Minnesota Session Laws - 1987, Regular Session

  

                         Laws of Minnesota 1987 

                        CHAPTER 351-H.F.No. 534 
           An act relating to the collection and dissemination of 
          data; classifying data; proposing classifications of 
          data as private, nonpublic, and protected nonpublic; 
          clarifying issues relating to the administration of 
          data; amending Minnesota Statutes 1986, sections 
          13.03, subdivision 3; 13.04, subdivision 2; 13.05, 
          subdivision 4; 13.38; 13.39, subdivision 3; 13.41, 
          subdivision 4; 13.43, subdivision 1; 13.46, 
          subdivisions 3, 4, 7, and by adding a subdivision; 
          13.50, subdivision 1; and 13.76; proposing coding for 
          new law in Minnesota Statutes, chapters 13 and 241.  
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF MINNESOTA: 
    Section 1.  Minnesota Statutes 1986, section 13.03, 
subdivision 3, is amended to read:  
    Subd. 3.  [REQUEST FOR ACCESS TO DATA.] Upon request to a 
responsible authority or designee, a person shall be permitted 
to inspect and copy public government data at reasonable times 
and places, and, upon request, shall be informed of the data's 
meaning.  If a person requests access for the purpose of 
inspection, the responsible authority may not assess a charge or 
require the requesting person to pay a fee to inspect data.  The 
responsible authority or designee shall provide copies of public 
government data upon request.  If a person requests copies, the 
responsible authority may require the requesting person to pay 
the actual costs of searching for and retrieving government data 
and for making, certifying and compiling the copies of the data 
but may not charge for separating public from not public data.  
If the responsible authority or designee is not able to provide 
copies at the time a request is made, copies shall be supplied 
as soon as reasonably possible. 
    When a request under this subdivision involves any person's 
receipt of copies of public government data that has commercial 
value and is an entire formula, pattern, compilation, program, 
device, method, technique, process, data base, or system 
developed with a significant expenditure of public funds by the 
agency, the responsible authority may charge a reasonable fee 
for the information in addition to the costs of making, 
certifying, and compiling the copies.  Any fee charged must be 
clearly demonstrated by the agency to relate to the actual 
development costs of the information.  The responsible 
authority, upon the request of any person, shall provide 
sufficient documentation to explain and justify the fee being 
charged.  
    If the responsible authority or designee determines that 
the requested data is classified so as to deny the requesting 
person access, the responsible authority or designee shall 
inform the requesting person of the determination either orally 
at the time of the request, or in writing as soon after that 
time as possible, and shall cite the specific statutory section, 
temporary classification, or specific provision of federal law 
on which the determination is based.  Upon the request of any 
person denied access to data, the responsible authority or 
designee shall certify in writing that the request has been 
denied and cite the specific statutory section, temporary 
classification, or specific provision of federal law upon which 
the denial was based.  
    Sec. 2.  Minnesota Statutes 1986, section 13.04, 
subdivision 2, is amended to read:  
    Subd. 2.  [INFORMATION REQUIRED TO BE GIVEN INDIVIDUAL.] An 
individual asked to supply private or confidential data 
concerning the individual shall be informed of:  (a) the purpose 
and intended use of the requested data within the collecting 
state agency, political subdivision, or statewide system; (b) 
whether the individual may refuse or is legally required to 
supply the requested data; (c) any known consequence arising 
from supplying or refusing to supply private or confidential 
data; and (d) the identity of other persons or entities 
authorized by state or federal law to receive the data.  This 
requirement shall not apply when an individual is asked to 
supply investigative data, pursuant to section 13.82, 
subdivision 5, to a law enforcement officer. 
    The commissioner of revenue may place the notice required 
under this subdivision in the individual income tax or property 
tax refund instructions instead of on those forms. 
    Sec. 3.  Minnesota Statutes 1986, section 13.05, 
subdivision 4, is amended to read:  
    Subd. 4.  [LIMITATIONS ON COLLECTION AND USE OF DATA.] 
