HF 1578

Introduction - 94th Legislature (2025 - 2026)

Posted on 02/26/2025 02:53 p.m.

A bill for an act
relating to judiciary; restricting public dissemination of personal information about
county attorneys and employees in county attorney offices; amending Minnesota
Statutes 2024, section 480.40, subdivision 1.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF MINNESOTA:

Section 1.

Minnesota Statutes 2024, section 480.40, subdivision 1, is amended to read:

Subdivision 1.

Definitions.

(a) For purposes of this section and section 480.45, the
following terms have the meanings given.

(b) "Judicial official" means:

(1) every Minnesota district court judge, senior judge, retired judge, and every judge of
the Minnesota Court of Appeals and every active, senior, recalled, or retired federal judge
who resides in Minnesota;

(2) a justice of the Minnesota Supreme Court;

(3) employees of the Minnesota judicial branch;

(4) judicial referees and magistrate judges; deleted text begin and
deleted text end

(5) current and retired judges and current employees of the Office of Administrative
Hearings, Workers' Compensation Court of Appeals, and Tax Court new text begin ; and
new text end

new text begin (6) Minnesota county attorneys and employees within a Minnesota county attorney's
office new text end .

(c) "Personal information" does not include publicly available information. Personal
information means:

(1) a residential address of a judicial official;

(2) a residential address of the spouse, domestic partner, or children of a judicial official;

(3) a nonjudicial branch issued telephone number or email address of a judicial official;

(4) the name of any child of a judicial official; and

(5) the name of any child care facility or school that is attended by a child of a judicial
official if combined with an assertion that the named facility or school is attended by the
child of a judicial official.

(d) "Publicly available information" means information that is lawfully made available
through federal, state, or local government records or information that a business has a
reasonable basis to believe is lawfully made available to the general public through widely
distributed media, by a judicial official, or by a person to whom the judicial official has
disclosed the information, unless the judicial official has restricted the information to a
specific audience.

(e) "Law enforcement support organizations" do not include charitable organizations.