1.1 	A bill for an act
1.2 	relating to public safety; increasing penalties for obstructing a highway under 
1.3 	certain circumstances;amending Minnesota Statutes 2016, section 609.74.
1.4 	BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF MINNESOTA:

1.5 	Section 1. Minnesota Statutes 2016, section 609.74, is amended to read:
1.6 	609.74 PUBLIC NUISANCE.
1.7 	(a) Except as provided in paragraph (b), whoever by an act or failure to perform a legal 
1.8 	duty intentionally does any of the following is guilty of maintaining a public nuisance, 
1.9 	which is a misdemeanor:
1.10 	(1) maintains or permits a condition which unreasonably annoys, injures or endangers 
1.11 	the safety, health, morals, comfort, or repose of any considerable number of members of 
1.12 	the public; or
1.13 	(2) interferes with, obstructs, or renders dangerous for passage, any public highway or 
1.14 	right-of-way, or waters used by the public; or
1.15 	(3) is guilty of any other act or omission declared by law to be a public nuisance and for 
1.16 	which no sentence is specifically provided.
1.17 	(b) It is a gross misdemeanor for a person to violate paragraph (a), clause (2), on a 
1.18 	controlled-access highway or on a public highway within airport property.

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