taking effect.

Congratulations to Gov. Walz, sponsors Rep. Freiberg and Sen. Assistant Majority Leader Bonnie Westlin (DFL), and their colleagues in the Minnesota Legislature for passing this important and thorough reform to make political participation safer in Minnesota.