Minnesota Session Laws - 1993, Regular Session

  
    Laws of Minnesota 1993 

                        CHAPTER 370-H.F.No. 1377 
           An act relating to public administration; making 
          telephone records of public officials public data; 
          providing oversight for administrative expenses; 
          regulating administrative rulemaking procedures; 
          amending Minnesota Statutes 1992, sections 3.055, 
          subdivision 1; 3.841; and 14.10; Laws 1989, chapter 
          335, article 1, section 15, subdivision 3; proposing 
          coding for new law in Minnesota Statutes, chapters 3; 
          and 10.  
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF MINNESOTA: 
    Section 1.  Minnesota Statutes 1992, section 3.055, 
subdivision 1, is amended to read: 
    Subdivision 1.  [MEETINGS TO BE OPEN.] Meetings of the 
legislature shall be open to the public, including sessions of 
the senate, sessions of the house of representatives, joint 
sessions of the senate and the house of representatives, and 
meetings of a standing committee, committee division, 
subcommittee, conference committee, or legislative commission, 
but not including a caucus of the members of any of those bodies 
from the same house and political party nor a delegation of 
legislators representing a geographic area or political 
subdivision.  For purposes of this section, a meeting occurs 
when a quorum is present and action is taken regarding a matter 
within the jurisdiction of the body.  Each house shall provide 
by rule for posting notices of meetings, recording proceedings, 
and making the recordings and votes available to the public. 
    Sec. 2.  Minnesota Statutes 1992, section 3.841, is amended 
to read: 
    3.841 [LEGISLATIVE COMMISSION TO REVIEW ADMINISTRATIVE 
RULES; COMPOSITION; MEETINGS.] 
    A legislative commission for to review of administrative 
rules, consisting of five senators appointed by the committee on 
committees of the senate and five representatives appointed by 
the speaker of the house of representatives shall be appointed.  
Its members must include the chair or vice-chair of the 
committees in each body having jurisdiction over administrative 
rules.  The commission shall meet at the call of its chair or 
upon a call signed by two of its members or signed by five 
members of the legislature.  The office of chair of the 
legislative commission shall alternate between the two houses of 
the legislature every two years. 
    Sec. 3.  [3.984] [RULE NOTES.] 
    Subdivision 1.  [REQUIREMENT.] The head or chief 
administrative officer of an agency, as defined in section 
14.02, subdivision 2, shall prepare a note containing the 
information required by subdivision 2 on every bill containing a 
grant of rulemaking authority to that agency.  The chair of a 
standing committee receiving a bill on rereferral from another 
standing committee shall request that:  (1) the rule note be 
amended to reflect any amendment of the grant of rulemaking 
authority made to the bill; or (2) a rule note be prepared by 
the agency if a grant of rulemaking authority has been added to 
the bill. 
    Subd. 2.  [CONTENTS.] The note required by subdivision 1 
must treat separately each grant of rulemaking authority 
contained in the bill and must include a detailed explanation of:
    (1) the reasons for the grant of rulemaking authority; 
    (2) the persons or groups the rules would impact; 
    (3) the estimated cost of the rule for the persons or 
groups specified pursuant to clause (2); and 
    (4) the areas of controversy anticipated by the agency. 
    The note must be delivered to the chair of the standing 
committee to which the bill has been referred or rereferred, the 
chair of the legislative commission to review administrative 
rules, and the chairs of the committees in each body having 
jurisdiction over administrative rules.  
    Subd. 3.  [ADMINISTRATION.] The commissioner of finance is 
responsible for coordinating this process, for assuring the 
accuracy and completeness of the note, and for assuring that 
rule notes are prepared, delivered, and updated as provided by 
this section. 
    The commissioner shall prescribe a uniform procedure to 
govern agencies in complying with this section.  
    Sec. 4.  [10.43] [TELEPHONE USE; APPROVAL.] 
    Each representative, senator, constitutional officer, 
judge, and head of a state department or agency shall sign the 
person's monthly long-distance telephone bills paid by the state 
as evidence of the person's approval of each bill. 
    Sec. 5.  [10.44] [LEGISLATURE AND OTHER OFFICIALS; 
BUDGETS.] 
    The budgets of the house of representatives, senate, 
constitutional officers, district courts, court of appeals, and 
supreme court must be submitted to and considered by the 
appropriate committees of the legislature in the same manner as 
the budgets of executive agencies. 
    Sec. 6.  [10.45] [BUDGETS; INFORMATION.] 
    The budgets of the house of representatives, the senate, 
each constitutional officer, the district courts, court of 
appeals, and supreme court shall be public information and shall 
be divided into expense categories.  The categories shall 
include, among others, travel and telephone expenses. 
    Sec. 7.  [10.46] [TELEPHONE RECORDS PUBLIC.] 
    Long-distance telephone bills paid for by the state or a 
political subdivision, including those of representatives, 
senators, judges, constitutional officers, heads of departments 
and agencies, local officials, and employees thereof, are public 
data. 
    Sec. 8.  [10.47] [TELEPHONE SERVICE; OVERSIGHT.] 
    Each member, officer, or employee in the legislative, 
judicial, and executive branches shall report any evidence of 
misuse of long-distance telephone service to the chief officer 
of the legislative body, judicial branch, executive office, or 
executive agency, and to the legislative auditor when 
appropriate.  The legislative auditor shall investigate and 
report on evidence of misuse of long-distance telephone service 
of legislators, judges, constitutional officers, heads of 
executive departments and agencies, and state employees and, 
where appropriate, refer the evidence to other authorities. 
