Attorney General Ellison celebrates signing of bill modernizing wage garnishment forms
SF 2847/HF 2543 finalizes the 2024 Debt Fairness Act and modernizes garnishment forms to make them easier for Minnesotans to understand
Led by AG Ellison, Sen. Boldon, and Rep. Reyer, the bipartisan legislation passed the House and Senate unanimously
May 8, 2025 (SAINT PAUL) – Attorney General Ellison today celebrated Governor Walz's signing of SF 2847/HF 2543, which modernizes wage garnishment forms and brings them in line with last year’s landmark Minnesota Debt Fairness Act. The bipartisan bill passed the Minnesota Senate on April 22 and the House on April 30. Both votes were unanimous.
"I've said it before and I'll say it again: you should pay back what you borrow. But paying back debt shouldn't drag you into poverty. I am extremely proud of the work we did to pass the Debt Fairness Act and make Minnesota's debt systems more just," said Attorney General Ellison. "I am also proud of the work we have just done alongside the legislature—and especially leaders like Senator Boldon and Representative Reyer—to make unnecessarily complicated government documents easier for every Minnesotan to understand. While in Washington, Congress is sitting idly by while billionaires raid our government and the Trump Administration deliberately rigs the economy against working people, back in Minnesota, we’re showing we can and will work together to unrig the system and keep helping Minnesotans afford their lives and live with dignity, safety, and respect."
In 2024, Attorney General Ellison worked with Senator Liz Boldon and Representative Liz Reyer to pass the Minnesota Debt Fairness Act, which made Minnesota's debt system fairer and more humane. The law ended the automatic transfer of medical debt to a patient's spouse even after their passing, established a right to necessary medical care even when patients owe debt, banned credit reporting of medical debt, updated Minnesota’s bankruptcy laws to better protect people’s basic property, and established strong new protections from unethical medical debt collections practices.
The Debt Fairness Act also updated Minnesota's wage garnishment system. Previously, creditors with a judgment had the power to garnish 25% of a person’s paycheck. The Debt Fairness Act established income-based wage garnishment levels, ranging from 10% to 25%, to ensure low- and middle-income Minnesotans are still able to afford their living expenses while being garnished. The full breakdown of wage garnishment tier by income is available here.
SF 2847/HF 2543 updates the forms Minnesotans receive when a judgment creditor garnishes their wages or property to bring the forms in line with the Debt Fairness Act. The Attorney General’s Office also worked alongside consumer and business organizations to modernize 23 garnishment forms and make them easier for Minnesotans to understand, as the language in the old forms was highly legalistic and needlessly complicated. Below is an example comparing language from the old and new forms:
Old form: “If after receipt of this notice, you in bad faith take action to frustrate the execution levy, thus requiring the judgment creditor to petition the court to resolve the problem, you will be liable to the judgment creditor for costs and reasonable attorney's fees plus an amount not to exceed $100.”
A full copy of the old form is available here.
New form: “If you get this notice, then do something in bad faith to try to block or stop the levy and the creditor has to take you to court because of it, you will have to pay the creditor's costs, and reasonable lawyer fees, and a fine up to $100.”
