Olson: Will Minnesotans be able to legally purchase keys after July 1? The kerfuffle continues.

Opinion editor’s note: Strib Voices publishes a mix of commentary online and in print each day. To contribute, click here.

•••

Among the prickly issues lingering in the 2025 legislative session’s final week: Will Minnesotans be able to legally purchase keys after July 1, or will they be forced to make border runs as they once did for booze on Sundays?

“It’s an excellent question,” said Nick Johnson, Minnesota-based team lead at ASSA ABLOY Door Security Solutions, the Stockholm-based world’s largest manufacturer of doors, locks and keys.

In Minnesota, Johnson said he sells thousands of keys through distributors and wholesalers to Minnesota customers, including elementary schools, high schools and universities. He couldn’t yet say whether the company would still do business in Minnesota after July 1.

A 2023 law passed in a large environmental bill requires all keys manufactured and sold in Minnesota after July 1 to have no more than 0.009% lead. The only other state with a limit is California, where keys are restricted to 1.5% lead.

After July 1, it’s unclear what will happen if, say, a university student loses the key to their dorm room and needs a replacement created under the new standard.

“It’s a problem,” Johnson said. “If you can’t use a key, how do you get in a locked door?”

Lobbyists and trade groups at the Capitol are stepping up their effort this week to delay or strike the lead limit. It’s unclear where this is headed, but the Legislature needs to take action so the lower threshold doesn’t become law in six weeks.

The Senate already has taken that position, voting earlier to delete the new limit from law. Sen. Grant Hauschild, DFL-Hermantown, said he’s all for reasonably reducing harmful metals with rules that work in the real world but “if we’re banning house and car keys overnight, we’ve locked out common sense.”

The House kept the provision in the law so the discussion about the fate of keys is now in front of the joint House-Senate conference committee working on the Commerce Finance bill.

There’s high-level support, at least from House Republicans, for scrapping the limit.

“Democrats passed a lot of mandates over the last two years without thinking about their longer-term impacts,” said House Speaker Lisa Demuth, R-Cold Spring. “We’re facing a difficult situation with this mandate that will make nearly all keys illegal, and it’s obvious that we need to fix it this year.”

She’s right. Here’s a golden opportunity for bipartisanship and common sense to prevail before the Legislature adjourns Monday.

The Minnesota Pollution Control Agency (MPCA) supports the lower limit while also acknowledging it’s a difficult change for manufacturers.

The state agency views the ban as a means to protect young children from the harmful effects of lead. The MPCA cites a state Department of Health study that found 15 children with elevated levels of lead in their blood attributable to keys from 2015-19.

MPCA assistant commissioner Kirk Koudelka said that come July 1, no one is coming to confiscate keys because both existing keys and locks are grandfathered in under the new law and not subject to the new limits. And, he said, the agency is willing to be lenient.

The MPCA has “expressed to manufacturers and legislators that if additional time is needed for compliance, we’re open to them,” Koudelka said, adding that manufacturers would be given a “reasonable amount of time” to comply.

That sounds fair enough, but then there’s the issue of who decides what’s reasonable.

Key manufacturers say the alloys for making keys have been largely static for more than a century and that forcing this sort of change isn’t as easy as cutting a new key for an old lock.

The material used to make keys and locks must match. Use a too-soft key in a hard lock, or vice versa, and they will damage or degrade quickly.

Koudelka said some automakers, including Honda and Toyota, have produced keys within the new limits. But key manufacturers say that car keys and home hardware are two different ecosystems.

“From our perspective, allowing this ban to become effective is disastrous for Minnesota,” said Jake Parker, senior director of government relations for the Security Industry Association based in Washington, D.C. “It’s not just the keys themselves; it’s keyed locks as a product. This means you won’t be able to go to Home Depot or Lowe’s and get replacement locks.”

Parker said brass is the primary proven alloy for keys and lead is a necessary component.

Let’s state the obvious: Nobody wants a child’s development to be hindered by lead exposure. Kids shouldn’t be given metal keys to gnaw on. I’d go so far as to say no one of any age should stuff metal keys in their mouth.

In this case, however, there seems to be a need for additional risk-reward analysis on whether a lower lead threshold is worth the upheaval in the lock-and-key industry. At a minimum, the state should delay implementation for a couple of years because too many questions remain.

Tracking back to the state study, for example, are 15 cases of elevated lead levels in children over a four-year study statistically significant? How damaging were the children’s lead levels and how did the study determine keys were the cause?

The MPCA’s “just trust us” approach to enforcement of the changeover doesn’t sound great to an industry wanting to know if they can still legally operate in Minnesota in six weeks.

“I wasn’t aware of this until recently,” Parker said. “It’s probably telling that if folks in the industry were not aware of this, then businesses in Minnesota were not aware of it.”

Protecting children is always an elevated priority, but this key change needs a more measured discussion. The Legislature could eliminate the new limit or delay its start date and set up a task force to share technical data and work on a compromise, avoiding the possible supply chain fissure for Minnesotans.

In the meantime, we all can do our part for the greater good and simply keep metal keys out of little mouths.