JULY 2019    

2019 Legislative Session Summary: Data Practices and Open Meetings

The following summaries highlight changes made to Chapter 13 (Data Practices Act), Chapter 13D (Open Meeting Law), and other data practices related statutes during the 2019 Minnesota legislative session. Unless otherwise noted in the summaries, effective dates are July 1, 2019.

Of note: The Legislative Commission on Data Practices and Personal Data Privacy is set to sunset on June 30, 2019, under Minn. Stat. § 3.8843, and the sunset date was not extended during the 2019 legislative session. However, the Legislative Coordinating Commission (LCC) approved a resolution to establish an LCC subcommittee on Data Practices on June 19, 2019. The resolution mirrors current statutory language.

Minn. Stat. § 3.971 (First Special Session Law Chapter 10, article 2, section 4)

Government entities subject to audits by the Office of the Legislative Auditor must notify the Office when not public data may have been accessed "by or provided to a person without lawful authorization" (effective day after enactment).

Minn. Stat. §§ 13.201; 13.72 (First Special Session Law Ch. 5, art. 2, sec. 2-3)

Classifies as private or nonpublic certain rideshare and transit data for all government entities (effective day after enactment).

Minn. Stat. §§ 13.322; 136A.64; 136A.672; 136A.8295 (Session Law Ch. 64, art. 2, sec. 1, 23, 27, 35)

Classifies certain data maintained by the Office of Higher Education related to student complaints, financial information, and accreditation data.

Minn. Stat. §§ 13.46; 13.72 (First Special Session Law Ch. 3, art. 3, sec. 3-4)

Allows certain data sharing between the MN Department of Human Services and the Metropolitan Council for transportation services (effective day after enactment).

Minn. Stat. § 13.46, subd. 2 (First Special Session Law Ch. 9, art. 2, sec. 1)

Permits the MN Department of Human Services to disseminate certain data related to child care assistance programs (effective day after enactment).

Minn. Stat. § 13.46, subd. 3 (First Special Session Law Ch. 9, art. 2, sec. 2)

Allows the disclosure of social services investigative data to agents of the welfare system, investigators, law enforcement agencies, and attorneys when related to a criminal, civil, or administrative proceeding (effective day after enactment).

Minn. Stat. § 13.46, subd. 4 (First Special Session Law Ch. 9, art. 2, sec. 3)

Classifies certain correction orders issued to child care providers for licensing violations as private data (effective August 1, 2019).

Minn. Stat. §§ 13.461; 119B.02 (First Special Session Law Ch. 9, art. 2, sec. 4, 7)

Classifies certain child care assistance payment data as either public or private, depending on the type of data (effective day after enactment).

Minn. Stat. § 13.599 (First Special Session Law Ch. 10, art. 2, sec. 7)

Responses submitted by a grantee to the MN State Arts Board become public at the Board’s public review meeting.

Minn. Stat. § 13.69 (First Special Session Law Ch. 9, art. 7, sec. 1)

Allows the MN Department of Public Safety to share the last four digits of a Social Security Number with the MN Department of Human Services for specific purposes.

Minn. Stat. §§ 13.851; 641.15 (First Special Session Law Ch. 9, art. 6, sec. 1, 73)

Allows sharing of certain mental health screening data.

Minn. Stat. §§ 13.865; 241.94 (First Special Session Law Ch. 5, art. 3. sec. 1, 7)

Governs classification and access of data maintained by the Ombudsperson for Corrections.

Minn. Stat. § 13D.02 (Session Law Ch. 33)

Modifies the requirements for certain types of attendance by interactive television at an open meeting (effective August 1, 2019).

Minn. Stat. §§ 16C.281; 471.345 (Session Law Ch. 21)

Provides for reasonable access to necessary information and a reasonable opportunity to seek relief in a public procurement action, including receipt of data described under section 13.591, subd. 3 or 4, at least 15 days prior to full execution of the procurement contract (effective August 1, 2019).

Minn. Stat. § 152.31 (First Special Session Law Ch. 9, art. 11, sec. 97)

Allows the MN Department of Health and the MN Department of Agriculture to execute data sharing agreements to verify certain information related to hemp growers.

Minn. Stat. § 168.246 (First Special Session Law Ch. 3, art. 3, sec. 26)

Allows licensed dealers access to certain data per the federal Drivers Privacy Protection Act consistent with a permissible use under the Act for specified purposes (effective July 1, 2020).

