The St. Paul City Council originally voted to block the measure because of the city attorney’s recommendation.
St. Paul must place a proposed ordinance on November ballots after a judge on Monday overruled a City Council vote to keep it off.
If voters approve the measure in November, St. Paul will adopt a city ordinance that would let renters make necessary repairs to their apartments themselves, when those repairs have been neglected by a landlord. The renter could then deduct the cost of the repair from their rent, up to the cost of half a month’s rent.
Organizers collected more than 5,400 signatures, verified by Ramsey County elections officials. In most instances when a ballot measure has collected enough signatures, the City Council rubber-stamps approval for the question to go before voters.
But St. Paul City Attorney Irene Kao raised questions about how the ballot language interacted with state law, and said in a memo to the City Council that she worried the city could face a lawsuit if the measure passed.
The council voted 5-2 on Aug. 5 to keep the measure off the ballot, with only Council Members Nelsie Yang and HwaJeong Kim voting to put the question to voters.
Other council members said they agreed with the policy, but they wanted to see it passed in a way that would eliminate the legal risk to the city that Kao saw.
The group organizing the petition, the Safe Homes St. Paul, filed a lawsuit Friday to get the measure before voters in November. After a hearing Monday, Ramsey County Judge Mark Ireland ordered St. Paul to place the repair question on the November ballot.
“The court’s decision is a victory for democracy and the working people of Saint Paul,” said Safe Homes organizer Cole Hanson in a statement Monday.