Private or confidential data on an individual shall not be 
collected, stored, used or disseminated by political 
subdivisions, statewide systems or state agencies for any 
purposes other than those stated to the individual at the time 
of collection in accordance with section 13.04, except as 
provided in this subdivision. 
    (a) Data collected prior to August 1, 1975, and which have 
not been treated as public data, may be used, stored, and 
disseminated for the purposes for which the data was originally 
collected or for purposes which are specifically approved by the 
commissioner as necessary to public health, safety, or welfare. 
    (b) Private or confidential data may be used and 
disseminated to individuals or agencies specifically authorized 
access to that data by state, local, or federal law subsequent 
to enacted or promulgated after the collection of the data. 
    (c) Private or confidential data may be used and 
disseminated to individuals or agencies subsequent to the 
collection of the data when the responsible authority 
maintaining the data has requested approval for a new or 
different use or dissemination of the data and that request has 
been specifically approved by the commissioner as necessary to 
carry out a function assigned by law. 
    (d) Private data may be used by and disseminated to any 
person or agency if the individual subject or subjects of the 
data have given their informed consent.  Whether a data subject 
has given informed consent shall be determined by rules of the 
commissioner.  Informed consent shall not be deemed to have been 
given by an individual subject of the data by the signing of any 
statement authorizing any person or agency to disclose 
information about the individual to an insurer or its authorized 
representative, unless the statement is: 
    (1) In plain language; 
    (2) Dated; 
    (3) Specific in designating the particular persons or 
agencies the data subject is authorizing to disclose information 
about the data subject; 
    (4) Specific as to the nature of the information the 
subject is authorizing to be disclosed; 
    (5) Specific as to the persons or agencies to whom the 
subject is authorizing information to be disclosed; 
    (6) Specific as to the purpose or purposes for which the 
information may be used by any of the parties named in clause 
(5), both at the time of the disclosure and at any time in the 
future; 
    (7) Specific as to its expiration date which should be 
within a reasonable period of time, not to exceed one year 
except in the case of authorizations given in connection with 
applications for life insurance or noncancelable or guaranteed 
renewable health insurance and identified as such, two years 
after the date of the policy. 
    Sec. 4.  Minnesota Statutes 1986, section 13.38, is amended 
to read:  
    13.38 [HEALTH DATA.] 
    Subdivision 1.  [PRIVATE DATA DEFINITIONS.] The following 
data created, collected and maintained by the department of 
health, political subdivisions, or statewide systems are 
classified as private, pursuant to section 13.02, subdivision 
12:  data on individual patients pertaining to the investigation 
and study of nonsexually transmitted diseases, except that the 
data may be made public to diminish a threat to the public 
health As used in this section: 
    (a) "Commissioner" means the commissioner of health. 
    (b) "Health data" means data on individuals created, 
collected, received, or maintained by the department of health, 
political subdivisions, or statewide systems relating to the 
identification, description, prevention, and control of disease 
or as part of an epidemiologic investigation the commissioner 
designates as necessary to analyze, describe, or protect the 
public health.  
    Subd. 2.  [CONFIDENTIAL DATA ON INDIVIDUALS.] The following 
data created, collected and maintained by a department of health 
operated by the state or a political subdivision are classified 
as confidential, pursuant to section 13.02, subdivision 3:  
investigative files on individuals maintained by the department 
in connection with the epidemiologic investigation of sexually 
transmitted diseases, provided that information may be released 
to the individual's personal physician and to a health officer, 
as defined in section 145.01, for the purposes of treatment, 
continued medical evaluation and control of the disease (a) 
Health data are private data on individuals.  Notwithstanding 
section 13.05, subdivision 9, health data may not be disclosed 
except as provided in this subdivision and section 13.04.  
    (b) The commissioner or a local board of health may 
disclose health data to the data subject's physician as 
necessary to locate or identify a case, carrier, or suspect 
case, to establish a diagnosis, to provide treatment, to 
identify persons at risk of illness, or to conduct an 
epidemiologic investigation. 
