Require dash cameras on all commercial vehicles registered to the state of Minnesota.

 

This bill is designed to make driving a commercial vehicle safer for both the driver and company who owns the commercial

vehicle.

 

Dash cameras are very helpful in criminal cases and civil cases in regards to having undeniable evidence of something

happening without human bias getting between fact and thought. As shown by researchers like Joyce W. Lacy and Craig E.

L. Stark in their paper “The Neuroscience of Memory: Implications for the Courtroom”, written 2014.

 

As defined by Merriam Webster Dictionary:

“a video camera mounted usually on the dashboard of a vehicle and used to continuously record activity through the

vehicle's windshield”

As written in the 2025 Minnesota Statute Sec. 169.781, Subdivision 1:

“(a) "Commercial motor vehicle":

(1) means a motor vehicle as defined in section 169.011, subdivision 16, paragraph (a), or combination of motor vehicles

used to transport passengers or property if the motor vehicle:

(i) has a gross vehicle weight of more than 26,000 pounds;

(ii) is a vehicle in a combination of more than 26,000 pounds;

(iii) is a bus; or

(iv) is of any size and is used in the transportation of hazardous materials that are required to be placarded under

Code of Federal Regulations, title 49, parts 100-185; and

(2) does not include (i) a school bus or Head Start bus displaying a certificate under section 169.451, or (ii) a bus

operated by the Metropolitan Council or by a local transit commission created in chapter 458A.”

 

There is not funding necessary as companies must pay out of pocket for the cameras

 

Failure to meet the requirements would result in a $150 fee for every time the vehicle exits the facility where it was

previously stopped.

This would be enforced during regular safety checks already done on commercial vehicles every 12 months, as outlined by

the Department of Transportation.

 

October 2026