HB 1124: Schaefbauer Bans Political Protest Within 1000 Feet of Any Church

Larry Rhoden isn’t that big a burr under my saddle. He’s just a big galoot trying to keep half-pint Dusty Johnson from taking his job.

But Brandei Schaefbauer—now she’s a real nut. Not content to let Governor Rhoden hog the St. Paul church protest distraction from the federal government’s violent occupation of Minnesota, Representative Schaefbauer (R-3/Aberdeen) proposes House Bill 1124 to “establish the crime of trespass upon a place of worship”. Here’s the text Rep. Schaefbauer would add to statute:

No person may enter or remain on the premises of any place of worship, or within one thousand feet of any place of worship, with the intent to disrupt worship services at the place of worship, menace or harass congregants or employees of the place of worship, or for the purpose of political intimidation of or the incitement of fear of violence in those attending the place of worship. A violation of this section is a Class 5 felony.

For purposes of this section, “place of worship” means a structure where people regularly assemble for worship, ceremonies, rituals, and education relating to a particular form or religious belief, and which a reasonable person would conclude is a place of worship by reason of design, signs, or architectural or other features [2026 HB 1124, Section 1, filed 2026.01.23].

Schaefbauer proposes a more radical bill under the guise of protecting churches than the Governor’s Senate Bill 113.

SB 113 deals with the already established and more concrete, easily demonstrable crime of using threats or violence to prevent a person from “performing any lawful act enjoined upon or recommended by the religion which such person professes”. HB 1124 doesn’t require threats or violence to trigger a criminal charge. Schaefbauer’s bill makes a broader attack on perceived enemies of religion, charging trespass just for intent, not the commission of any action that prevents religious worship. HB 1124 outlaws speech that doesn’t even have a direct religious or anti-religious purpose: a person who enters a church wearing a t-shirt saying “Defund ICE”, “Impeach!”, or “No immigrant is illegal on stolen land” could be charged under HB 1124 for political intimidation. A person who confronts Representative Schaefbauer at church about her support for Nazi-loving gubernatorial candidate Toby Doeden could draw an HB 1124 trespass charge: Brandei just has to feel “menaced” or “harassed”.

Schaefbauer wants to throw a bigger book at church trespassers than Rhoden wants to throw at religion-preventers. SB 113 proposes raising the penalty for one already recognized hate crime from a Class 1 misdemeanor to a Class 6 felony, doubling the maximum sentence to two years and a $4K fine. HB 1124 creates a broad new crime (under the criminal trespass chapter, not the hate crimes chapter, which Republicans might get queasy talking about) and makes it a Class 5 felony, with a maximum penalty of five years in the state pen and $10,000 fine.

HB 1124 proposes a remarkable 1000-foot buffer zone around any place of worship. Piss off the pastor, and the church could ban you from coming within three blocks of the church. Sex offenders only have to stay 500 feet away from schools and parks, and first offense for violating that law is only a Class 6 felony. Evidently Rep. Schaefbauer thinks political protest poses a greater threat to churches than the 90-some Jeffrey Epsteins registered in Aberdeen.

That 1000-foot buffer zone and the inclusion of political speech in Schaefbauer’s proposal doom HB 1124 to defeat in court. The courts have thrown out laws creating much smaller buffer zones—35 feet, 6 feet—to prevent fetus-idolatrizers like Schaefbauer from harassing women walking into abortion clinics. HB 1124 would trip the same judicial triggers, especially given its broad ban on political speech that anyone at a church might find objectionable on sidewalks and other spaces recognized as public fora.

Consider where HB 1124 would ban potentially controversial speech in Madison. Below I map the 1000-foot-radius zones of silence HB 1124 would impose around the 17 churches around town:

Pass Brandei’s bill, and you could be busted for church trespass if you stage a political rally anywhere downtown, outside the courthouse or library, along most of the east-west stretch of Highway 34, or on most of the DSU campus. I can’t even wear my “ANTIFA PATRIOT” bracelets when I visit DeLon at Dairy Queen (right next door to Trinity Lutheran Church). No court will let stand such a purported protection of First Amendment religious freedom that imposes such an overbroad restriction on First Amendment public political speech.

The Legislature doesn’t need to set up another bruising court loss to quell Representative Schaefbauer’s fear of “protestors interrupting our worship services and everything which leads to our Freedom to worship“. Trespass is already a crime. Churches are private property. No law requires churches to welcome every Tom, Dick, and José into their sanctuary (well, maybe God’s law…). Go to church, cause a ruckus, and the sheep and their shepherd can give you the boot or call the police to do so.

Be conservative, Representative Schaefbauer. Don’t propose new laws we don’t need… and don’t propose violations of Constitutional rights.