2006 Minnesota Statutes

144.05 GENERAL DUTIES OF COMMISSIONER; REPORTS.
    Subdivision 1. General duties. The state commissioner of health shall have general authority
as the state's official health agency and shall be responsible for the development and maintenance
of an organized system of programs and services for protecting, maintaining, and improving the
health of the citizens. This authority shall include but not be limited to the following:
(a) Conduct studies and investigations, collect and analyze health and vital data, and identify
and describe health problems;
(b) Plan, facilitate, coordinate, provide, and support the organization of services for the
prevention and control of illness and disease and the limitation of disabilities resulting therefrom;
(c) Establish and enforce health standards for the protection and the promotion of the public's
health such as quality of health services, reporting of disease, regulation of health facilities,
environmental health hazards and personnel;
(d) Affect the quality of public health and general health care services by providing
consultation and technical training for health professionals and paraprofessionals;
(e) Promote personal health by conducting general health education programs and
disseminating health information;
(f) Coordinate and integrate local, state and federal programs and services affecting the
public's health;
(g) Continually assess and evaluate the effectiveness and efficiency of health service systems
and public health programming efforts in the state; and
(h) Advise the governor and legislature on matters relating to the public's health.
    Subd. 2. Mission; efficiency. It is part of the department's mission that within the
department's resources the commissioner shall endeavor to:
(1) prevent the waste or unnecessary spending of public money;
(2) use innovative fiscal and human resource practices to manage the state's resources and
operate the department as efficiently as possible;
(3) coordinate the department's activities wherever appropriate with the activities of other
governmental agencies;
(4) use technology where appropriate to increase agency productivity, improve customer
service, increase public access to information about government, and increase public participation
in the business of government;
(5) utilize constructive and cooperative labor-management practices to the extent otherwise
required by chapters 43A and 179A;
(6) report to the legislature on the performance of agency operations and the accomplishment
of agency goals in the agency's biennial budget according to section 16A.10, subdivision 1; and
(7) recommend to the legislature appropriate changes in law necessary to carry out the
mission and improve the performance of the department.
    Subd. 3. Appropriation transfers to be reported. When the commissioner transfers
operational money between programs under section 16A.285, in addition to the requirements of
that section the commissioner must provide the chairs of the legislative committees that have
jurisdiction over the agency's budget with sufficient detail to identify the account to which the
money was originally appropriated, and the account to which the money is being transferred.
    Subd. 4. Identification of deceased individuals. Upon receiving notice under section
149A.90, subdivision 1, of the death of an individual who cannot be identified, the commissioner
must post on the department's Web site information regarding the individual for purposes of
obtaining information that may aid in identifying the individual and for purposes of notifying
relatives who may be seeking the individual. The information must remain on the Web site
continuously until the person's identity is determined.
History: (5339) RL s 2130; 1973 c 356 s 2; 1977 c 305 s 45; 1986 c 444; 1995 c 248 art 11 s
11; 1998 c 366 s 57; 1999 c 245 art 1 s 14; 2002 c 375 art 3 s 4