St. Paul council rejects tenant right-to-repair ballot petition

The St. Paul City Council rejected a tenant right-to-repair ballot petition July 8 after adopting a resolution that found the measure had too few verified signatures to advance.

Resolution RES 26-1092 states that Ramsey County Elections verified 5,048 signatures. The city charter requires signatures from 8% of voters who cast first-choice votes for mayor in the preceding city election. Because the 2025 mayoral election produced 66,769 first-choice votes, the threshold for the petition was 5,342 signatures.

The petition was filed with the Saint Paul City Clerk on June 10. It proposed creating Chapter 34A of the Saint Paul Legislative Code, allowing qualifying tenants, after notifying a landlord and waiting through specified periods, to arrange certain repairs and deduct up to $500 or one-half month’s rent under the ordinance’s conditions.

The council’s action keeps the proposal off the November ballot unless organizers obtain judicial relief. Organizers have challenged the city’s handling of the initiative in court. As of Aug. 10, 2026, no court order resolving that challenge had been issued. The lawsuit is the next known step in determining whether the measure could still reach voters.