Washington, D.C. — The American Economic Liberties Project released the following statement following the Minnesota House and Senate passing SF3035 yesterday, which included a provision rendering noncompete agreements void and unenforceable.

“Minnesota lawmakers just took a huge and crucially important step by voting to make noncompete agreements unenforceable,” said Pat Garofalo, Director of State and Local Policy at the American Economic Liberties Project. “Minnesota workers, business owners, and consumers will all be better off due to this bill, which will ensure that corporations can’t unfairly use their power to trap Minnesota employees in their jobs and push down wages across the board. We applaud Sen. Alice Mann for her steadfast leadership on this issue, and look forward to the governor signing the bill into law.”

The noncompete ban was included in SF 3035, the so-called omnibus jobs and labor bill. In Minnesota, estimates show that more than half a million workers are bound by noncompete agreements, which limit or eliminate their ability to accept a job within their chosen field. Minnesota would be the fourth state to render all noncompetes unenforceable, joining California, North Dakota, and Oklahoma.

Learn more about Economic Liberties here.

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The American Economic Liberties Project works to ensure America’s system of commerce is structured to advance, rather than undermine, economic liberty, fair commerce, and a secure, inclusive democracy. Economic Liberties believes true economic liberty means entrepreneurs and businesses large and small succeed on the merits of their ideas and hard work; commerce empowers consumers, workers, farmers, and engineers instead of subjecting them to discrimination and abuse from financiers and monopolists; foreign trade arrangements support domestic security and democracy; and wealth is broadly distributed to support equitable political power.