    (c) With the approval of the commissioner, health data may 
be disclosed to the extent necessary to assist the commissioner 
to locate or identify a case, carrier, or suspect case, to alert 
persons who may be threatened by illness as evidenced by 
epidemiologic data, to control or prevent the spread of serious 
disease, or to diminish an imminent threat to the public health. 
    Subd. 3.  [HEALTH SUMMARY DATA.] Summary data derived from 
data collected under section 145.413 may be provided under 
section 13.05, subdivision 7. 
    Sec. 5.  Minnesota Statutes 1986, section 13.39, 
subdivision 3, is amended to read:  
    Subd. 3.  [INACTIVE INVESTIGATIVE DATA.] Inactive civil 
investigative data are public, unless the release of the data 
would jeopardize another pending civil legal action, and except 
for those portions of a civil investigative file that are 
classified as not public data by this chapter or other law.  Any 
civil investigative data presented as evidence in court or made 
part of a court record shall be public.  Civil investigative 
data become inactive upon the occurrence of any of the following 
events:  
    (1) a decision by the state agency, political subdivision, 
or statewide system or by the chief attorney acting for the 
state agency, political subdivision, or statewide system not to 
pursue the civil action; 
    (2) expiration of the time to file a complaint under the 
statute of limitations or agreement applicable to the civil 
action; or 
    (3) exhaustion of or expiration of rights of appeal by 
either party to the civil action.  
    Data determined to be inactive under clause (1) may become 
active if the state agency, political subdivision, statewide 
system, or its attorney decides to renew the civil action.  
    Sec. 6.  Minnesota Statutes 1986, section 13.41, 
subdivision 4, is amended to read:  
    Subd. 4.  [PUBLIC DATA.] Licensing agency minutes, 
application data on licensees, orders for hearing, findings of 
fact, conclusions of law and specification of the final 
disciplinary action contained in the record of the disciplinary 
action are classified as public, pursuant to section 13.02, 
subdivision 15.  The entire record concerning the disciplinary 
proceeding is public data pursuant to section 13.02, subdivision 
15, in those instances where there is a public hearing 
concerning the disciplinary action.  The license numbers, the 
license status, and continuing education records issued or 
maintained by the board of peace officer standards and training 
are classified as public data, pursuant to section 13.02, 
subdivision 15. 
    Sec. 7.  Minnesota Statutes 1986, section 13.43, 
subdivision 1, is amended to read: 
    Subdivision 1.  [DEFINITION.] As used in this section, 
"personnel data" means data on individuals collected because the 
individual is or was an employee of or an applicant for 
employment by, performs services on a voluntary basis for, or 
acts as an independent contractor with a state agency, statewide 
system or political subdivision or is a member of an advisory 
board or commission.  "Personnel data" includes data on 
individuals who apply for or are enrolled in employment and 
training programs funded with federal, state, or local resources 
unless the data are welfare data under section 13.46. 
    Sec. 8.  Minnesota Statutes 1986, section 13.46, 
subdivision 3, is amended to read:  
    Subd. 3.  [INVESTIGATIVE DATA.] Data on persons, including 
data on vendors of services and data on licensees, that is 
collected, maintained, used, or disseminated by the welfare 
system in an investigation, authorized by statute and relating 
to the enforcement of rules or law, is confidential data on 
individuals pursuant to section 13.02, subdivision 3, or 
protected nonpublic data not on individuals pursuant to section 
13.02, subdivision 13, and shall not be disclosed except: 
    (a) pursuant to section 13.05; 
    (b) pursuant to statute or valid court order; 
    (c) to a party named in a civil or criminal proceeding, 
administrative or judicial, for preparation of defense; or 
    (d) to provide the notices required and or permitted by 
sections 626.556, subdivisions 10b and 10d, and 626.557, 
subdivision 10a statute. 
    The data referred to in this subdivision shall be 
classified as public data upon its submission to an 
administrative law judge or court in an administrative or 
judicial proceeding.  Inactive welfare investigative data shall 
be treated as provided in section 13.39, subdivision 3.  
