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Westlaw has added the Commissioner of Administration's Advisory Opinions to its legal research database. The Commissioner has issued more than 1,000 opinions, and Westlaw is a useful tool to search for opinions about specific issues.
If you do not have a subscription to Westlaw, all Advisory Opinions are still available on the Data Practices Office website. Please feel free to reach out to our office if you need any assistance when searching for an opinion on a particular topic.
Data Practices Office Offering Remote Workshops
The Data Practices Office is beginning to schedule online workshops that will allow our office to deliver trainings remotely. The workshops are multi-hour, in-depth trainings, and participants will be required to pay a registration fee. These workshops will be held entirely online and will not require any in-person attendance.
We will post the remote trainings on our Workshops and Trainings page on the Data Practices office website when they are scheduled. Our office will also provide updates through our Data Practices Office email alerts when registration is available for a new workshop.
Our office is still not holding any in-person workshops or trainings as a precautionary safety measure related to the COVID-19 pandemic. However, you can find several video resources and past webinars about data practices and open meeting topics on the Data Practices Office YouTube channel.
Law Enforcement Data Remote Workshop
The Data Practices Office will be hosting a Law Enforcement Data remote workshop on November 10 that focuses on key law enforcement provisions in Minnesota law, including:
- Discussions of general legal requirements, including criminal investigative data, juvenile data, and traffic accident data;
- Real-life problem solving scenarios based on actual inquiries; and,
- Time for questions and answers about the day-to-day issues you face.
This workshop will be held remotely on WebEx, and it does not require in-person attendance. The cost to attend this workshop is $250.
More information about this workshop is available on our website.
Open Meeting Law Refresher Webinar
The Data Practices Office will be offering a free lunchtime webinar focusing on Open Meeting Law requirements on December 1 at noon. This installment will cover open meetings during the pandemic, the different requirements for remote meetings, and a question and answer session.
More information about this free webinar is available on our website, and you can view recordings of past webinars on our YouTube Channel.
Notification Data Classification
In Advisory Opinion 20-006, a city asked about the classification of email addresses it collected to notify the public of information to participate in a town hall event. The Commissioner opined that the plain language of Minnesota Statutes, section 13.356, paragraph (a) classified the email addresses as private data because the city collected the data for the purpose of notifying residents of how to attend the virtual town hall event. The Commissioner also noted that any other registration data the city collected from individuals not listed in section 13.356 would be presumptively public.
Greene v. Minnesota Bureau of Mediation Services, et al., A18-1981 (Minn., Sept. 16, 2020)
Respondent personal care attendants (PCAs) sought to decertify the current exclusive representative of PCAs who provide home-based care to participants in state programs, Service Employees International Union (SEIU). Minnesota state law allows PCAs to organize for collective bargaining under the Public Employment Labor Relations Act (PELRA) by categorizing them as "executive branch state employees employed by the commissioner of management and budget," pursuant to Minn. Stat. § 179A.54, subd. 2.
The district court concluded that PCAs are state employees for purposes of the Data Practices Act, and ordered disclosure of the list. The Minnesota Court of Appeals concluded that the PCAs were not entitled to the list under the PELRA provision, but they were entitled to it under the Data Practices Act. The Minnesota Supreme Court held that respondent PCAs were not entitled to access a current list of PCAs under section 179A.54, subd. 9, nor were PCAs "employees" for purposes of the Data Practices Act.
Walmart Inc. v. Anoka County, A19-1926 (Minn. App., Sept. 14, 2020) (unpublished)
The Minnesota Court of Appeals held that continuing legal education (CLE) materials prepared by Anoka County and presented to other county attorneys should have been disclosed in response to a public data request, as Anoka County waived attorney work-product protection for these materials and the common-interest doctrine was not applicable.
Walmart made a data request to Anoka County for the CLE materials at issue. Anoka County did not provide the CLE materials, relying on the work-product and common-interest doctrines. In a proceeding at OAH, an Administrative Law Judge granted summary judgment in favor of Anoka County, which Walmart appealed.
In reaching its conclusion, the Court of Appeals indicated it would assume the CLE materials at issue were covered by the work-product doctrine. The Court of Appeals then determined Anoka County waived work-product protections when it presented the materials at a CLE program.
Further, the Court of Appeals stated that Minnesota has not expressly adopted the common-interest doctrine, which is an exception to the work-product waiver, but even if Minnesota were to adopt this exception, the doctrine would not be applicable to these circumstances. The Court stated that the common-interest doctrine would not apply because the presentation was accessed by those without a common interest in defending tax appeals, and there were not adequate protections to prevent subsequent disclosures. As a result, the Court reversed the Administrative Law Judge's decision, and remanded for further proceedings.
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