Minn. Stat. §§ 171.07; 243.166; 244.052; 299C.093 (First Special Session Law Ch. 5, art. 5)

Amends certain predatory offender data provisions.

Minn. Stat. § 171.12 (First Special Session Law Ch. 3, art. 3, sec. 76)

Classifies driver's license emergency contact data as private (effective July 1, 2020).

Minn. Stat. § 176.231 (First Special Session Law Ch. 7, art. 12, sec. 6)

Amends provisions related to worker’s compensation data access, classification, and authorization (effective August 31, 2020).

Minn. Stat. § 177.27 (First Special Session Law Ch. 7, art. 3, sec. 4)

Provides that wage theft data are subject to section 13.39 (civil investigative data).

Minn. Stat. § 197.603 (First Special Session Law Ch. 6, art. 4, sec. 4; Ch. 10, art. 6, sec. 5)

Allows county veteran service officers to share certain data with the county or local assessor (effective day after enactment).

Minn. Stat. §§ 201.091; 207A.12 (First Special Session Law Ch. 10, art. 4, sec. 2, 6)

Information maintained on a list of voters in a presidential nomination primary is private government data, except the MN Secretary of State must provide the data to the chair of each major political party.

Minn. Stat. § 245C.08 (First Special Session Law Ch. 9, art. 2, sec. 70)

Classifies MN Department of Human Services background study data as private and limits sharing if the data are used to make a disqualification determination (effective for background studies requested on or after October 1, 2019).

Minn. Stat. § 270B.162 (First Special Session Law Ch. 6, art. 11, sec. 1)

Allows the MN Department of Revenue to share certain data with the Federal Reserve Bank for purposes of a minimum wage study (effective day after final enactment).

Minn. Stat. § 363A.35 (First Special Session Law Ch. 5, art. 2, sec. 9)

Allows the MN Department of Human Rights to provide certain access to closed case files.

Advisory Opinion Update

Entity subject to data practices and open meetings

In Advisory Opinion 19-007, a member of the public asked whether the Houston County Agricultural Society (“Society”) is subject to both the Data Practices Act and the Open Meeting Law. The Society conceded it is subject to the Open Meeting Law, but disputed that it is a government entity for purposes of the Data Practices Act. The Commissioner opined that the Society is subject to the Data Practices Act, as it is a political subdivision as defined by Minnesota Statutes, section 13.02, subd. 11. The Commissioner noted that it is the governing body of the Society that is subject to the Open Meeting Law.

Closing meetings to discuss allegations against employee

In Advisory Opinion 19-008, a City Council held closed meetings to discuss allegations against a staff member after it decided to hire an investigator. Minnesota Statutes, section 13D.05, subd. 2(b), requires a public body to close a meeting(s) to consider allegations against an employee subject to its authority until it determines that discipline may be warranted. Once it makes that determination, subsequent meetings and hearings for additional consideration of the allegations must be open. The Commissioner concluded that the Council members did not comply with the Open Meeting Law.

Classification of program review data at the Office of Higher Education

In Advisory Opinion 19-009, the Office of Higher Education (OHE) asked about the classification of certain program review data it maintained on a private/out-of-state university. The Commissioner opined that while the OHE is conducting the review, the data may be classified as not public civil investigative data under Minnesota Statutes, section 13.39. When the review concludes, the data revert to the not public classification they had prior to the investigation or are public. The Commissioner also reiterated that data may be protected as trade secret information under Minnesota Statutes, section 13.37, if the entity determines the data meet the definition in that section. Additionally, Minnesota Statutes, section 136A.64, classifies accreditation reports, records, and information in the program review as not public. Finally, the Commissioner noted that Minnesota Statutes, section 13.03, subd. 9, classifies data at the time of the request, regardless of any prior or subsequent classification.

Appropriate time to respond to a data request

In Advisory Opinion 19-010, a member of the public asked whether a state agency had violated the Data Practices Act because it had not provided her with access to the data she requested (public personnel data on two employees) until eight months after she asked for the data. In previous advisory opinions, the Commissioner has stated that a prompt, reasonable response is relative to the volume of data requested. Here, she opined that given the facts of this specific data request, including the type and amount of data requested, the agency’s response was not timely.