Retail delivery fee, non-compete ban, ‘deep fake’ penalties among state laws going into effect Monday

(KSTP) – Several new state laws take effect on Monday, two of which will impact the way Minnesotans work and shop and another bill aims to crack down the use of artificial intelligence during election season.

Among the more controversial measures, a controversial $0.50 retail delivery fee passed in 2023 will hit Minnesotans’ wallets on Monday.

The new charge will be added to most deliveries totaling more than $100.

Lawmakers who supported the legislation expect the fee to raise roughly $60 million to fix roads and other transportation infrastructure.

Food — including from restaurants — medical supplies and baby products are exempt from the new delivery fee.

In the employment sector, lawmakers expanded a 2023 ban on non-compete clauses in employment contracts after DFL bill sponsor Rep. Emma Greenman said she discovered a ‘loophole’ in the law.

Starting Monday, language added during the 2024 Legislative Session will also prohibit what Rep. Greenman referred to as “shadow non-competes.”

Testimony from the SEIU Local 26 union claimed such contracts limit the job opportunities that service workers are able to take.

“It closes a loophole to ensure that Minnesota’s prohibition on non-competes and no-poach agreements is not evaded in service contracts that are signed above the heads, and often without the knowledge or consent, of the workers being impacted,” Greenman said in support of the bill in March.

Another law soon to be in effect expands on who can be criminally punished for knowingly disseminating “deep fakes” to influence an election.

As of Monday, candidates — who may benefit from the distribution of artificial images or videos about an opponent — will be subject to penalties themselves if they knowingly allow it to happen.

In a February interview with 5 EYEWITNESS NEWS, Minnesota Secretary of State Steve Simon wouldn’t weigh in on the penalties, but said he supports strict laws against “deep fakes.”

“In the wrong hands, AI and ‘deep fakes’ in particular can be a real danger in the sense they can mislead and misdirect voters,” Simon said.