    Sec. 9.  Minnesota Statutes 1986, section 13.46, 
subdivision 4, is amended to read:  
    Subd. 4.  [LICENSING DATA.] (a) As used in this subdivision:
    (1) "licensing data" means all data collected, maintained, 
used, or disseminated by the welfare system pertaining to 
persons licensed or registered or who apply for licensure or 
registration under the authority of the commissioner of human 
services, except for; 
    (2) "client" means a person who is receiving services from 
a licensee or from an applicant for licensure; and 
     (3) "personal and personal financial data about applicants 
and licensees under the family day care program and the family 
foster care program and data generated in the course of 
licensing investigations that are in response to a complaint of 
a rule or statutory violation, are public data.  Personal and 
personal financial data on family day care program and family 
foster care program applicants and licensees are private data 
pursuant to section 13.02, subdivision 12." means social 
security numbers, identity of and letters of reference, 
insurance information, reports from the bureau of criminal 
apprehension, health examination reports, and social/home 
studies. 
    (b) Except as provided in paragraph (c), the following data 
are public:  name, address, telephone number of licensees, 
licensed capacity, type of children preferred, variances 
granted, type of dwelling, name and relationship of other family 
members, previous license history, class of license, the nature 
and content of complaints after resolution when the information 
is not maintained in anticipation of legal action, record of 
informal resolutions of licensing violations, orders of hearing, 
findings of fact, and conclusions of law, and specifications of 
the final disciplinary action contained in the record of 
disciplinary action.  
    (c) The following are private data on individuals under 
section 13.02, subdivision 12, or nonpublic data under section 
13.02, subdivision 9:  personal and personal financial data on 
family day care program and family foster care program 
applicants and licensees and their family members who provide 
services under the license. 
    (d) The following are private data on individuals:  the 
identity of persons who have made reports concerning licensees 
or applicants that appear in inactive investigative data, and 
the records of clients or employees of the licensee or applicant 
for licensure whose records are received by the licensing agency 
for purposes of review or in anticipation of a contested 
matter.  The names of reporters under sections 626.556 and 
626.557 may be disclosed only as provided in section 626.556, 
subdivision 11, or 626.557, subdivision 12. 
    (e) Data classified as private, confidential, or nonpublic 
under this subdivision become public data if submitted to a 
court or administrative law judge as part of a disciplinary 
proceeding in which there is a public hearing concerning the 
disciplinary action. 
    (f) Data generated in the course of licensing 
investigations that are in response relate to a complaint an 
alleged violation of a rule or statutory violation law are 
investigative data pursuant to under subdivision 3. 
    (g) Data that are not public data collected, maintained, 
used, or disseminated under this subdivision that relate to or 
are derived from a report as defined in section 626.556, 
subdivision 2, are subject to the destruction provisions of 
section 626.556, subdivision 11. 
    Sec. 10.  Minnesota Statutes 1986, section 13.46, 
subdivision 7, is amended to read:  
    Subd. 7.  [MENTAL HEALTH CENTER DATA.] (a) Mental health 
data are private data on individuals and shall not be disclosed, 
except:  
    (1) pursuant to section 13.05, as determined by the 
responsible authority for the community mental health center, 
mental health division, or provider;  
    (2) pursuant to court order;  
    (3) pursuant to a statute specifically authorizing access 
to or disclosure of mental health data; or 
    (4) with the consent of the client or patient.  
    (b) An agency of the welfare system may not require an 
individual to consent to the release of mental health data as a 
condition for receiving services or for reimbursing a community 
mental health center, mental health division of a county, or 
provider under contract to deliver mental health services. 
    Sec. 11.  Minnesota Statutes 1986, section 13.46, is 
amended by adding a subdivision to read: 
    Subd. 11.  [NURSING HOME APPRAISALS.] Names, addresses, and 
other data that could identify nursing homes selected as part of 
a random sample to be appraised by the department of human 
services in its rate setting process are classified as protected 
nonpublic data until the sample has been completed.  
    Sec. 12.  Minnesota Statutes 1986, section 13.50, 
subdivision 1, is amended to read:  
    Subdivision 1.  [CONFIDENTIAL OR PROTECTED NONPUBLIC DATA.] 
