Minnesota : 2025-2026 Regular Session : BILL SF2462
Prior law prohibiting weather modification reenactment
Sponsor: Sen Eric Lucero & Sen Bill Lieske & Sen Glenn Gruenhagen & Sen Bruce Anderson & Sen Nathan Wesenberg
Bill Details
Prior law prohibiting weather modification reenactment
GeoLawWatch Bill Summary
Minnesota Senate File 2462 proposes a ban on all weather modification by adding a new Chapter 42 to state law. The bill states that Minnesota can protect its people and the airspace above its borders.
Prohibited Activities: The bill would make it illegal for anyone to intentionally change the weather in Minnesota or its airspace by adding any chemical, substance, or device to affect the atmosphere. This includes activities such as cloud and atmospheric seeding.
Scope of "Weather": The bill defines weather to include the atmosphere, clouds, temperature, air pressure, sunlight, wind, rain, lightning, hail, sleet, fog, and frost.
Who is Covered: According to the bill, a "person" can be an individual, a business, an organization, a company, a trust, or a government agency.
Enforcement and Penalties: Breaking this law would be a misdemeanor. Each day someone violates the law counts as a separate offense, quickly increasing penalties. This weather modification ban takes priority over conflicting laws.
Unusual Provisions: The bill states that Minnesota claims control over its airspace, which is a rule more common in international law. It also says it is "reenacting prior law," meaning Minnesota had similar weather modification rules in the past, but they were repealed or expired.
History
Senators Lucero, Lieske, Gruenhagen, Anderson, and Wesenberg authored Senate File 2462 and introduced it on March 13, 2025, during Minnesota's 2025 regular legislative session (January 14 through May 19, 2025). Upon the bill's first reading, the Senate immediately referred it to the Committee on Environment, Climate, and Legacy.
Because Minnesota operates on a biennial legislative cycle with carryover provisions, the legislature keeps bills from odd-numbered years active for the following even-numbered year. Consequently, lawmakers may act on SF 2462 when the 2026 regular session convenes on February 17, 2026. The bill remains in committee, but it could still advance before the legislature adjourns on May 18, 2026.
- Thu 13 Mar 2025 Introduction and first reading
- Thu 13 Mar 2025 Referred to Environment, Climate, and Legacy
Consolidated Bill Text
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF MINNESOTA:
Section 1. [42.15] POLICY.
The legislature finds it necessary for the state to ensure public safety, human health, and environmental welfare by protecting citizens against weather modification.
Sec. 2. [42.16] SOVEREIGN RIGHT CLAIMED BY STATE.
For the best interest of its residents, the state claims its sovereign right to ensure public safety, human health, and environmental welfare and to protect its citizens within state boundaries and in the airspace above state boundaries.
Sec. 3. [42.17] DEFINITIONS.
(a) For purposes of this chapter, the terms defined in this section have the meanings given.
(b) "Modification" means performance or attempted performance of or an activity or attempted activity in connection with the intentional placement, injection, release, or dispersion, by any means, of a chemical, a chemical compound, a substance, or an apparatus into the atmosphere or clouds within the atmosphere, including cloud or atmosphere seeding, for the purpose of producing or attempting to produce a modifying effect to the composition, motion, or resulting behavior of the weather.
(c) "Person" means a person; firm; association; organization; partnership; company; public or private corporation; trust; or federal, county, city, or other public agency.
(d) "Weather" includes but is not limited to the atmosphere, clouds within the atmosphere, temperature, barometric pressure, intensity of sunlight, wind, rain, lightning, hail, sleet, fog, and frost.
Sec. 4. [42.18] PROHIBITION.
Notwithstanding any other law to the contrary, a person must not engage or attempt to engage in weather modification within the state's sovereign boundaries or in the airspace above the state's boundaries.
Sec. 5. [42.19] PENALTY.
A person violating this chapter is guilty of a misdemeanor, and each day that the violation continues is a separate offense.