1.1                          A bill for an act 
  1.2             relating to government data practices; requiring 
  1.3             publication of public access procedures; requiring 
  1.4             privatization contracts to include data practices 
  1.5             compliance requirements; providing for the preparation 
  1.6             of model policies; requiring the director of the 
  1.7             historical society to assist in the records management 
  1.8             program; funding the information policy training 
  1.9             program; appropriating money; amending Minnesota 
  1.10            Statutes 1998, sections 13.03, subdivision 2; 13.05, 
  1.11            by adding a subdivision; 13.073, by adding a 
  1.12            subdivision; and 138.17, subdivisions 7 and 8. 
  1.13  BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF MINNESOTA: 
  1.14     Section 1.  Minnesota Statutes 1998, section 13.03, 
  1.15  subdivision 2, is amended to read: 
  1.16     Subd. 2.  [PROCEDURES.] (a) The responsible authority in 
  1.17  every state agency, political subdivision, and statewide system 
  1.18  shall establish procedures, consistent with this chapter, to 
  1.19  insure that requests for government data are received and 
  1.20  complied with in an appropriate and prompt manner. 
  1.21     (b) The responsible authority shall prepare public access 
  1.22  procedures in written form and update them no later than August 
  1.23  1 of each year as necessary to reflect any changes in personnel 
  1.24  or circumstances that might affect public access to government 
  1.25  data.  The responsible authority shall make copies of the 
  1.26  written public access procedures easily available to the public 
  1.27  by distributing free copies of the procedures to the public or 
  1.28  by posting a copy of the procedures in a conspicuous place 
  1.29  within the government entity that is easily accessible to the 
  2.1   public. 
  2.2      (c) Full convenience and comprehensive accessibility shall 
  2.3   be allowed to researchers including historians, genealogists and 
  2.4   other scholars to carry out extensive research and complete 
  2.5   copying of all records containing government data except as 
  2.6   otherwise expressly provided by law. 
  2.7      A responsible authority may designate one or more designees.
  2.8      Sec. 2.  Minnesota Statutes 1998, section 13.05, is amended 
  2.9   by adding a subdivision to read: 
  2.10     Subd. 11.  [PRIVATIZATION.] (a) If a government entity 
  2.11  enters into a contract with a private person to perform any of 
  2.12  its functions, the government entity shall include in the 
  2.13  contract contractual terms that make it clear that all of the 
  2.14  data created, collected, received, stored, used, maintained, or 
  2.15  disseminated by the private person in performing those functions 
  2.16  is subject to the requirements of this chapter and that the 
  2.17  private person must comply with those requirements as if it were 
  2.18  a government entity.  The remedies in section 13.08 apply to the 
  2.19  private person under this subdivision. 
  2.20     (b) This subdivision does not create a duty on the part of 
  2.21  the private person to provide access to public data to the 
  2.22  public if the public data are available from the government 
  2.23  entity, except as required by the terms of the contract. 
  2.24     Sec. 3.  Minnesota Statutes 1998, section 13.073, is 
  2.25  amended by adding a subdivision to read: 
  2.26     Subd. 6.  [PREPARATION OF MODEL POLICIES AND 
  2.27  PROCEDURES.] The commissioner shall, in consultation with 
  2.28  affected government entities, prepare model policies and 
  2.29  procedures to assist government entities in complying with the 
  2.30  requirements of this chapter that relate to public access to 
  2.31  government data and rights of subjects of data.  Upon completion 
  2.32  of a model for a governmental level, the commissioner shall 
  2.33  offer that model for formal adoption by that level of government.
  2.34  Government entities may adopt or reject the model offered by the 
  2.35  commissioner.  A government entity that adopts the 
  2.36  commissioner's model shall notify the commissioner in a form 
  3.1   prescribed by the commissioner.  A government entity that 
  3.2   chooses not to adopt the commissioner's model shall notify the 
  3.3   commissioner and provide a copy of the policies and procedures 
  3.4   prepared and used by that government entity. 
