Tim Walz's Minnesota Debates Giving Wild Rice More Rights Than Unborn Children (No, Seriously They Are)

Amy Curtis | 3:30 PM on April 06, 2025

Yeah, we got nothing. What can you say about a story like this?

Minnesota legislators are currently debating whether or not a plant -- namely wild rice -- has a right to 'exist and thrive.

Unborn children in the state will enjoy no such right, of course:

Legislators debate whether state law should recognize ‘inherent right’ of wild rice to ‘exist and thrive’

Republican Sen. Nathan Wesenberg said he can't support the bill in its current form because it "gives a plant an inherent right over people." pic.twitter.com/XwLuHC7Z3q
— Alpha News (@AlphaNewsMN) April 6, 2025

More from Alpha News:

A bill making the rounds at the Capitol that would increase environmental protections for uncultivated wild rice across the state also includes a provision that would make it the 'policy of the state to recognize the inherent right of uncultivated wild rice to exist and thrive in Minnesota.'
Sen. Mary Kunesh, DFL-New Brighton, is the chief author of the proposal, SF1247.
On its face, the bill includes a handful of clauses that would enhance environmental protections for uncultivated wild rice, which grows on its own and is often harvested by Minnesota residents and members of tribal nations.
Specifically, the bill would prohibit operating any motorized 'watercraft in or through an uncultivated wild rice bed.' It would also prohibit operating motorized watercrafts 'at greater than slow-no-wake speed within 150 feet of an uncultivated wild rice bed.'
While representatives for the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources have told legislators they have some concerns over how that language would impact those who own lake shore homes or who navigate rivers and lake channels that may include some wild rice beds, that wasn’t a major focus of the discussion on Thursday.