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168.345 Motor vehicle registrations; information; surcharge.

Subdivision 1. Telephone information. Information concerning motor vehicle registrations shall not be furnished on the telephone to any person except the personnel of law enforcement agencies and the personnel of governmental motor vehicle and registration offices.

Subd. 2. Lessees; information. The registrar may not furnish information concerning registered owners of passenger automobiles who are lessees under a lease for a term of 180 days or more to any person except the personnel of law enforcement agencies and federal, state, and local governmental units, and, at the registrar's discretion, to persons who use the information to notify lessees of automobile recalls. The registrar may release information about lessees in the form of summary data, as defined in section 13.02, to persons who use the information in conducting statistical analysis and market research.

Subd. 3. Requests for information; surcharge on fee. Except as otherwise provided in subdivision 4, the commissioner shall impose a surcharge of 50 cents on each fee charged by the commissioner under section 13.03, subdivision 3, for copies or electronic transmittal of public information concerning motor vehicle registrations. This surcharge only applies to a fee imposed in responding to a request made in person or by mail, or to a request for transmittal through a computer modem. The surcharge does not apply to the request of an individual for information concerning vehicles registered in that individual's name. The commissioner shall forward the surcharges collected under this subdivision to the commissioner of finance on a monthly basis. Upon receipt, the commissioner of finance shall credit the surcharges to the general fund.

Subd. 4. Exception to fee and surcharge. Notwithstanding subdivision 3 or section 13.03, no fee or surcharge shall be imposed in responding to a request for public information concerning motor vehicle registrations if the requester gives the commissioner a signed statement that:

(1) the requester seeks the information on behalf of a community-based, nonprofit organization which has been designated by the local law enforcement agency to be a requester; and

(2) the information is needed in order to identify suspected prostitution law violators, controlled substance law violators, or health code violators.

The commissioner may not require a requester to make a certain minimum number of data requests nor limit a requester to a certain maximum number of data requests.

HIST: 1965 c 901 s 68; 1989 c 178 s 1; 1993 c 266 s 17; 1993 c 326 art 11 s 2,4; 1996 c 328 s 1,2; 1996 c 440 art 1 s 40,41; 1997 c 250 s 4

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Revisor of Statutes