Governor Mark Dayton has vetoed a controversial bill that would make a person legally liable if they train, advise or conspire with protesters who then damage “critical public infrastructure” — most notably pipelines. Dayton says three existing laws already cover such activities and the new bill “this is just another sop to Enbridge, which they’re not even asking for.”
Dayton likens it to former President Richard Nixon’s push to extend anti-conspiracy statutes to suppress dissent against the Vietnam War — laws which Congress later repealed. Backers of the “pipeline protest bill” are not immediately reachable for comment.