diff --git a/NEWS.md b/NEWS.md
index bf194540f7..661898f902 100644
--- a/NEWS.md
+++ b/NEWS.md
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-# teal 0.14.0.9018
+# teal 0.14.0.9019
 
 ### New features
 
diff --git a/R/validations.R b/R/validations.R
index 81e13554eb..6a85aecea6 100644
--- a/R/validations.R
+++ b/R/validations.R
@@ -43,10 +43,8 @@ validate_has_data <- function(x,
                               complete = FALSE,
                               allow_inf = TRUE,
                               msg = NULL) {
-  stopifnot(
-    "Please provide a character vector in msg argument of validate_has_data." = is.character(msg) || is.null(msg)
-  )
-  validate(need(!is.null(x) && is.data.frame(x), "No data left."))
+  checkmate::assert_string(msg, null.ok = TRUE)
+  checkmate::assert_data_frame(x)
   if (!is.null(min_nrow)) {
     if (complete) {
       complete_index <- stats::complete.cases(x)
diff --git a/tests/testthat/test-validate_has_data.R b/tests/testthat/test-validate_has_data.R
index 35e0920a5e..25e4379db0 100644
--- a/tests/testthat/test-validate_has_data.R
+++ b/tests/testthat/test-validate_has_data.R
@@ -55,11 +55,11 @@ testthat::test_that("validate_has_data returns message msg argument is set and c
 testthat::test_that("validate_has_data returns throws error with non-character msg input", {
   testthat::expect_error(
     validate_has_data(data, 10, msg = 1),
-    "Please provide a character vector in msg argument of validate_has_data."
+    "Assertion on 'msg' failed: Must be of type 'string' \\(or 'NULL'\\), not 'double'"
   )
 
   testthat::expect_error(
     validate_has_data(data, 10, msg = TRUE),
-    "Please provide a character vector in msg argument of validate_has_data."
+    "Assertion on 'msg' failed: Must be of type 'string' \\(or 'NULL'\\), not 'logical'."
   )
 })