  3.5      Sec. 4.  Minnesota Statutes 1998, section 138.17, 
  3.6   subdivision 7, is amended to read: 
  3.7      Subd. 7.  [RECORDS MANAGEMENT PROGRAM.] A records 
  3.8   management program for the application of efficient and 
  3.9   economical management methods to the creation, utilization, 
  3.10  maintenance, retention, preservation, and disposal of official 
  3.11  records shall be administered by the commissioner of 
  3.12  administration with assistance from the director of the 
  3.13  historical society.  The state records center which stores and 
  3.14  services state records not in state archives shall be 
  3.15  administered by the commissioner of administration.  The 
  3.16  commissioner of administration is empowered to (1) establish 
  3.17  standards, procedures, and techniques for effective management 
  3.18  of government records, (2) make continuing surveys of paper work 
  3.19  operations, and (3) recommend improvements in current records 
  3.20  management practices including the use of space, equipment, and 
  3.21  supplies employed in creating, maintaining, preserving and 
  3.22  disposing of government records.  It shall be the duty of the 
  3.23  head of each state agency and the governing body of each county, 
  3.24  municipality, and other subdivision of government to cooperate 
  3.25  with the commissioner in conducting surveys and to establish and 
  3.26  maintain an active, continuing program for the economical and 
  3.27  efficient management of the records of each agency, county, 
  3.28  municipality, or other subdivision of government.  When 
  3.29  requested by the commissioner, public officials shall assist in 
  3.30  the preparation of an inclusive inventory of records in their 
  3.31  custody, to which shall be attached a schedule, approved by the 
  3.32  head of the governmental unit or agency having custody of the 
  3.33  records and the commissioner, establishing a time period for the 
  3.34  retention or disposal of each series of records.  When the 
  3.35  schedule is unanimously approved by the records disposition 
  3.36  panel, the head of the governmental unit or agency having 
  4.1   custody of the records may dispose of the type of records listed 
  4.2   in the schedule at a time and in a manner prescribed in the 
  4.3   schedule for particular records which were created after the 
  4.4   approval.  A list of records disposed of pursuant to this 
  4.5   subdivision shall be forwarded to the commissioner and the 
  4.6   archivist by the head of the governmental unit or agency.  The 
  4.7   archivist shall maintain a list of all records destroyed. 
  4.8      Sec. 5.  Minnesota Statutes 1998, section 138.17, 
  4.9   subdivision 8, is amended to read: 
  4.10     Subd. 8.  [EMERGENCY RECORDS PRESERVATION.] In light of the 
  4.11  danger of nuclear or natural disaster, the commissioner of 
  4.12  administration, with the assistance of the director of the 
  4.13  historical society, shall establish and maintain a program for 
  4.14  the selection and preservation of public records considered 
  4.15  essential to the operation of government and to the protection 
  4.16  of the rights and interests of persons, and shall make or cause 
  4.17  to be made preservation duplicates or designate as preservation 
  4.18  duplicates existing copies of such essential public records.  
  4.19  Preservation duplicates shall be durable, accurate, complete, 
  4.20  and clear, and such duplicates reproduced by photographic or 
  4.21  other process which accurately reproduces and forms a durable 
  4.22  medium for so reproducing the original shall have the same force 
  4.23  and effect for all purposes as the original record whether the 
  4.24  original record is in existence or not.  A transcript, 
  4.25  exemplification, or certified copy of such preservation 
  4.26  duplicate shall be deemed for all purposes to be a transcript, 
  4.27  exemplification, or certified copy of the original record.  Such 
  4.28  preservation duplicates shall be preserved in the place and 
  4.29  manner of safekeeping prescribed by the commissioner. 
  4.30     Every county, municipality, or other subdivision of 
  4.31  government may institute a program for the preservation of 
  4.32  necessary documents essential to the continuity of government.  
  4.33  Such a program shall first be submitted to the commissioner for 
  4.34  approval or disapproval and no such program shall be instituted 
  4.35  until such approval is obtained. 
  4.36     Sec. 6.  [APPROPRIATION.] 
  5.1      $....... is appropriated from the general fund to the 
  5.2   commissioner of administration for purposes of the information 
  5.3   policy training program under Minnesota Statutes, section 13.073.
  5.4      Sec. 7.  [EFFECTIVE DATE.] 
  5.5      Section 1 is effective January 1, 2001.  Section 3 is 
  5.6   effective July 1, 2000, with respect to preparation of the model 
  5.7   policies and procedures by the commissioner of administration, 
  5.8   and January 1, 2001, with respect to the other provisions of 
  5.9   section 3.