    Sec. 9.  [10.48] [EXPENSE REPORTS.] 
    The house of representatives and senate shall by rule 
require detailed quarterly reports of expenditures by the house 
of representatives and senate to their respective committees on 
rules and legislative administration.  Each constitutional 
officer, the district courts, court of appeals, and supreme 
court shall submit detailed quarterly reports of their 
expenditures to the legislative auditor.  These reports are 
public information. 
     Sec. 10.  Minnesota Statutes 1992, section 14.10, is 
amended to read: 
    14.10 [SOLICITATION OF OUTSIDE INFORMATION.] 
    When an agency seeks to obtain information or opinions in 
preparing to propose the adoption, amendment, suspension, or 
repeal of a rule from sources outside of the agency, the agency 
shall publish notice of its action in the State Register, mail 
this notice to persons who have registered their names pursuant 
to section 14.14, subdivision 1a, 14.22, or 14.30, and shall 
afford all interested persons an opportunity to submit data or 
views on the subject of concern in writing or orally.  Such 
notice and any written material received by the agency shall 
become a part of the rulemaking record to be submitted to 
the attorney general or administrative law judge under section 
14.14, 14.26, or 14.32.  This notice must contain a summary of 
issues that may be considered by the agency when the rule is 
proposed, a statement of the agency's intentions regarding the 
formation of an advisory task force on the subject, and, if a 
task force is to be formed, a list of the persons or 
associations the agency intends to invite to serve on the task 
force.  The notice must also include a proposed timetable 
outlining when the agency intends to form the advisory task 
force, when it could be expected to complete its work, and how 
long the agency anticipates the rulemaking process taking. 
    Sec. 11.  Laws 1989, chapter 335, article 1, section 15, 
subdivision 3, is amended to read: 
     Subd. 3.  Information Management 
  $ 5,836,000    $ 5,759,000
              Summary by Fund 
General            $ 1,678,000  $ 1,601,000
Special Revenue    $ 4,158,000  $ 4,158,000
 The appropriation from the special 
revenue fund is for recurring costs of 
911 emergency telephone service.  
 $201,100 the first year and $205,800 
the second year must be subtracted from 
the amount that would otherwise be 
payable to local government aid under 
Minnesota Statutes, chapter 477A, in 
order to fund the local government 
records program and the 
intergovernmental information systems 
activity. 
 $1,000,000 in contributed capital is 
transferred from the computer services 
fund to the telecommunications fund. 
 The commissioner shall study the 
feasibility of contracting for disaster 
recovery services from nonstate sources.
 Notwithstanding any law to the 
contrary, legislators' telephone 
records are private data. 
     Sec. 12.  [LCRAR RULEMAKING REPORT.] 
    No later than February 15, 1994, the legislative commission 
to review administrative rules shall submit a report including 
its recommendations to the governmental operations and gaming 
committee of the house of representatives and the governmental 
operations and reform committee of the senate on the following 
topics:  
    (1) a list of all delegations of rulemaking authority to 
state agencies that indicates which of those are grants of 
general rulemaking authority and which are narrowly drawn, 
specific authorizations; 
    (2) the use made of broad delegations of rulemaking 
authority, the purpose served by this use, and the relationship 
of broad delegations with other delegations of authority in the 
promulgation of rules; 
    (3) an evaluation of the continued need for these 
delegations of general rulemaking authority; 
    (4) an evaluation of the continued need for delegations of 
rulemaking authority to quasi-independent boards or commissions; 
    (5) recommendations for establishing statutory criteria to 
be used in preparing rule impact statements including those in 
Minnesota Statutes, sections 14.11 and 14.115, for agricultural 
land, small businesses, and local governments or the removal of 
requirements for these impact statements; 
    (6) recommendations for development of more complete 
information on the economic and other impacts of proposed rules 
on directly affected parties and on agencies required to enforce 
the rules, how to determine when these impacts are significant 
enough to require greater efforts at assessing impacts, on ways 
this information might be obtained from affected parties and 
developed by agencies, whether this information should be 
included in the statement of need and reasonableness, and how 
the information might be distributed before the proposed rule is 
published; 
    (7) criteria to be used by legislative committees for the 
granting of exemptions to the rulemaking requirements of 
Minnesota Statutes, chapter 14; 
    (8) recommendations on which fees should be set or changed 
by rule or statute; and 
    (9) methods to improve the coordination of rulemaking in 
the executive branch. 
    Sec. 13.  [INVESTIGATION OF RECORDS.] 
    Legislators' long distance telephone records as to bills 
paid by the state, including WATS service, for 1991, 1992, and 
1993 shall be provided upon request made in accordance with 
Minnesota Statutes, section 8.16 or 388.23, to the attorney 
general or county attorney with jurisdiction, or to the United 
States attorney under the procedures of the appropriate federal 
rules, to the extent necessary to complete any investigation.  
Failure to comply with a request without just cause subjects the 
person who fails to comply to contempt of court. 
    Sec. 14.  [EFFECTIVE DATE.] 
    This act is effective the day following final enactment, 
except that section 12 is effective July 1, 1993; sections 4 and 
9 are effective October 1, 1993; sections 3 and 10 are effective 
January 1, 1994; and section 2 is effective January 1, 1995. 
    Presented to the governor May 20, 1993 
    Signed by the governor May 24, 1993, 12:20 p.m.