Estimated or appraised values of individual parcels of real 
property which are made by personnel of the state, its agencies 
and departments, or a political subdivision or by independent 
appraisers acting for the state, its agencies and departments, 
or a political subdivision for the purpose of selling or 
acquiring land through purchase or condemnation are classified 
as confidential data on individuals pursuant to section 13.02, 
subdivision 3 or protected nonpublic data. 
    Sec. 13.  [13.531] [FARM ASSISTANCE DATA.] 
    The following data collected and maintained by counties 
that provide assistance to individual farmers who are 
experiencing economic or emotional distress are classified as 
private data:  financial history, including listings of assets 
and debts, and personal and emotional status information.  
    Sec. 14.  [13.551] [CLASSIFICATION OF SAINT PAUL PORT 
AUTHORITY DATA.] 
    The following data not on individuals collected and 
maintained by the Saint Paul port authority are classified as 
protected nonpublic, until 30 days before the date of a hearing 
on a proposed sale pursuant to section 458.196:  financial 
studies and reports that are part of appraisers' estimates of 
value of or concerning projects as defined in chapter 474, 
prepared by personnel of the port authority or independent 
accountants, consultants, and appraisers for the purpose of 
marketing by sale or lease a project which the port authority 
has acquired or repossessed as the result of the default under 
and the termination of a revenue agreement as defined in chapter 
474. 
    Sec. 15.  [13.691] [PUBLIC EMPLOYEES RETIREMENT ASSOCIATION 
DATA.] 
     The following data on individual beneficiaries and 
survivors of public employment retirement association members 
are classified as private:  home address, date of birth, direct 
deposit account number, and tax withholding data. 
    Sec. 16.  [13.692] [DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC SERVICE DATA.] 
    Data collected by the department of public service that 
reveals the identity of a tenant who makes a complaint regarding 
energy efficiency standards for rental housing are private data 
on individuals.  
    Sec. 17.  Minnesota Statutes 1986, section 13.76, is 
amended to read:  
    13.76 [DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY AND ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT DATA.] 
    Subdivision 1.  [DEVELOPMENT LOAN DATA.] All financial 
information on individuals and business entities including, but 
not limited to, credit reports, financial statements, and net 
worth calculations, that are contained in applications received 
by the department of energy and economic development in its 
administration of the certified state development loan program 
are classified as private data with regard to data on 
individuals, and as nonpublic data with regard to data not on 
individuals.  
    Subd. 2.  [FINANCIAL INCENTIVE DATA.] Data collected by the 
department of energy and economic development relating to 
financial incentives offered by private businesses and 
organizations, other than state government, to companies for 
locating their proposed business operations in Minnesota are 
classified as nonpublic data.  
    Sec. 18.  [13.771] [HAZARDOUS SUBSTANCE INJURY COMPENSATION 
BOARD DATA.] 
    The following data on individuals filing claims for 
compensation with the hazardous substance injury compensation 
board for injury from hazardous substances are classified as 
confidential while the claim is being investigated and private 
after a decision is made by the board about the claim:  the 
name, address, and all other information that may identify an 
individual filing a claim; all medical data provided to the 
board by the claimant or providers of health care to the 
claimant, including reports of physical examinations, mental 
health treatment, hospital care, physical therapy, laboratory 
testing, X-ray studies, and prescriptions; and all financial 
data provided to the board by the claimant or the claimant's 
employer, insurance carrier, or other provider of benefits, 
including state or federal tax forms, W-2 forms, salary records, 
records of insurance payments, unemployment or disability 
benefits. 
    Sec. 19.  [241.441] [ACCESS BY OMBUDSMAN TO DATA.] 
    Notwithstanding section 13.42 or 13.85, the ombudsman has 
access to corrections and detention data and medical data 
maintained by an agency and classified as private data on 
individuals or confidential data on individuals when access to 
the data is necessary for the ombudsman to perform the powers 
under section 241.44. 
    Sec. 20.  [EFFECTIVE DATE.] 
    Sections 7; 9, subdivision 4, paragraph (g); 11; 12; 13; 
and 15 to 18; are effective the day following final enactment. 
    Approved June 1, 1987