HF 1185

1st Engrossment - 90th Legislature (2017 - 2018) Posted on 03/09/2017 10:52am

A bill for an act
relating to data practices; defining correspondence in government record retention
law; providing minimum three-year retention period for correspondence; amending
Minnesota Statutes 2016, sections 15.17, subdivisions 1, 2; 138.17, subdivisions
1, 7.

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

Section 1.

Minnesota Statutes 2016, section 15.17, subdivision 1, is amended to read:

Subdivision 1.

Must be kept.

All officers and agencies of the state, counties, cities,
towns, school districts, municipal subdivisions or corporations, or other public authorities
or political entities within the state, hereinafter "public officer," shall make and preserve
all new text begin government new text end records necessary to a full and accurate knowledge of their deleted text begin official deleted text end activities.
Government records may be produced in the form of computerized records. All government
records shall be made on a physical medium of a quality to insure permanent records. Every
public officer is empowered to reproduce records if the records are not deemed to be of
permanent or archival value by the commissioner of administration and the records
disposition panel under section 138.17. The public officer is empowered to reproduce these
records by any photographic, photostatic, microphotographic, optical disk imaging system,
microfilming, or other reproduction method that clearly and accurately reproduces the
records. Each public officer may order that those photographs, photostats, microphotographs,
microfilms, optical images, or other reproductions, be substituted for the originals of them.
The public officer may direct the destruction or sale for salvage or other disposition of the
originals from which they were made, in accordance with the disposition requirements of
section 138.17. Photographs, photostats, microphotographs, microfilms, optical images, or
other reproductions are for all purposes deemed the original recording of the papers, books,
documents, and records reproduced when so ordered by any public officer and are admissible
as evidence in all courts and proceedings of every kind. A facsimile or exemplified or
certified copy of a photograph, photostat, microphotograph, microfilm, optical image, or
other reproduction, or an enlargement or reduction of it, has the same effect and weight as
evidence as would a certified or exemplified copy of the original.

Sec. 2.

Minnesota Statutes 2016, section 15.17, subdivision 2, is amended to read:

Subd. 2.

Responsibility for records.

The chief administrative officer of each public
agency shall be responsible for the preservation and care of the agency's government records,
which shall include written or printed books, papers, letters, contracts, documents, maps,
plans, computer-based data, and other records deleted text begin made or received pursuant to law or in
connection with the transaction of public business deleted text end . It shall be the duty of each agency, and
of its chief administrative officer, to carefully protect and preserve government records
from deterioration, mutilation, loss, or destruction. Records or record books may be repaired,
renovated, or rebound when necessary to preserve them properly.

Sec. 3.

Minnesota Statutes 2016, section 138.17, subdivision 1, is amended to read:

Subdivision 1.

Destruction, preservation, reproduction of records; prima facie
evidence.

(a) The attorney general, legislative auditor in the case of state records, state
auditor in the case of local records, and director of the Minnesota Historical Society,
hereinafter director, shall constitute the Records Disposition Panel. The members of the
panel shall have power by majority vote to direct the destruction or sale for salvage of
government records determined to be no longer of any value, or to direct the disposition by
gift to the Minnesota Historical Society or otherwise of government records determined to
be valuable for preservation. The Records Disposition Panel may by majority vote order
any of those records to be reproduced by photographic or other means, and order that
photographic or other reproductions be substituted for the originals of them. It may direct
the destruction or sale for salvage or other disposition of the originals from which they were
made. Photographic or other reproductions shall for all purposes be deemed the originals
of the records reproduced when so ordered by the records disposition panel, and shall be
admissible as evidence in all courts and in proceedings of every kind. A facsimile,
exemplified or certified copy of a photographic, optical disk imaging, or other reproduction,
or an enlargement or reduction of it, shall have the same effect and weight as evidence as
would a certified or exemplified copy of the original. The Records Disposition Panel, by
majority vote, may direct the storage of government records, except as herein provided, and
direct the storage of photographic or other reproductions. Photographic or other reproductions
substituted for original records shall be disposed of in accordance with the procedures
provided for the original records.

(b) For the purposes of this chapter:

(1) the term "government records" means state and local records, including all cards,
correspondence, discs, maps, memoranda, microfilms, papers, photographs, recordings,
reports, tapes, writings, optical disks, and other data, information, or documentary material,
regardless of physical form or characteristics, storage media or conditions of use, made or
received by an officer or agency of the state and an officer or agency of a county, city, town,
school district, municipal subdivision or corporation or other public authority or political
entity within the state pursuant to state law or in connection with the transaction of public
business by an officer or agency;

(2) the term "state record" means a record of a department, office, officer, commission,
commissioner, board or any other agency, however styled or designated, of the executive
branch of state government; a record of the state legislature; a record of any court, whether
of statewide or local jurisdiction; and any other record designated or treated as a state record
under state law;

(3) the term "local record" means a record of an agency of a county, city, town, school
district, municipal subdivision or corporation or other public authority or political entity;

(4) the term "records" excludes deleted text begin data and information that does not become part of an
official transaction, deleted text end library and museum material made or acquired and kept solely for
reference or exhibit purposes deleted text begin , deleted text end new text begin ; new text end extra copies of documents kept only for convenience of
reference new text begin , including extra copies of newsletters and periodical publications; new text end and stock of
publications and processed documents, and bonds, coupons, or other obligations or evidences
of indebtedness, the destruction or other disposition of which is governed by other laws;

(5) the term "state archives" means those records preserved or appropriate for preservation
as evidence of the organization, functions, policies, decisions, procedures, operations or
other activities of government or because of the value of the information contained in them,
when determined to have sufficient historical or other value to warrant continued preservation
by the state of Minnesota and accepted for inclusion in the collections of the Minnesota
Historical Society deleted text begin . deleted text end new text begin ; and
new text end

new text begin (6) the term "correspondence" includes any written or electronic text-based
communication to or from officers, elected officials, administrators, managers, professionals,
and all other staff that document events, decisions, business, and functions of the agency,
public authority, or political entity. "Correspondence" excludes purely personal
communications, announcements of social events, and unsolicited advertising or promotional
material that bears no substantive relationship to the events, decisions, business, or functions
of the agency, public authority, or political entity.
new text end

(c) If the decision is made to dispose of records by majority vote, the Minnesota Historical
Society may acquire and retain whatever they determine to be of potential historical value.

Sec. 4.

Minnesota Statutes 2016, section 138.17, subdivision 7, is amended to read:

Subd. 7.

Records management.

It shall be the duty of the head of each state agency
and the governing body of each county, municipality, and other subdivision of government
to establish and maintain an active, continuing program for the economical and efficient
management of the records of each agency, county, municipality, or other subdivision of
government. Public officials shall prepare an inclusive inventory of records in their custody,
to which shall be attached a schedule, approved by the head of the governmental unit or
agency having custody of the records, establishing a time period for the retention or disposal
of each series of records. new text begin In the case of correspondence, the time period for retention of a
record shall be no less than three years from the date of creation or receipt. new text end When the schedule
is unanimously approved by the records disposition panel, the head of the governmental
unit or agency having custody of the records may dispose of the type of records listed in
the schedule at a time and in a manner prescribed in the schedule for particular records
which were created after the approval. A list of records disposed of pursuant to this
subdivision shall be maintained by the governmental unit or agency. When records containing
not public data as defined in section 13.02, subdivision 8a, are being disposed of under this
subdivision, the records must be destroyed in a way that prevents their contents from being
determined.